Spooky Cupcakes

This week's Little Chefs coincided with Halloween, so everyone arrived in costume, and brought aprons of course, because chocolate icing was on the menu. We prepared Skeleton Cupcakes and read Funnybones stories, then went out trick or treating. Earlier I also made some Scary Pumpkin Cupcakes, and sharing both recipes below. 

Skeleton Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing

I got this cupcake kit to make the Skeleton Cupcakes, but you don't necessarily need it. Use a black or dark brown cupcake case, and draw a skeleton hand on a piece of paper, then glue it to a toothpick. The bone shaped candy are a plus, admittedly. If you do use this kit, bear in mind that the skeleton drawing on the cupcake case only really shows if you have a light coloured cake - I made vanilla cupcakes. 

Ingredients

175 g unsalted butter
175 g caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175 g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Icing:
200 g dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids is fine)
100 ml double cream
50 g caster sugar

Method

- preheat oven to 180'C/fan 160'C
- place the butter in the preheating oven to soften
- line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases
- cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time
- stir in the vanilla extract
- mix the flour and baking powder, and fold into the egg mixture until just combined
- spoon mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top
- allow cupcakes to cool

- prepare the icing: in a bowl over boiling water melt the chocolate, cream and sugar together, then allow to cool
- spoon some icing over each cupcake, stick in skeleton hand and sprinkle on bone candy, if you have it

Scary Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

100 g unsalted butter

150 g light brown sugar
2 eggs
200 g grated pumpkin or butternut squash
150 g self raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
juice of 1 orange

Icing:
200 g full fat soft cheese
100 g caster sugar
Black icing pen

Method

- preheat oven to 180'C/fan 160'C

- place butter in preheating oven to soften
- line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases (black looks good)
- in a large bowl, mix butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time and stir in grated pumpkin
- in another bowl mix flour, cinnamon and cloves
- fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just combined, leaving some flour bubbles
- spoon mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean
- while still hot, poke cupcakes a few times and spoon over orange juice
- move to a rack and allow to cool

- prepare the icing: beat soft cheese until creamy, then stir in the sugar
- when cupcakes are cool, spoon icing over them, smooth it down with back of the spoon and decorate with icing pen

*The bold text in the recipes shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Creepy Crawly Party Food

*Scroll down for recipes!*

My older son just turned three and I wanted to make him this delicious chocolate cake I found as I was looking for book-related recipes. The cake is Bruce Bogtrotter's cake from Roald Dahl's Matilda, as it appears in the Revolting Recipes cookbook. The Bruce Bogtrotter chapter in Matilda is one of my favourite pieces of literature, it's so cleverly written, you read it with bated breath even the tenth time. I was imagining a Little Chefs session, where we prepare the cake and read the chapter - but for this we have to wait for the Little Chefs to get a bit older. At this age some of them (certainly mine) are only calibered to sit through The Very Hungry Caterpillar, just about. But in any case, I've tried the recipe, and can safely say it's the best chocolate cake ever. And of course, only the best for my boy! So this was going to be his birthday cake, but I also wanted a theme, and this is how I got to....

...spiders! It's a round and dark brown cake, so I though two of these - one larger than the other - eight legs and some round eyes would make a pretty spider. So near Halloween a purely spider themed party would have been a bit confusing, so I chose to expand to all sorts of creepy crawlies. My husband and I spent the nights leading up to the party drawing decorative bugs (see pics below), I bought some sticky slugs in WH Smith, baked bug shaped cupcakes (Orange and Carrot, Chocolate, and Banana and Pecan), topped sandwiches with ladybirds, prepared caterpillar grape skewers, and asked everyone to come in creepy crawly costume. 

I also drew lots of butterflies that the guests could colour in and organised a spider hunt: hid a bunch of plastic spiders in my sons' bedroom and the kid who found the most spiders won a handful of... spiders. They did really well, but we still find the occasional little black friend in the sock drawer or under the cot mattress.

To make the bug shaped cupcakes you need this mould. I realise it's not a kitchen essential, but with two boys who love bugs it keeps on giving... for the party I even bought a second one, they're only £4. It took a few practice rounds to work out recipes which ensure the cake comes out easily from the mould. Also I would recommend to let them cool before you pop out the cakes, and do it gently, holding the mould with the cake holes down, over a plate, letting gravity help you out.

Of course, you can make the cupcakes without the mould, in a traditional 12-hole muffin tray, and decorate them with an icing pen.

