Spiderweb Cupcakes for Halloween

Ingredients

• 1 Vanilla bean
• 200 g softened butter
• 160 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150 g flour
• 50 g ground, trimmed almonds
• 2 heaping tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 muffin tin
• 12 paper cupcake liners
• 150 g dark chocolate (at least 45% cocoa)
• 70 g whipping cream
• 250 g powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• red chocolate lens

Instructions

1. 1.

   Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan or bake. Line the muffin tin with paper liners. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add butter and sugar to a bowl and beat until creamy using an electric mixer. Gradually fold in the eggs. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to the batter along with almonds and mix quickly. Fill the liners about 3/4 full. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

2. 2.

   Melt the chocolate by chopping it finely. Heat the cream until just boiling, pour over the chocolate, and stir gently with a spatula until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and a few drops of water into a thick batter. Brush this glaze onto the tops of the cupcakes. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip; pipe concentric circles from the center outward over the glazed surface. From each cupcake’s center, insert a wooden stick 8-9 times through the layers of glaze and chocolate to create a spiderweb pattern. Place one red chocolate lens on each cup and pipe tiny legs in the chocolate around it. Let them set.

3. 3.