Halloween has always felt like a borrowed tradition in Australia. While much of the world imagines crackling fires, bare trees and piles of brittle leaves, we’re watching the garden burst into life. Rather than fight the season with pumpkins and pecans, I’ve baked dark-chocolate cupcakes and topped them with a deliciously tangy, cream-cheese icing.
The Halloween spirit comes from the finishing touches that transform them into delightfully spooky treats. They’re simple to decorate, great fun to make and guaranteed to disappear quickly.
120ml sunflower or other neutral oil
70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Combine cocoa powders, the coffee and hot water in a small bowl and stir until a thick, smooth paste forms. Set aside to “bloom”.
Line a 12-hole regular muffin tin with paper cases and heat the oven to 170C fan-forced (190C conventional).
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars until smooth. Add the oil, kefir and vanilla and whisk until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the sifted, dry ingredients, add the cocoa paste and whisk until the batter is smooth and fully incorporated. It will be a fairly runny batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the paper cases (50-60g each; I like to use a large, latch-release ice-cream scoop for this), then bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely before icing.
For the icing, place the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed for a minute or two, then increase to medium-high speed and continue to beat until pale and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the vanilla and salt and beat just until combined. If the mixture is runny, refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm up before using.
Peel the paper liners from the cooled cupcakes, then pipe or spoon a generous mound of cream-cheese icing onto each one (about 30g), leaving a narrow border of the black cake visible around the edge.
Decorate with a selection of Halloween sweets. I like to scatter over a little “chocolate soil” made from a crushed Flake, then finish with a tangle of gummy worms, a cluster of candy eyeballs, chocolate tombstones or candy corn. There are no rules here: the more playful, the better!
*Tip: Black cocoa is a heavily alkalised cocoa powder that gives these cupcakes their deep-black colour. If you can’t find it, simply add the same quantity of Dutch-processed cocoa instead. The cakes won’t be quite as dramatically dark, but will be just as delicious.
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