Creating and sharing magic!

Hidden Pumpkin Cupcakes

The spookiest day of the year is now just around the corner, and while I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween, I love a good bit of baking, and I can’t believe I’ve never shared this recipe before!

With one of my cousins having her birthday on the 29th, I have been baking Halloween themed treats for her birthday parties for years now, and it was actually 5 years ago that I came up with these surprise centre cuties, and now you can make them too!

For 12-15 cupcakes, you will need:

125g caster sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
105g self-raising flour
20g cocoa powder
Plus..
65g caster sugar
65g butter
1 egg
65g self raising flour
Orange food colouring
Orange flavouring (optional)
Green candy melts
Your favourite chocolate frosting

You’ll also need a cupcake tray and either a cake pop machine or a cake pop baking mould!

Pre-heat your oven to 190C and start by making your little pumpkin balls! Cream the 65g butter and caster sugar together, then whisk in the egg and add the flour. Once the mixture is smooth, add the orange food colouring and flavouring. Bake for 10 mins, or as per your cake pop machine’s instructions – I think mine takes about 6 mins!

Let these cool, and use the remainder of the ingredients to make the chocolate cupcake mix using the same method. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases, and place one orange cake ball in the centre of the case, then using a teaspoon, add chocolate mix around the edge of the pumpkin – its ok if the top of the pumpkin isn’t covered because the cake will rise around it!

Bake for 12-15 mins, and while baking, chop the candy melt buttons into thin strips – it doesn’t matter if these aren’t perfect! Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool for about 5 mins, then carefully push each little green strip into the centre of the pumpkin, and then allow them to cool fully before icing. I personally like to keep the icing simple so it doesn’t give away the surprise inside, but you can find your own style!

Then sit back and watch the amazement when your unsuspecting consumers discover they’ve just bitten into a pumpkin!

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October 21, 2017Lottie 3 Comments

DIY Hidden Mickey Loaf Cake

Not everyone is aware of the hidden Mickey, which is part of the beauty of it really.

But the clever folks over at Disney HQ have managed to sneak thousands of the little guys into pretty much every aspect of Disney life; you can find them all over the Disney parks and snuck into the films in the strangest of places.

And while artsy stuff isn’t my strong point, cake is. So I made this:

Hidden Mickey cake!

And you can do it to 🙂

You will need:

250g butter, 250g caster sugar, 5 eggs, 30g cocoa powder, 220g self raising flour, vanilla extract and your favourite frosting

a loaf tin and a swiss roll tin, both greased and lined with baking paper

a mickey mouse shaped cookie cutter

an oven preheated to 180C

First things first, cream together 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, then beat in 3 eggs. Stir together the 30g cocoa powder and 120g self-raising flour and whisk into the mix. Boom, chocolate cake batter!

Pour this into your pre-prepared swiss roll tin, and spread to the edges using a spatula, making sure it is smooth all over.

If you don’t own a swiss roll tin, you can always bake a chocolate cake in a regular cake tin, it just may need leveling off before the next step.

Bake for 10 mins until the cake springs back when lightly poked 🙂

Once cooled, take your Mickey cutter and go to town on it!

Depending on the thickness of your cake, you may find you get enough Mickeys out of it for a second loaf.

Now for the slightly trickier bit.. Line up your Mickeys in the centre of your prepared loaf tin so that they are tightly packed and less likely to slip out of place.

You’re aiming for a sort of Mickey sausage!

Then cream together the remaining 100g butter, 100g sugar, a tsp or so of vanilla extract and 2 eggs, and mix in the 100g self-raising flour to make the surrounding batter.

Slowly pour the mix over the Mickeys and spread evenly across the tin. You’ll probably find the Mickey ears are a little taller than the rest, but this will be fine once the cake has risen!

Bake for approx. 20 mins, until the cake springs bake when touched or a skewer inserted down the sides comes out clean.

Once cooled decorate as you wish 🙂 I always like to decorate my hidden surprise cakes so they hint at the centre, but don’t give it away just yet!