Cafe Lula

Happy Halloween! Did you go to a halloween party? Did you dress up? Did you make halloween-themed baked goods? Did you, did you, did you? Where was it? What did you wear? What did you make? Hmmmmm? I did not go to a party or dress up, but I did make these pretty orange and black cupcakes 🙂

For the black-iced cupcakes I made a pumpkin cupcake and topped it with a chocolate ganache. The orange topped cupcakes are dark chocolate cupcakes with caramel or cream cheese icing. This is the first time I’ve used food colouring gels and sugar pearls for decorating and I really like how pretty the cupcakes look! Decorating is so much fun 🙂

The recipe for caramel icing didn’t stretch to covering all 16 for the chocolate cupcakes, so I made some quick cream cheese icing to ice the leftover chocolate cupcakes. I’ve given the quantities I used for both below, so feel free to scale them up/down.

Pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate ganache

Cake loosely based on this recipe with a standard ganache

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

225g plain (all-purpose) flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ginger

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

200g light brown sugar

2 eggs

125ml vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g grated pumpkin

a few drops orange food colour gel (I used Americolor electric orange soft gel paste food colour)

For the ganache:

200g plain chocolate (around 50% cocoa solids)

150ml double (heavy) cream

15g golden syrup

230g icing (confectioner’s) sugar

a few drops black food colour gel (I used Americolor super black colour gel)

Orange sugar pearls, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 165C fan oven/180C/330F fan oven/350F and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases.

To grate the pumpkin, slice it open and scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff. Cut pieces off and grate the flesh until you have 200g of grated pumpkin. It’s a good arm workout!

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb, ginger and nutmeg into a large bowl.

In another bowl, beat together the sugar, oil and vanilla (I used an electric handwhisk for this bit). Beat in the eggs one at a time, then pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Stir together gently, then fold in the grated pumpkin and food colouring, mixing until well combined and the colour is evenly distributed.

Fill the cupcake cases about 3/4 full with mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took 22 minutes in a 165C fan oven).

When the cupcakes are baked, remove from the oven and cool in the tin for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the topping, put the chocolate, cream and golden syrup in a small pan and heat over a very low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the chocolate has melted, stir together slowly until smooth and remove from the heat. Sift in half the icing sugar and whisk together with an electric whisk. Add enough food colouring to achieve your desired colour, then add the rest of the icing sugar. Adjust the colour as necessary (I found it didn’t need any extra). Allow the cool completely before piping onto the cooled cupcakes. Decorate with orange sugar pearls.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with caramel buttercream or cream cheese icing

Cake and caramel icing adapted from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas, cream cheese icing from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf

Makes about 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

115g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa solids)

85g butter, at room temperature

175g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs, separated

185g plain (all-purpose) flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

250ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)

1 tsp vanilla extract

A few drops black food colouring (I used Americolor super black, as above)

For the caramel buttercream icing (makes enough for 12 cupcakes):

60g butter, at room temperature

6 tbsp milk

220g light brown sugar

240g icing (confectioner’s) sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

a few drops orange food colouring gel (I used Americolor electric orange, as above)

For the cream cheese icing (makes enough for 4-6):

120g icing sugar

20g butter, at room temperature

50g cream cheese

a few drops orange food colouring gel

black sugar pearls, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170C fan oven/180C/340F fan oven/360F. Line one 12-hole muffin tin with cases and put a few extra in another muffin tin.

Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, remove from the heat to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using an electric handmixer, until light and fluffy. Beat the egg yolks in one at a time, then add the melted chocolate and beat well again.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarb, and measure the milk and vanilla into a jug. Beat a third of the flour into the egg mixture, then beat a third of the milk mixture in. Repeat twice more, beating well after each addition.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the chocolate mixture, being careful not to overbeat.

Fill the cupcake cases anout 2/3rds full and bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took 22 minutes in a 170C fan oven). Cool in the tins for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the caramel buttercream, place the butter, milk and brown sugar in a saucepan and set it over a medium-high heat. Stir to combine and then bring the mixture to the boil, stirring every so often. Boil for one minute, stirring occasionally and tip the pan from side to side to move the mixture around, making sure it all gets hot and doesn’t burn on the bottom.

Remove the pan from the heat and sift half the icing sugar into the pan, stirring well until combined. Leave to cool slightly, then sift and stir in the other half of the icing sugar and add the vanilla and food colouring. Stir until the colour is evenly distributed in the mixture. The book says this is best used immediately. I found that it was too warm to pipe so I filled an icing bag and put it in the fridge to cool down a bit before icing the cupcakes and this worked fine (although I didn’t let it get cold, just cooled). Decorate with black sugar pearls.

For the cream cheese icing, beat together the ingredients until well combined, then beat in the food colouring until the icing is an even colour. Ice the cupcakes and decorate with black sugar pearls.