Maleficent Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes with a dusky pink vanilla frosting and edible black horns - these Disney Maleficent cupcakes are perfect Halloween treats!
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories: 326kcal
Equipment
- Piping bag* optional
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
- 1 egg
- 65 ml vegetable oil or other neutral oil e.g. sunflower
- 125 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 165 g white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 140 g plain all-purpose flour
- 45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 75 ml hot coffee or 2tsp instant coffee dissolved in 75ml hot water
Horns topper
- 70 g black fondant icing
Dusky pink buttercream
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 350 g powdered icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon milk
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
- Dusky pink food colouring or purple/blue plus red/pink
Instructions
Chocolate cupcakes
- Pre-heat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, oil, vanilla, sugar and milk together until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, sieve in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder and whisk them together.
- Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring together as you pour until just combined. There may be a few small lumps left, but that’s ok.
- Slowly add in the hot coffee (fresh or instant), mixing as you pour until the liquid has only just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases in the muffin tin and bake for 15-20mins until risen and springy to the touch. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.
Horns toppers
- While your cupcakes bake and cool, make your horn decorations. Pinch off a grape-sized piece of black fondant and split it into two.
- Roll one half into a log on a flat surface using your fingers. It should be roughly 2 inches long and thicker at one end than the other.
- Pinch the thinner end to make a sharp point then bend and twist the log into a wavy shape.
- Repeat with the other half, twisting into an opposite wave to make a matching pair. Place the horns on a lined plate or tray.
- Repeat the above two steps until you have enough pairs of horns for your cupcakes. Leave the tray of horns uncovered at room temperature to dry out slightly while you make the buttercream.
Dusky pink buttercream
- Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
- Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of icing sugar.
- Add in the vanilla extract, salt and milk, then mix until smooth.
- Stir in the food colouring, a few drops at a time, until you get the desired colour.
Assembly
- Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice (e.g. large open star) and pipe large swirls onto each cupcake.
- Push two horns into your cupcakes and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Servings: Makes 10-12 cupcakes depending on cupcake case size.
Storage: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Note - the horns might soften over time so serve as soon as possible to avoid droopy horns!
Freezing: Freeze your cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted, but not decorated) for up to 3 months before defrosting and decorating with horns.
Substitutions:
- I use a mix of purple and red food colouring to get the dusky pink-purple shade. You can use a mix of red and blue, or a dusky pink food colouring.
- You can swap the plain flour for self-raising flour of the same amount and exclude the baking powder.
- I like to use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip, but you can use any tip of your choice
Nutrition
Calories: 326kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 110mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 354IU | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 1mg