Halloween is upon us and this year the holiday has more emphasis than ever for my family. We already have the tradition of going to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and then carving them the day before Halloween. We also take our daughters to one of the area theme parks for safe trick or treating. However, this year Halloween happens to be my oldest daughter’s current obsession (she is 3). Everything has to be Halloween related and if it isn’t she wants nothing to do with it. She only wants to watch Halloween themed cartoons, listen to Halloween music, read Halloween themed books, and wear Halloween themed clothes. She is so obsessed that she even refused to change out of her dirty pumpkin shirt and candy corn pants even after she took a bath. They had to magically disappear into the laundry, which was preceded by about 10 minutes of a meltdown until she finally accepted wearing her seahorse pajamas.

Needless to say once this Halloween is over I am either going to be relieved or more stressed out if she doesn’t move on and replace the Halloween obsession with Thanksgiving and Christmas excitement. Every year I usually make a themed dessert but with our usual traditions and the fact that there is a new addition to the family this year, it is more and more difficult to complete them. That is why I came up with this easy Halloween themed cupcake. You can use any flavor cupcake you would like and you can elect to use a box mix or make your own from scratch. I chose a lighter based cupcake to provide contrast for the dark chocolate frosting. I recommend using only chocolate for the frosting and not using a different flavor because the dark color provides a good contrast for the spider rings and white web. However, if you can only find black spider rings, you could easily use a dark cupcake base, white frosting, and make the spider webs black. The combination is up to you as the recipe is rather versatile for your preferences. I do recommend using your own recipes as the quality of the product will come out better but if you are in a pinch you can always use box cake mix and prepared frosting. If you do prepare your own cake mix and frosting just make sure that it is enough to yield 24 cupcakes. I also recommend locating a spiderweb design through an online search to use as a guide when piping the spider webs onto the parchment paper. Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

Halloween Spooky Spiderweb Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 box Pillsbury Halloween Funfetti Cake Mix (or your favorite cake batter recipe)
• 1 container Duncan Hines Whipped Chocolate Frosting (or your favorite frosting recipe)
• 24 Orange Plastic Toy Spider Rings
• 1 box Wilton’s Royal Icing Mix
• Parchment Paper
• Piping Bags
• Star & Round Decorator Tips

Preparation:

1. Prepare royal icing mix according to package directions. Fill a small piping bottle or bag fitted with a small round piping tip with icing. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw at least 24 spider webs on parchment paper, either freehand or following an image found online. I suggest making a few extra spiderwebs in case some break as the webs are extremely fragile. Once piped, set pan aside to dry overnight.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Set aside. Prepare cake mix according to package directions or prepare your own cake mix from scratch to make 24 cupcakes. Fill cupcake liners half full and bake according to box/recipe instructions, usually about 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Once cupcakes have cooled, fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip with frosting. Pipe rosettes on the top of each cupcake. Carefully place the spiderweb into the frosting near the back of the cupcake. Place a toy spider ring into the frosting below the spiderweb to look as if the spider is moving towards the web. Repeat for each cupcake. Serve

PHOTOGRAPHY & STAGING: PETER MENDOROS

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