Broken Glass Cupcakes

Happy Halloween everyone!!

In honor of the holiday I decided to make bloody broken glass cupcakes.

Here is the result:

Sugar Glass Materials:
3 1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
2 cups Water
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Candy Thermometer
Foil lined baking sheet
2 qt pot

Red Velvet Cupcake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*
1 tsp baking powder
2 heaping tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
 *Instead of cake flour I substituted 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour - 5 Tbsps, with 5 Tbsps cornstarch ( Here are step by step instructions http://joythebaker.com/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

Blood (red simple syrup) Ingredients:
1 cup Water
1 cup Sugar
Red food coloring

Making the sugar glass:

Mix all ingredients in the pot.  Bring to a boil.  Insert candy thermometer to check temperature.  In order to harden to glass the sugar mixture must reach hard crack stage (300F).  This will take about and hour.  Remove from heat and immediately pour into the foil lined baking sheet.  Let cool for about an hour and then place in refrigerator.  Then I used a hammer covered with a paper towel to crack glass into shards.  If you do not own a candy thermometer you can estimate it by the mixture starting to turn yellow and this website will also help http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html.
Also here is a good video on how to make sugar glass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdUSLucEz4g

 Making the Cupcakes (Adapted from http://pinchmysalt.com/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/):
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt into a medium bowl.  In a glass measuring cup, mix food coloring and 1 cup buttermilk.  In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with flour mixture. Beat until well combined.  Next mix vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl.  Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine.  Fill cupcake cups 3/4 full with cake batter.  Bake for approximately 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe makes ~22 cupcakes.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting:
Blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth, I used a stand mixer.  Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy.  More powdered sugar can be added if the frosting is not stiff enough.

Making the Simple Syrup:
Mix water and sugar together in a small pot, add a few drops red food coloring.  Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil.  Then simmer for ~ 6 min.  Cool and then refrigerate before use.

When cupcakes are completely cool, use frosting knife to create a mound of frosting on top of cupcake. Next arrange a few pieces of sugar glass on top.

Then splatter simple syrup on cupcakes and glass.  ( I promise it does wash off!)  Store cupcakes in fridge until ready to serve.  The sugar glass will melt and become more sticky if left out for too long.

Enjoy these bloody cupcakes!

I hope everyone is staying safe after Hurricane Sandy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

It's fall and time for all the delicious pumpkin recipes!

These are my favorite pumpkin cupcakes!  I found them in the book Hello Cupcake! pictured below.  Here is the Hello Cupcake website: http://www.hellocupcakebook.com/Hello_Cupcake_Book.html

Supplies
24 Orange cupcake liners
4 Green Twizzlers (1 Twizzlers Rainbow twists package)
1 package Green Apple Twizzlers Pull n' Peel
Orange Food coloring (If you can't find it red and yellow will work)
1 cup Orange decorating sugar
2 cans of vanilla frosting (I used Pillsbury Halloween frosting because it is already orange)

Cake ingredients
1 box French vanilla cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs


In a large bowl combine all the cake ingredients.  Mix according to directions on box.  Pour batter into lined cupcake pans. Bake for approximately 20 min.

When frosting the cupcakes make a mound so that it will be rounded like the top of a pumpkin.  If using white vanilla frosting add food coloring to make the frosting light orange.

Next pour the orange decorating sugar into a small bowl.  Dip frosted cupcakes into the bowl and coat with sugar.

Then use the food coloring to make the remaining frosting a darker orange.  Using a toothpick make 5-6 indentations for the lines of the pumpkin.  Fill the indentations with the darker orange frosting (I used a piping bag).  Next cut the green Twizzlers to make stems for the pumpkins.  And for the finishing touch use the Pull n' Peel Twizzlers to  create the vines.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!  Check out Hello Cupcake!  for more delicious recipes and great cupcake decorating!