Witch Hat Cupcakes Recipes

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners.
• Heat the milk in a small saucepan to just below a simmer. Pour over the cocoa powder in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly. Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
• Whisk the sugar, oil, egg and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk just until smooth. Divide the mixture among the paper liners. Bake until a tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the frosting: Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30-second intervals, stirring well with a rubber spatula between each, until completely melted and smooth. Cool slightly.
• Beat the butter on medium high speed with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the cooled chocolate and beat until combined. Add the confectioners' sugar and cocoa and beat on low to combine. Add 1 tablespoon milk and the vanilla. Beat on high until light and fluffy, adding the last tablespoon of milk, if needed, to make a smooth, pipeable frosting. Starting with about 1/8 teaspoon, beat in black gel coloring to tint the frosting nearly black (you may need up to 1 teaspoon total).
• For assembly: Line a baking sheet with parchment and clear space in your refrigerator or freezer to accommodate the level pan. Combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30-second intervals, stirring well between each, until completely melted and smooth. Let cool slightly. While the chocolate cools, use a paring knife to gently saw off the tip of each ice cream cone (about 3/4 inch) at an angle to make the bent tips of the hats.
• Use a small spoon to coat the cut end of a cone with melted chocolate and lay it flat on the prepared baking sheet. Attach the tip piece at an angle so it looks like the point of the hat is bent and paint with a little more chocolate to seal the two pieces together. Repeat with the remaining cones and refrigerate or freeze until set, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Once the cones are fused together, pour the sprinkles into a shallow bowl or small sheet pan. Working one at a time, lightly coat the cones in melted chocolate and roll in the sprinkles. Set upright on the lined baking sheet. Refrigerate the cones until set, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Put the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a round of frosting in the center of each cupcake and press on a hat to adhere. Cut the sour belts to wrap around the base of the hats about 1/2 inch from the bottom. Use a little frosting to adhere the ends to the hat, if needed. Pipe frosting around the perimeter of the cupcakes to make a brim for each hat. Stick a yellow candy on each sour belt to make a hat buckle, gently pressing it into the frosting so it sticks.

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape in the seeds of the vanilla bean and mix to combine. Add the eggs one a time, beating well in between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and add half of the flour mixture, the milk and then the remainder of the flour mixture, beating in between additions. Do not overmix. Scoop the batter into the lined cupcake pan, using an ice-cream scoop and filling each cup about two-thirds of the way.
• Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the cupcakes are golden and a tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan to a rack, cool 5 minutes, and then remove the cupcakes to the rack to cool completely.
• For the buttercream frosting: Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth and light, about 1 minute. Add 5 1/2 cups of the confectioners' sugar and mix on low to combine. Add the vanilla, increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. (Add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners' sugar, depending on how stiff you want the frosting.)
• For the decoration: Use a cupcake corer to hollow out the center of each cupcake saving the tops, then fill with a candy ball. Slice the top off of the plug you removed from the cupcake and place back in the hole to seal in the candy ball. Use a couple of drops of purple food coloring to dye three-quarters of your frosting. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip with the frosting. Dye the remaining frosting with green food coloring and add to a small pastry bag or resealable plastic bag with just a tiny bit of the tip snipped off. Pipe a swirl of purple frosting to cover the top of each cupcake. Place a chocolate wafer cookie on top of each. Using a dab of frosting, wrap the candy belt around the edge of the ice-cream cone. Attach the cone upside-down on top of the cookie, using a bit of frosting to form a hat. Use another dab of frosting to attach the candy-coated chocolates in front for a buckle.

Steps:

• Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Line cupcake tins with 12 paper liners; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter, milk, egg, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. (Alternatively, combine ingredients in a large bowl, then beat with a hand-held electric mixer.) Add boiling water and beat to combine (batter will be thin). Divide batter evenly among cupcake liners.
• Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Buttercream Frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Begin beating on low speed, increasing to high for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Using food coloring, tint the icing dirty green.
• Using a melon baller, scoop out the center of each cupcake, and fill with candy-coated chocolates, if desired.
• Cover the tops of each cupcake with a generous mound (about 1/3 cup) of buttercream. Insert one candy corn into each cupcake to form a nose. Insert two candy-coated chocolates into each cupcake to form eyes. Place two 1/2-inch lengths of licorice above the eyes to form eyebrows for the witch. Place the 1/4-inch licorice lengths above the eyebrows to form bangs. Place an inverted cone on top of bangs, pressing gently into buttercream to adhere. Place the 2-inch licorice lengths under the cone hat to form the hair. Decorated cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature.

Steps:

• Make, bake and cool cake mix as directed on box for cupcakes, using water, oil and eggs.
• In large bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and 3 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar. Tint frosting with orange paste food color. Place 1/2 cup frosting in small resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and set aside. Frost cupcakes with remaining orange frosting.
• Place 1 cookie, striped side down, on each cupcake. In microwavable bowl, microwave candy melts on Medium (50%) 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Dip snacks in melted candy; place upright in center of each cookie. Immediately decorate with candy sprinkles.
• Cut off tiny corner (about 1/8 inch) of bag of frosting. Pipe frosting around base of chocolate-dipped snacks to resemble ribbon band.