Spider Chocolate Cake

Ingredients for 20 cm cake tin. (If you're making a spider, this will be the cephalothorax and you'll need to bake a 24 cm cake for the abdomen. For the latter, multiply each ingredient with 1.5 and increase baking time to 1 hour 10 minutes. Also double the ingredients for the ganache.)

225 g dark chocolate (about 50% cocoa solids is fine)

175 g unsalted butter

225 g caster sugar

4 tbsp plain flour

6 eggs

Ganache:

225 g dark chocolate

225 ml double cream

Spider legs: 

8 cocktail sticks

Eyes:

White chocolate buttons

Method

- preheat oven to 170'C/fan 150'C

- grease and dust with flour a 20 cm cake tin

- melt chocolate and butter together in a pan, then allow to cool slightly and pour into a large bowl

- separate the eggs

- mix yolks, caster sugar and flour in another bowl

- stir egg mixture into chocolate

- whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form

- gently fold half of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold the other half in just about, no problem if little bits of egg white are showing

- bake for 40 minutes, or until skewer comes out more or less clean

- while it's baking, make the chocolate ganache: melt together the chocolate and the cream in a bowl over simmering water

- then make the spider legs: break the cocktail stick in two places, making sure they stay connected, and dip them in the chocolate ganache. Hold the sticks by the tip, so there will be about a cm that's not covered in chocolate. Line a tray with baking paper, and leave the legs on it to dry

- when the cake is ready, leave it in the oven with the door open for a few minutes, then allow to cool on a rack

- when it's completely cool, carefully take it out of the tin - it will probably be slightly cracked or sunk on top, but no problem - and turn it upside down. This way you'll have a lovely smooth surface on top, and nobody will ever know how the other side looks

- cut the cake into two layers with a large serrated knife (bread knife) and spread a few spoonfuls of ganache on top of the lower half. Don't worry if the middle of the cake seems slightly uncooked - this is how it should be.

- place the top layer back and cover the whole cake with ganache - it won't be completely smooth, it should be smothered in chocolate, which makes it irresistible

- if you're making the two-cake spider, cover a large sturdy piece of cardboard, or a tray with baking paper, and carefully place both cakes on it, right next to each other

- then stick the legs into the smaller cake - with clean tip first, and try to touch the chocolate covered part as little as possible, as it will come off - four on each side. If you have any ganache left - and you should, unless you've eaten it - retouch the legs if necessary

- place 4 white chocolate buttons on the front of the smaller cake for eyes

- if you have it in you, you can draw spider webs on the baking paper with the ganache in a piping bag - this may be more suitable if you're going for the scary spider look

Bug shaped Cupcakes (aka Bugcakes)

Carrot and Orange Bugcakes

Ingredients for 16 bugs

100 g unsalted butter

150 g light brown sugar

2 eggs

200 g grated carrots

150 g self raising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

juice of 1 orange

Method

- preheat oven to 180'C/fan 160'C
- put the butter into the preheating oven to soften
- mix butter and sugar with a spoon, add eggs one at a time, and then stir in grated carrots
- mix flour with cinnamon and cloves
- stir flour into the carrot mixture, until just combined, leaving some bubbles of flour
- spoon into cake mould (this amount makes 2 trays of bugs)
- place a rack on the bottom of the oven, put mould on it and bake for 25 minutes, until skewer comes out clean
- poke each cake a few times, and spoon over orange juice
- wait for the cakes to cool completely, then turn mould upside down over a plate and gently ease the cakes out of the mould

Chocolate Bugcakes

Ingredients for 24 bugs

200 g unsalted butter
200 g dark brown sugar
200 g dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids is fine)
100 ml hot water
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200 g self raising flour

Method

- preheat oven to 160'C/fan 140'C
- in a pan on low heat, melt together butter, sugar, chocolate with the hot water, then allow to cool slightly
- mix eggs with vanilla, then stir into chocolate mixture
- place the flour into a big bowl, then stir in chocolate mixture just about, leaving some flour bubbles
- spoon the mixture into the mould (this amount makes 3 trays of bugs)
- place a rack on the bottom of the oven, put mould on it and bake for 20 minutes, until skewer comes out clean
- wait for the cakes to cool completely, then turn mould upside down over a plate and gently ease the cakes out of the mould

Banana and Pecan Bugcakes

Ingredients for 16 bugs

125 ml sunflower oil
100 g light brown sugar
1 egg
4 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
50 g pecan nuts, chopped
185 g self raising flour

