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Saturday 1 November 2014

Happy Halloween - Eyeball Cupcakes and Gingerbread Skeletons


I have always loved Halloween, as a child I loved dressing as a witch going door to door asking for sweets. Now I'm too old (and scary) to go trick or treating so I make up for it by baking lots of creepy treats.

Halloween baking is all about the decoration and I had great fun making Eyeball Cupcakes and Gingerbread Skeletons this year.


These Eyeball Cupcakes are so simple they're a bit of a cheat. I bought some eyeball gummy sweets but you could easily make some eyeballs from fondant. Then choose your favourite cupcake recipe, I went for Chocolate Orange Cupcakes


The Gingerbread Skeletons are a great twist on the traditional gingerbread man. I used my simple Gingerbread recipe and decorated by piping melted white chocolate (100g was enough for all of the skeletons) but you could also use writing icing.

Simple Gingerbread Recipe

I love gingerbread. It took a while to find, but finally I have a foolproof gingerbread recipe. Perfect for spooky Gingerbread Skeletons for Halloween or the classic Gingerbread House at Christmas.

Ingredients

225 g (8oz) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
85 g (3oz) margarine
85 g (3oz) soft brown sugar
85 g (3oz) golden syrup


Method
  1. Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl or food processor and mix together to form a soft dough.
  2. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 75mm (¼ inch). Cut into shapes using cookie cutters or a knife. I find it easiest to roll and cut the shapes on greaseproof paper so that you don't have trouble transferring to your baking tray.
  3. Pop on the baking trays and bake in the centre of preheated oven at 210°C, 190°C fan, Gas mark 7 for about 10 minutes. Check that the shapes are not scorching after about 6 minutes. They are ready once lightly golden brown.