
I forgot to post about my living dead cupcakes!

Again, I let Halloween come and go without getting a costume together. I got a blonde wig and then had to decide between costume making or cupcake making. Sugar won!
I'll need to do what the rest of my family does- plan one year in advance. They already know the theme of next years party: zombies! grrrr.arrrrg. This year, it was The Adventurer's Club, the year before it was 'Classic Costumes', and before that, 'Night at the Museum'. How fun, right?
My plan for 'Living Dead Cupcakes':
1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 jar cherry preserves
1 tub white frosting ( I know, Danica, I know!!!) + black and green food coloring, plus black writing gel
Cinnamon red hots
I wanted to put a dollop of red jam in the middle of the cupcake for blood. My friend who has made vegan 'jelly donut' cupcakes before walked me through this endeavor. Her advice is as follows:
Fill the cupcake liner 1/2 to 3/4 way full of cake batter (but no higher, we want a flat top)
Spend a minute or two stirring some of your jam in a bowl ( I used a sprinkle of water, as well). This makes a better jelly consistency.
Dollop 1 teaspoon of jam into the center of the batter. More jam will sink.
Bake cupcakes
They should come out not having sunk outside of the cake.
To make the mummies, I originally wanted to try decorating with fondant strips. But, getting tired and not wanting to make another stop after the grocery store, I picked the next best white and edible thing: marshmallows. After the fact, a pastry chef friend of mine suggested microwaving marshmallows for up to 10 seconds to get them more malleable, but I just flattened them (using flour so the sticky bits didn't over complicate it). When they were flat, I cut them into mummy strips and positioned them on the baked and frosted cupcakes, with cinnamon evil eyes and a gel mouth.
The Frankenstein's Monsters and Ghosties were a last minute addition to the batch, because I didn't want to be flattening and cutting marshmallows all morning.
I really liked buying and using black food coloring (not pictured were some gravestone 'RIP' cupcakes). I'll have to try that in another project soon.







