This is really the easiest cake. It is perfect for kids and frazzled Mothers. It doesn’t taste too sweet, has a soft lovely texture and you just mix it together. It’s a moist cake, add spices too if you want, but it’s equally good with vanilla alone. Grab yourself some eyeballs or severed fingers and whip these up.
I’ve used this cake before for cupcakes and here as a bundt cake all gussied up. It also makes a great layer cake too, because it doesn’t cook with too much of a crust. These are quite literally the easiest cupcakes you could possibly make. In fact, you could decorate them any old way you’d like; Christmas, birthday you name it.
There aren’t really many tips for making these eyeball cupcakes or the icing. They aren’t overly sweet. They really are great cupcakes for kids as the flavour is as simple or complex as you like. Add just vanilla and a touch of salt for balance or add spices. You could start with cinnamon because it adds a nice gentle warmth BUT if you like a spicier finish try Pumpkin pie spice, mixed spices or ginger.
Here are some preparation pictures just in case you need a hand
I’ve added a little bit of red food colouring to make it Halloween friendly, but again you could skip this if you wanted. Don’t they look spoo-kay?
I got my eyeballs from Big W in Aussie but you can probably find these in any shop near Halloween time.
Steps to making Halloween Cupcakes
- Start with some Texan muffin cups.
- It just takes a few simple ingredients. Flour, sugar, oil, lemon zest, vanilla, apple puree, eggs, baking soda and some spices *
3. Start with flour and baking soda and any spices you might like to use 4. Add sugar and lemon zest and mix together
5. and 6. With this cake, you need to add all of the liquid ingredients to the dry ones. So above I’ve added the oil and eggs
7. Also surprisingly this is where you add the apple puree and vanilla.
8. Next up add the wet ingredients to the flour mix and stir or mix till just combined and smooth
9. I have added red colouring to the basic mix 10. It’s red enough to create Halloween fun. This was a concentrated liquid colour. Paste or gel is better but if you need to add liquid find a good concentrate like Queen Rainbow 7 ml droppers or the small tubes
11. Fill the cupcakes nearly to the top. The mixture rises gently to a moist lovely finish.
12. The cupcakes rise evenly and stay moist and fluffy
Now for the icing / glaze
- Making lemon glaze is easy. It only takes icing sugar, melted butter and lemon juice
- Mix the ingredients together till smooth
- The icing/glaze is smooth and a little runny. It’s zesty and vibrant and makes a great pairing with these cupcakes. For a thicker icing add more sugar. Cool your cakes before decorating.
- Add your Halloween decorations. I have made veins in the eyes by dipping a toothpick into the red food colour and running it gently over the unset icing.
Halloween Eyeball Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 300 gm caster sugar 1 1/2 cups
- 300 gm apple puree or sauce unsweetened, 1 1/2 cups
- 150 ml oil 2/3 cup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 300 gm plain flour about 2 cups
- 11/2 teaspoons baking soda or bi carb
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest reserve the lemon for juice (below)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt not flakes
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg optional
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice optional or pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tablespoons red food colouring this was liquid. If you have gel use less
Lemon Icing / glaze
- 50 ml lemon juice
- 210 gm icing sugar 1 1/2 to 2 cups (280 gm)plus extra in case it needs a bit more thickening
- 25 gm butter or 1 tablespoon
Instructions
Cup cakes
- Set the oven to 170 C / 340 F
- You will need 12-16 medium-sized muffin cups ( or texan)
- Use a medium bowl to mix the eggs, oil, vanilla and apple puree (sauce) together well
- Mix the flour, lemon zest, baking soda, salt and spices ( if using) in another bowl and then mix the two together till just combined and there are no lumps. Add 1/2 the food colouring and mix. Add more to get the colour you want ( don't go over the 2 Tablespoons of liquid colour or it may alter the mixture). Stir again.
- Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups using a 1/4 cup measure filling to at least 3/4 of the way up the cup (see picture).
- Bake for approximately 20- 25 minutes or until they feel firm to touch in the centre when tested by pressing gently with your fingertips.
- Cool on a cake rack till cold then glaze with the lemon icing, decorating as you please
Icing Glaze
- Melt the butter and add it to the sifted icing sugar (can be icing sugar mixture).
- Add half the lemon juice and stir well adding the rest of the juice a little bit at a time, letting hydrate the icing sugar before adding more. It needs to be thick enough to spread evenly without dripping off the cupcake completely. if you need a thicker icing just add a little more sugar. Adding the lemon juice gradually lets you control the thickness first up though.
- To make the red lines in the eyes, dip a toothpick into red colouring adding just a small amount to the tip. Run the tip lightly over the still wet icing to form very faint red "veins". Let the icing set before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
They sure do look spooky, those eyeballs are a bit offputting but that is exactly what halloween is about! Very cool.
Thanks Eva.