Halloween Cyclops Cupcakes Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line cups with paper liners.
• Sift 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.
• Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk. Beat until batter is just blended.
• Bake in the preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool completely, about 2 hours.
• Frost each cupcake with a thin layer of white vanilla frosting. Place 1 marshmallow half, cut-side up, in the center of each cupcake.
• Dust a work surface with confectioners' sugar. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of white fondant; roll into thin circles that are slightly bigger than the cupcakes. Drape over the marshmallows so they look like ghosts. Poke 2 holes near the top for the eyes. Stuff 1 raisin half into each hole.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners, preferable dark-colored or Halloween-themed ones.
• Combine cake mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed until batter is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 21 minutes. Remove from oven and cool tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before decorating, about 1 hour.
• Frost each cupcake with a thin layer of white vanilla frosting and refrigerate for 30 minutes to make decorating easier.
• Remove cupcakes from fridge and apply a second layer of white frosting. Fill a piping bag outfitted with a small round tip with chocolate frosting and draw a skull face on the cupcakes: pipe large ovals for the eyes, two dots for the nostrils, and a large "stitched" smile for the mouth.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line cups with paper liners.
• Sift cocoa powder into a large bowl and add 5 tablespoons boiling water. Stir into a thick paste, adding more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed. Add 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until batter is smooth.
• Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl and stir into the batter until well combined. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 to the top using an ice cream scoop.
• Bake in the preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool in muffin tin for a few minutes; transfer to wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup butter together in a bowl until creamy. Mix in vanilla extract. Stir in 1 cup confectioners' sugar gradually until frosting is smooth. Mix in green food coloring.
• Frost each cupcake with a thin layer of green frosting and refrigerate for 30 minutes to make decorating easier. Frost with a second thin layer of green frosting.
• Draw a small dot with the black decorating gel on each candy-coated milk chocolate piece for the pupil. Cut marshmallows into 4 slices with a sharp knife and stick 1 blue pupil in the center of each marshmallow piece.
• Cut fruit leather into crescent shapes or semi-circles for the mouths using small sharp scissors.
• Mix 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar with lemon juice in a bowl to make icing. Glue silver dragees onto the fruit leather mouths using a toothpick dipped in icing.
• Assemble cyclops by placing a mouth and one marshmallow eye onto each cupcake. Stick 2 sunflower seeds on top of the cupcake for the horns.