Method

- preheat oven to 180'C/fan 160'C
- mix oil, sugar, egg and bananas
- stir in pecan nuts
- stir in flour, until just combined, leaving a few flour bubbles
- spoon the mixture into the mould (this amount makes 2 trays of bugs)
- place a rack on the bottom of the oven, put mould on it and bake for 20 minutes, until skewer comes out clean
- wait for the cakes to cool completely, then turn mould upside down over a plate and gently ease the cakes out of the mould

Ladybird Sandwiches

bread

butter, cheese, ham or anything else you'd like on your sandwich

cherry tomatoes

black olives

Prepare the sandwiches, then place half a cherry tomato and half an olive on top of each.

Caterpillar Grape Skewers

red and green grapes

cocktail sticks

Start with green grapes, then finish with a red grape for the head. The trick is to spear each grape at an angle and increase the angle till you reach the middle - the middle grape should be vertical - then mirror it till you reach the head. The grapes might spin around on the cocktail stick, ruining your composition, so make sure you lay the stick down flat to serve.  

Party bag biscuits

Basic biscuit recipe, the Little Chefs can do it with their eyes closed, and with funky decorations they can serve as a home made alternative to the usual party bag fillers. The recipe comes from my Little Chef's grandma, and the party bag idea from another Little Chef's mum: team effort. 

For about 40 small biscuits

Ingredients:

110 g butter, softened

110 g caster sugar

1 egg

220 g plain flour

250 g icing sugar

water

chocolate chips, sprinkles, 100s and 1000s

Method:

- preheat the oven to 190'C/fan 170'C and line two baking trays with baking paper

- cream the butter with the sugar, then add the egg and mix thoroughly

- stir in the flour till you get a soft ball of dough

- chill in the fridge for at least an hour

- roll the pastry out thin onto a floured surface

- cut shapes with biscuit cutters and place on the baking tray

- bake for 8-10 minutes till golden (watch them closely, they're done very quickly and then brown easily)

- while the biscuits are in the oven, prepare the icing: pour the icing sugar in a bowl and add water one spoon at a time

- stir the icing after each spoonful of water and stop when you get a thick but spreadable consistency

- when the biscuits are done, allow them to cool (very quick), spread a bit of icing on them and get decorating

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Five-a-day treats: Courgette After Eight Cupcakes

Chocolate and courgette cupcakes with a mint and cream cheese icing: good way to use up the overflow of courgettes and mint from the garden. We only have the latter, and the Little Chefs loved picking the mint leaves (and picked almost none of the neighbouring strawberry leaves...)

 For 20 cupcakes

Ingredients:

5 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
200 g caster sugar
1 cup yoghurt
340 g self-raising flour
50 g cocoa powder
2 medium courgettes, grated

200 g soft cheese
100 g caster sugar
40 mint leaves

chocolate chips, to decorate

Method:

- preheat the oven to 180'C/fan 160'C and place the butter in a heat proof bowl in the oven to melt
- beat the eggs with the sugar, the yoghurt and the melted butter
- mix the flour and the cocoa powder
- stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture to the count of 10
- add the courgettes and stir 3 more times - don't worry if you can still see bits of flour
- line two muffin trays with cupcake cases and fill them up to two thirds with the mixture
- bake in the oven for 20 minutes
- let them rest in the muffin tray for 5 minutes, then allow to cool on a rack before icing

- while the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the icing: mince the mint leaves with a stick blender, then stir in the cream cheese and the sugar
- use a piping bag to ice the cupcakes and sprinkle with chocolate chips

And a few tips:
- the chocolate and courgettes cupcakes work really well on their own too, without icing, as the courgette makes them really moist
- when you're icing, make sure you press down the mixture in the piping bag, so there are no bubbles

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Five-a-day treats: Blueberry biscuits

Handy for summer travel: quick to make, and chewing the oats will keep little mouths occupied for a while. I created the original recipe when my son was a baby, so it didn't have any sugar. It was only during the Little Chefs course on Friday that one of the mums pointed out the lack of sugar - so, as we were catering for toddlers, we sprinkled some on top of the biscuits. It's optional however, for those with not so much of a sweet tooth, the banana might be sufficient!

