Vegan Gluten-free Halloween Cupcakes

Method for the Bloody Knives

1. Flour a clean surface with a small amount of cornflour.
2. Add a sprinkle of CMC powder to your fondants and massage thoroughly.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll out your grey and black fondants to around 1 mm thickness.
4. Using a paring knife, cut out 12 small rectangles that look like the blade of a butcher’s knife.
5. Using a paring knife, cut out 12 long strips that look like the handle of a butcher’s Knife.
6. Join the handles to the blades. You can glue them by wetting the join with the tiniest amount of water or mix together some CMC powder with water to make some glue.
7. Push the white circles into the top left corner of the knives. This step is optional.
8. Allow these to harden for at least a few hours or overnight.

Method for Cupcakes

1. Preheat your conventional oven to 200C/392F and line 2 cupcake trays with cupcake liners
2. In a large mixing bowl sieve all dry ingredients together and mix with a whisk to combine. Make a well in the middle of your flour.
3. In a large jug, mix all wet ingredients together.
4. Pour liquid into a flour bowl and beat together with a hand mixer until just combined on a low speed.
5. Use an ice cream scooper to evenly distribute batter into your cupcake trays. You should only fill them ¾ of the way up. This is around one large ice-cream scoop.
6. Turn your oven down to 185C/365F and bake on the top rack of your oven for 15 – 17 minutes. The tops should bounce back when you touch them, this is when you should take them out of the oven.
7. Allow to completely cool down before decorating.

Method for Bloody Filling

1. Add all ingredients except for cornflour to a large pot and bring to a simmer. Mix cornflour with a few tbsp of cold water in a separate bowl.
2. Gently simmer on a lower heat for 5-10 mins until it’s lost about 1/3 of its original liquid, then vigorously stir through cornflour paste until it thickens.
3. Once the filling has thickened, remove from heat and pour into a strainer over a large bowl. Push it through so the seeds are all that’s left in the strainer.
4. Place the bowl into the fridge or freezer to cool down the filling. It needs to be cold before you can use it otherwise it’s going to melt your buttercream.

Method for Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Sieve your icing sugar into a bowl and set aside.
2. Using a standard mixer with a paddle attachment beat butter for 5 minutes or until it’s super smooth with no lumps.
3. Place the cream cheese in a heatproof bowl and warm in the microwave until it is soft to touch – try 10 seconds.
4. Beat cream cheese separately for a few minutes to soften and break up. Add to butter mixture and beat on low for 10 minutes until completely smooth.
5. Slowly add icing sugar on lowest speed to begin to incorporate. Once completely mixed, add vanilla, lemon and salt.
6. You can now use it to decorate cakes or cupcakes. If you would like a firmer mixture leave in the fridge to firm up.

Method for Bloody Drip

1. Place glucose syrup in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to make it really runny.
2. In a small bowl mix all ingredients together. Allow to cool down a little as you don’t want it to melt the buttercream. Once it starts to kinda clot that’s when you can use it.

Method for Assembling Cupcakes

1. Using an apple corer, remove the centre of the cupcake ¾ of the way down.
2. Fill with bloody filling.
3. Using a piping bag with a 2D star nozzle, pipe buttercream onto the top of each cupcake.
4. Using a small spoon, spoon some of the blood onto the very top of the cupcake and let it drizzle down.
5. Push a knife into the centre of the blood.