Graveyard Cupcakes #SundaySupper

Hi Everyone,

I am Getting ready for Halloween. I have a fabulous, easy cupcake recipe for you that will please kids and adults of all ages. They are my ohhhh so scary Graveyard Cupcakes. Okay, I don’t think they are scary, but kind of cute. I’ll let you be the judge. Check out these cuties.

Aren’t they a adorable? They are a scrumptious, chocolate, moist cupcake that is topped with a sweet buttercream frosting and decorated for Halloween. The decorations are very easy to make too. I love that about them. Let me share with you the making of these Halloween gems.

The first thing I do is gather all of my ingredients together. It makes it so much easier when putting everything together. Here are the ingredients for the cupcakes. I used Dixie Crystals Sugar, a Southern favorite brand that has been around since 1917. Plus, I used an egg, milk, melted butter for moisture and of course flour, salt and baking soda. For a little bit of flavor, I used vanilla extract. Love my vanilla extract. Gives it such a nice flavor in chocolate.

I used just a mixing bowl, and whisked everything together. I did all I could to keep my fingers out of the bowl. The chocolate is so rich and decadent and with Dixie Sugar it added a very nice sweetness to the cupcakes. Here are the cupcakes before going into the oven.

The cupcakes take about 15 minutes to make. They smell amazing. While the cupcakes were cooling I used the time to prep for the decorations. By the time I was done the cupcakes were cool enough to frost. For the decorations, I used a Chocolate Sandwich Cookies for the dirt. I scraped out the frosting in the center of the cookie and pulsed the wafer portion of the cookie sandwich in my mini food processor to make it look like dirt. I used oblong cookies for the tombstone. I used a serrated knife to trim the bottoms of the cookie and with a black frosting pen I wrote RIP. Pretty cool. Then I used Gummy Sculls and Pumpkin Candies for extra decorations. I love the look of the little pumpkins.

The next step was to make the frosting. I used 2 sticks of softened butter, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 3 1/2 cups of Dixie Crystals Powdered Sugar. For the green color, I used a few drops of green food coloring. I used green to look like grass. I beat everything together until was the consistency that I wanted.

I got my assembly line all ready to go. I frosted 3 cupcakes at a time and then added my decorations. I found it easier doing it this way. Decorating was easy. I frosted the cupcakes with a thin layer of frosting. I didn’t want to make it to high, since I was adding decorations to it. I made a slight slit in the back of the cupcake to fit the tombstone, added a little bit of pulsed cookies for the dirt and then added my pumpkin or scull next to the tombstone and put in a Happy Halloween sign. It was really fun to make.

This would be a fantastic recipe to make with kids. they would have a blast decorating the cupcakes. You can find more fun ideas on Dixie Crystals Sugar website Kids in the Kitchen section. They even have recipes on how to make homemade colored bath crayons. I don’t think you need to have kids to make these? I want to make them. You should check it out!

I have to say I am really proud of these cupcakes. I am not a food decorator person. I am not good at frosting or decorating. I try and it comes out messy. So with these cupcakes, I am proud to say I made them. They are so pretty I don’t even want to eat them.

Graveyard Cupcakes #SundaySupper

Author: Jennifer Drummond

Recipe type: Cupcakes

Cuisine: American

Prep time: 60 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

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Rich, decadent chocolate cupcakes topped with a sweet vanilla buttercream frosting topped with simple to make Halloween decorations.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:
1 cup + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ cups Dixie Crystals Pure Cane Sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup milk (I used non-fat)
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 black cupcake liners
Frosting:
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
3 ½ cups Dixie Crystals Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3 - 5 drops green food coloring
Decorations:
12 pumpkin candies or 12 Gummy Skulls
9 chocolate sandwich cookies, with center frosting removed
12 oblong cookies to make tombstone (I used Milano’s)
1 black frosting pen to write RIP on cookie
12 Halloween Signs (optional)

Instructions

To make cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the Dixie Crystals Pure Cane Sugar and egg until smooth. Add vanilla extract, milk and butter. Mix until well combined. Mix in flour mixture until no lumps remain.
Evenly divide the cupcake batter into the prepared cupcake baking pan. Bake in oven for 15 - 18 minutes. Insert a toothpick to the center of the cupcake. If it comes out clean, it is done.
Let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Take out of pan and put on a cooling rack to cool completely.
While cupcakes are cooling you can prepare the decorations.
For the dirt: Take the frosting out of the center of the chocolate sandwich cookie. Discard the frosting (or eat it) and take the chocolate cookie wafers and pulse in a mini food processor or place in a baggie and with a rolling pin, roll over cookies until a fine powder.
For the tombstone: With a serrated knife; cut off the bottoms of the oblong (Milano's) cookie to make a flat edge. I put the cookie next to the cupcake to see what size would look best. I cut off about a ½". With the black frosting pen, write RiP on the tombstone.
To make frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat together softened butter, Dixie Crystals Powered Sugar, and vanilla extract; until a creamy constancy; about 3 minutes. Add 4 - 5 drops of food coloring to get the green color you desire; make sure it is beat in well.
To put together cupcakes:
Frost the cupcakes with a butter knife. Add a small slit in the back of the cupcake and add the tombstone. Take ½ teaspoon of the dirt (pulsed chocolate cookie) and lay in the front of the tombstone. Add the pumpkin or gummy skull near the tombstone. Place Happy Halloween sign into cupcake.

Notes

I had plenty of leftover frosting and cookie crumbs (The dirt). Just make use for another purpose.

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I had such a great time making these cupcakes. I am really excited to see what everyone else is making for Halloween Treats. Make sure you check out what the #SundaySupper gang put together. If you’re looking for more fun recipes, check out Dixie Crystals.com. There are 1000’s of recipe, videos and cookbooks to inspire you to create something awesome this upcoming holiday season.

Dixie Crystals is having a fun contest called Scary Scramble. Just unscramble the recipe name and you could win a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. It is a fun contest and a great prize. The contest runs until October 19th. For more information just go to http://www.dixiecrystals.com/scaryscramble.

For more information about Dixie Crystals you can check out these links:

Website: http://www.dixiecrystals.com/
Additional site link: Kids in the Kitchen landing page
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DixieCrystalsSugar
Google+:https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DixiecrystalsSugarProducts/posts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dixie_crystals/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dixiecrystals/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DixieCrystals

Have a great Sunday and a wonderful week.

Toodles,

Jennifer

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