For 10 large biscuits:

Ingredients:

110 g butter, melted

2 bananas

1 egg

85 g plain flour

55 g small oat flakes

handful of blueberries

caster sugar, to sprinkle (optional)

Method:

- preheat the oven to 180'C/fan 160'C and line two baking trays with baking paper

- mash the bananas with a fork

- mix mashed bananas, melted butter and egg

- mix flour and oatflakes

- stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones to the count of 10 - bits of flour showing is not a problem

- add the blueberries and stir 3 more times

- spoon the mixture onto the baking paper, leaving plenty of space between biscuits - one heaped tablespoon of mixture will make one biscuit

- sprinkle with caster sugar, if using and bake in the oven for 20 minutes

And a few tips:

- to melt the butter, place it in the preheating oven (if you don't have a microwave oven, like me)

- raspberries work well too, and dried fruit in the winter should be worth a try

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Five-a-day treats: Polka dot asparagus tarts

Ok, so the tarts don't have polka dots on the photo. The point is that this recipe has the potential to have polka dots, but you might have to do the relevant bit yourself and not leave it to your toddler. The Little Chefs got a bit heavy handed with the asparagus bits, but on the plus side, the less than perfect look did not stop them from eating up all these healthy treats!

For 24 tarts

Ingredients:

250 g plain flour
125 g cold butter
1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt
Cold water

Or 250 g shop bought shortcrust pastry

300 g asparagus
300 ml double cream
2 eggs, beaten
100 g Gruyère cheese, grated

Method:

- cut the butter into cubes and mix with the flour with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs
- mix in pinch of salt and egg yolk until it comes together as a ball of dough - add a drop of water if necessary
- chill in the fridge for 20 minutes
- or remove packaging from ready made pastry

- preheat oven to 180'C / fan 160'C
- place paper muffin cases into the holes of two muffin trays
- roll out the pastry and cut out circles with a pastry cutter larger than the holes of the muffin tray
- place a pastry circle in each paper case and press them down so they come up at the sides and form a pastry case
- blind bake for 15 minutes

- in the meantime, steam the asparagus for 5 minutes
- puree about half of the asparagus with a stick blender
- chop the remaining asparagus into 1 cm slices
- mix the cream, cheese, eggs and asparagus puree
- spoon the mixture into the blind baked pastry cases
- place a few asparagus slices in each tart, so that the cut (round) ends face upwards
- bake for 20 minutes until golden on top

And a few tips:
- my way of blind baking the tarts was to place baking beans in paper muffin cases and put one on top of each tart - this recipe is pretty fiddly if you do it from scratch, so don't expect your toddler to be eager to participate throughout the whole process: it might be a good idea to make the dough together and then leave it in the fridge and do the filling later
- I'm not sure it's entirely necessary to blind bake: please let me know if you have experience doing it without
- the asparagus has quite a delicate taste, so it works well if you add some extra strong tasting ingredients, such as red onions or bacon - I would fry these before you add them to the filling

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Five-a-day treats: Carrot muffins

In the next few weeks we'll be trying out a few vegetable based recipes, all of which hopefully will be fun to make and to eat. This week we started with carrot muffins - for added attractiveness we baked them in butterfly- and bug-shaped cake moulds. 

For 8 muffins

Ingredients:

200 g self raising flour
175 g light brown sugar
2 teaspoons mixed spice
Zest of 1 orange
2 eggs, beaten
150 g melted butter
200 g grated carrots

Method:

- preheat the oven to 180'C/fan 160'C and line a muffin tray with paper cases
- mix the flour, sugar, mixed spice and orange zest in a large bowl
- mix eggs and melted butter in another bowl
- add egg mixture to dry ingredients, mix till just about combined, then stir in grated carrots
- spoon equal amounts of batter into each muffin case and bake for 20 minutes

And a few tips:
- butternut squash works equally well instead of carrots
- toddlers don't tend to overmix the batter - make sure you let them do the mixing, the lumpier the mixture, the lighter your muffin will be

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Pastry course part 3: Filling and rolling up - Cheese swirls

The cheese swirl recipe.

