Witch's Cauldron Cupcakes

Have you heard of black cocoa powder?   Black cocoa powder is "ultra alkalized" also known as "super Dutched" cocoa powder.  This process turns it jet black, with a mild flavor but appearance similar to an Oreo.  The black appearance makes it ideal for Halloween baking and all things spooky.  I found these mixed Halloween sprinkles in fun colors with little candy eyeballs and it reminded me of the things in a Witch's Cauldron.  You know, "eye of newt and toe of frog" like Macbeth, only orange, black, purple and made of sugar.  I had this vision of a neon green "radioactive" looking frosting with these sprinkles like a bubbling cauldron.  So I grabbed my handy dandy black cocoa powder to create the base for these cupcakes.  The perfect black "cauldron" to hold that scoop of frosting and sprinkles.  Complete with a pretzel stick to stir the cauldron with.  I am so happy with how these turned out.  Halloween is my favorite holiday and my absolute favorite time of year to bake and create yummy Halloween treats.  Even though my tiniest devils like in Colorado and I don't get to bake for them much, thank goodness Mr. Devilish Dish understands my love for all things Halloween and doesn't mind eating a dozen neon green and black cupcakes.  In fact he said, "The base of this is a really good cupcake and everyone loves a homemade buttercream frosting." These cupcakes aren't just for looks.  They are a really tasty little treat that just happens to be spooky sweet.

Happy Halloween!
These might be my favorite spooky
creation ever.

Combine the dry ingredients.

You can see just how dark the 
black cocoa is.  It makes the 
flour look grey.

Melt the butter and semi-sweet
chocolate together.
Set aside and cool.

Cream together the eggs and sugar
until thick and pale.

You can see just how dark 
this batter is.

These cupcakes don't really have much
of a leavening agent so they don't 
rise very tall.  Which is nice, because you 
get a rich, dense cake that is the 
perfect cauldron base.

Make the buttercream frosting.

You want a thick frosting so that you can
scoop it onto the cupcakes rather than

a spreadable frosting.

Garnish with Halloween sprinkles,
eyeballs and a pretzel stick for 
"stirring the cauldron."

Have a Happy Halloween and
enjoy this wonderfully 
witchy dessert.

WITCH'S CAULDRON CUPCAKES

For the cupcakes:

2 sticks + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
9 ounces semi sweet chocolate
3/4 cup black cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 1/2 tablespoons cake flour (*SEE NOTE)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.  Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Stir in semisweet chocolate until melted.  Let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.  Whisk together black cocoa powder, all purpose flour, cake flour and salt.  Set aside.  

In a stan mixer beat the eggs and granulated sugar until pale and thick, approximately 5 minutes on medium speed.  Add vanilla.  Stir in flour mixture in 3 separate additions, alternating the flour mixture with the chocolate-butter mixture.  Begin and end with flour mixture, and mix until combined in between each addition.  Place 1/3 cup batter into each prepared muffin cup.  Bake until cakes rise and spring back when touched, approximately 20-25 minutes.  Let cupcakes cool in muffin pans 15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely before frosting.  

*NOTE: you can make your own cake flour by combining 1 cup all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of corn starch.  Simply measure out the amount needed for recipe and store the remaining mix for another use.  

For the frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons milk
yellow & green food coloring

In a stand beat the butter until smooth.  Add the powdered sugar a little at a time to create a frosting.  Add vanilla and milk until the frosting is a thick texture.  (You will be scooping this frosting instead of spreading it.)  Add yellow and green food coloring until the desired color is achieved.  If you are using liquid food coloring you may need to add a touch more powdered sugar to keep the mixture stiff and scoopable.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop the frosting on top of each cupcake to create the look of a "cauldron bubbling and boiling over."  

For the garnish:

Halloween sprinkles and candy eyeballs
pretzel sticks

Garnish the green frosting with Halloween sprinkles.  I used tiny tweezers to place them on, rather than just shaking.  Insert a pretzel stick as the spoon for the cauldron.