We've had a ghoulishly great weekend here at The hak chouf English Kitchen over these past couple of days!! The people at Ladbrokes sent me out a horrifically fabulous Halloween baking pack to help celebrate the launch of their new Trick or Treat slot game. Early Friday morning there was a knock on my door . . . "What did you order now?" was the Toddster's response as he carried a huge box into our lounge. I was quite happy to tell him nothing, but that waiting inside this box was a load of Halloween goodies for us to play with. As you can imagine he was thrilled beyond measure!
Included in the pack were all sorts of goodies . . . Halloween cookie cutters . . . bats and ghosts and pumpkins, oh my! Lots of colored candy cupcake sprinkles in shades of black and orange. Black and orange candy shots . . . perfect to grace spookily iced teatime delights. Rice paper bats and spiders . . .perfect for gracing the top of cakes and bakes.
Candy ghosts and bats and pumpkins . . . just the right size for plopping onto the tops of the cupcakes we baked. So cute and yet . . . perfectly spooky.
A black silicone cupcake baker was included along with this brightly colored and ghoulishly delightful cupcake stand.
A little book of Halloween treats . . . filled with lots of creepy cookies, and glittery ghosts . . .
Pumpkin pies and witches hats . . . eye ball cookies and severed fingers galore.
A whole plethora of spooky delights . . . more treat than trick!
And that was not all, no that was not all . . . there was also another delightfully spooky book filled with lots of weird and wonderful cupcakes . . .beating hearts, and crawling brains . . . and shards of glass . . .to name but a few . . .
And bloodied bones. Lots of terrifyingly delicious fun for the young and old alike.
There was even a perfectly ghastly apron included for some lucky baker to wear! It fit my spooky master chef as if it had been made just for him!
The Toddster was right in his glory. He does like to bake up a treat from time to time . . . and he just couldn't resist that apron or these lovely cupcakes that we made and decorated together.
Plain vanilla, but oh those toppings dressed them up right finely, and they looked so cute on that bewitching stand! The cakes may be a little lop-sided . . . but ooooohhhh 'tis Halloween, you would expect things to be a little bit out of the ordinary, right?
Bubble bubble, toil and trouble . . . these are really the simplest of cupcakes to bake. You just dump everything into one bowl and beat them up. Decorating them was the fun bit.
So was eating them . . . as you can see the Toddster really liked that part.
He's not a bad egg really . . . I think I'll keep him.
He may not be perfect . . . but he's perfect for me. ☺
*One Bowl Does It All Vanilla Cupcakes*
Makes 18
Printable Recipe
These are cheap and easy to make, and what's more . . . quite delicious! Everything is mixed together in one bowl so that not only simplifies things, but it is a lot easier for clean up as well£
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco, Trex or white Flora)
1 cup single cream
3 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBS vanilla extract
3 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease two medium size muffin tins, or line with paper wrappers. Use one with 12 holes and one with six. Set aside.
Put all of the cupcake ingredients into a large bowl and then beat them on medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended, for about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat for a further 3 minutes, or until well mixed and smooth. Divide the batter amongst the prepared muffin cups, filling them only half full.
Bake inthe heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until they test done. They should be lightly browned on top and spring back when touched very lightly with your fingertip. Remove from the oven and immediately remove them from the muffin tins to a wire rack to cool completely before icing and decorating as desired.
Many thanks to Emma of The Best British Bloggers, and Ladbrokes. We have sure enjoyed celebrating their Goulish Halloween Promotion in this most colorfully creepy and scrummy way. We've had a perfectly tasteful and most ghastly fun filled weekend! It was all treats and no tricks!