For 15 swirls

Ingredients:

Packet of ready rolled puff pastry
125 g Red Leicester, grated

Tomato sauce
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped small
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 sweet red pepper, chopped small
3 tomatoes, chopped small
2 tablespoons of concentrated tomato puree
1 teaspoon of dried oregano

Method:

- prepare the tomato sauce: fry the onions on medium low heat in the olive oil till soft
- add garlic and red pepper, fry for another few minutes
- add tomatoes, tomato puree and oregano, and fry until all vegetables are soft (if it starts to burn, add a little water)
- puree with a stick blender and allow to cool
- preheat the oven to 200'C/fan oven 180'C

- roll out the puff pastry leaving it on its plastic packaging (blue if you buy the Jus-Rol pastry), it will make it easier to move it later plus no need to flour your surface
- spread the tomato sauce evenly, leaving a 1 cm rim all around
- sprinkle on the cheese evenly
- roll the pastry back up, starting at a longer end, and as tightly as possible
- lift it by the plastic sheet underneath and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes
- meanwhile, line a baking tray with baking paper
- move the chilled roll onto a chopping board and discard the plastic wrapping
- with a very sharp knife, cut the roll into 15 slices and arrange them on the baking tray, allowing them space to expand while cooking
- bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes
- allow to cool for 10 minutes before eating

And a few tips:
- leave the pastry in the fridge until you're ready to roll it out
- our swirls only had tomato sauce and cheese, but you can add many things to the filling, just make sure you've chopped them small, eg chorizo, ham, olives, sweetcorn etc - if it's too big pieces, your swirls will fall apart
- if your extra fillings need cooking, like pancetta or courgettes, cook them with the sauce, otherwise just sprinkle them on before you sprinkle the cheese
- I make these sometimes when we go travelling, as they're filling and easy to hold, even for my baby
  
*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Pastry course part 2: Rolling out and cutting - Hazelnut biscuits

Here is the recipe if you'd like to make the biscuits yourself. It's adapted from a family recipe.

For 20-30 biscuits

Ingredients:

150 g whole hazelnuts
300 g self raising flour
150 g caster sugar
200 g cold butter
2 eggs

Topping
Nutella
Crushed hazelnuts or flaked almonds
Icing pens

Method:

- heat a frying pan to medium hot and toast the hazelnuts till they slightly colour
- crush them finely in a food processor or if you don't have one, arrange them in a single layer in a ziplock bag, cover with a tea towel and hammer with a meat pounder or similar till they are finely crushed
- mix eggs with sugar
- in another bowl mix the butter and flour with your hands until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs
- pour it all together, add the hazelnuts and stir with a spoon till combined
- spoon the mixture into a clear plastic bag, close the bag and shape the whole thing into a ball
- chill in the fridge for at least two hours, preferably overnight

- when you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180'C/fan 160'C and line two baking trays with baking paper
- dust with flour your worktop, rolling pin and biscuit cutters
- cut up the plastic bag with scissors to get the pastry out
- roll out the pastry to 3 mm thick, cut different shapes and place them on the baking trays
- bake one tray at a time in the oven for 10 minutes, or until golden on top

- when they've cooled down, spread Nutella on top and sprinkle with nuts or draw on them with icing pens

And a few tips:
- the quicker you roll out and cut, the easier it is, because when the pastry warms up, it gets sticky. When it's too sticky, roll it back in a ball and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes
- for the same reason, before you roll it out, cut the pastry ball into two, and if you're baking alone, put one half back in the fridge so it stays cold while you deal with the other half

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*

Pastry course part 1: Measuring and mixing - Cupcakes

Here's the recipe of the cupcakes we used this week. It's adapted from Nigella Lawson's cupcake recipe.

For 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

180 g self raising flour
180 g caster sugar
180 g unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk

Icing (not too sugary so kids don't go crazy)
300 g cream cheese
150 g unsalted butter on room temperature
45 g caster sugar

Decorations
We used jelly beans and chocolate beans as I had these leftover from Christmas but for healthier options try:
Nuts - whole or crushed
Berries (if you use them, eat the cupcakes quickly, they don't store well)
Chocolate chips
Slices of apple, banana etc
Breakfast cereals

Method:

- preheat oven to 200'C/ fan oven 180'C
- line muffin tray with cupcake cases
- measure out all the ingredients
- soften the butter
- cream softened butter with sugar
- add eggs one at a time
- add vanilla extract
- fold in flour
- add milk
- spoon into cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 minutes

- remove cupcakes from tin and leave to cool
- meanwhile mix icing ingredients till smooth
- ice cupcakes and decorate

And a few tips:
- let eggs and butter come to room temperature before you start (if baking in the afternoon, leave them out in the morning)
- if like me you don't have a microwave oven, cut the butter in cubes and put it in the preheating oven for a few minutes to soften

*The bold text in the recipe shows the steps that the Little Chefs did (with supervision).*