These Halloween cupcakes are mottled with orange and black, making for an awesome display once you bit them open - plus they're super simple to make, and they'll impress everyone who lays eyes on them. I recommend picking up some Halloween sugar decorations from your local baking shop to make them extra cute! You can find black food coloring for your Halloween cupcakes at professional cake shops, or else try large-scale culinary chains like Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma. If all else fails, you can buy it mail order from places like Amazon.com's Gourmet or Home and Garden sections. I use the black tube from my AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color Kit, which I picked up at a cake decorating store a while back. I love this stuff! I have so many colors to work with and it's unbelievable fun. Makes 12 cupcakes.
6dropsorange food coloring(or more to get the color you want)
8dropsblack food coloring(or more to get the color you want)
Buttercream frosting(recipe below)
Orange and black buttercream frosting
3 1/4cupspowdered sugar
1cupbutter, at room temperature
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
6dropsorange food coloring
8dropsblack food coloring(optional)
Milkto adjust consistency
Instructions
How to make gluten-free Halloween cupcakes
Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F (176°C).
Place cupcake liners in a pan large enough to hold 12 cupcakes.
In a medium-sized bowl, stir together gluten free flour mix, salt, baking powder and xanthan gum. Mix well.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed. Mix for about one minute.
To sugar and egg mixture, use a spoon to gently stir in oil, milk, and vanilla.
Add the dry flour ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat with an electric mixer for one minute at medium speed.
Divide batter into two equal portions, pouring them into two separate bowls. Into one half of the batter mix the orange food coloring and beat well. Into the second half mix the black food coloring and beat well.
Using large spoons - such as tablespoons or soup spoons - start layering the colored batters into the cupcake cups until they are 2/3 full. Take a butter knife and gently swirl the colors together a tiny bit. Don't mix them too much, or you will just end up with gray cupcakes! They key is to just create a few swirls within the batter so that they look interested when you bites into them.
Place pan in oven on center rack. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a rack for five minute before removing cupcakes from pan. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on rack before frosting.
Pipe on buttercream frosting. Decorate with Halloween decorations of your choice.
How to make orange and black buttercream frosting
With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes.
Add vanilla, beating on medium for 30 seconds.
If you want a thinner frosting, beat in milk one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. If you want thicker frosting, mix in more powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time until it's as thick as you like.
If you all orange frosting, beat in orange food coloring until well mixed. If you want two-toned frosting like in the photos below, divide the frosting into two portions and beat orange coloring into one half and black food coloring into the other half.
Place a piping tip into your pastry bag and lay the bag on its side. Spread orange frosting along one half of the bag, making sure to not fill up more than half of the bag.
Now slide your black frosting into the bag, on top of the orange, so that they are one on top of the other. It should look like this (please forgive the terrible illustration - I'm a cook, not a graphic designer!):
Now twist your piping bag like you would normally do, and pipe a swirl onto your Halloween cupcakes. Here's a piping tutorial just in case.