Alice In Eatland

Recipes . Eateries . Inspiration

Autumn / Fall

Mushroom Paprikash

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Mushroom Paprikash Recipe

Mushroom Paprikash inspired by the novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoke.

The Inspiration Behind Mushroom Paprikash

“We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem., get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians.”

Amongst the several food and drink references in Bram Stoker’s horror masterpiece, I have been particularly fascinated with the idea of Paprika Hendl ever since coming across it while reading “Dracula” over a decade or so ago.

Believed to be what is known as Chicken Paprikash in current times, the vegetarian take on this Hungarian classic, Mushroom Paprikash, has been one of the 768 or so recipes that I keep telling myself I need to try but never get around to making.

With the Lahori weather turning cool, gray and decidedly Transylvanian, and today being a special day for the massive horror fan that I am, it was finally time to make this comforting classic.

What Is Mushroom Paprikash And How Exactly Is It Made

Simple yet rich, this creamy stew gets its velvety texture from heavy cream (easy hack to make sour cream in the instructions/method: no premixing required!) and packs a punch with heady smoked paprika and hot red chilli powder.

This may not seem like a lot of crisp fried button mushrooms but they are sitting atop a bed of shredded & equally crisp fried chanterelles and oyster mushrooms, all of which together, are a textural and flavour umami bomb.

Please read the note at the end of the recipe for details on the fresh mushrooms I used in this recipe and what you can substitute them with.

Mushroom Paprikash Recipe

Traditionally eaten with homemade egg noodle dumplings (galuska/nokedli/spätzle), I enjoyed this with a side of gnocchi-shaped pasta and a simple side of steamed broccoli and fresh baby spinach spiked with a fresh red chilli to balance the richness of this hearty dish.

For a cult-classic horror novel, there are plenty of food and drink mentions (magmila, impletata and slivovitz to name a few); rather strangely chilling if you think about it, since a vampire’s sole diet consists purely of blood and nothing else.

Perhaps I will create my versions of all of the food in the book together one day, as a feast in the infamous Count’s honour 😈.

On that note, here’s wishing a Spooky Halloween 🎃 to fans of the celebration!

 

Mushroom Paprikash

 

Simple yet rich, this creamy Mushroom Paprikash packs a punch with heady smoked paprika and hot red chilli powder. Topped with a selection of umami-rich crisp fried mushrooms for a deeply satisfying flavour.

 

Recipe Type: Main

Author: Alice In Eatland

Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes

Total Time: 30 Minutes

Serves: 2

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 tablespoons oil
  • 2 cups mixed fresh mushrooms*
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder or paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (if available)
  • 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons cream/sour cream, to drizzle
  • Chopped fresh parsley
  • Boiled and buttered pasta, to serve
  • Steamed broccoli, to serve
  • Fresh baby spinach, to serve
  • Fresh red chilli, deseeded, to serve

 

METHOD

  1. Sauté whole or sliced mushrooms in a flat-based pan over high heat in batches, until crisp and browned. Cool completely in a metal sieve.
  2. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and sauté onions and garlic until soft and fragrant.
  3. Add the tomato paste and cook till it darkens slightly.
  4. Sprinkle flour and cook the mixture 2-4 minutes or until the flour no longer smells raw.
  5. Remove pan from heat and whisk in the vegetable stock till the mixture is lump-free.
  6. Place pan back on the heat, season with salt, red chilli powder or paprika, smoked paprika (if using), garlic powder, onion powder and bring to the boil, whisking constantly.
  7. Cook 5 minutes until bubbly, keep whisking frequently.
  8. Turn the heat off and quickly whisk in 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream and lemon juice.
  9. Check seasoning, add more salt or lemon juice if needed and grind in fresh black pepper.
  10. Pour into serving dish/bowl/plate.
  11. Drizzle with heavy cream or sour cream, if wished.
  12. Top with fried mushroom mix and sprinkle chopped fresh parsley.
  13. Serve with boiled and buttered pasta of your choice and a side of steamed broccoli, fresh baby spinach and deseeded red chilli.

 

NOTE:

*I used a combination of sliced button mushrooms and shredded chanterelles and oyster mushrooms in this recipe.
Though fresh mushrooms taste best in this particular dish, you can absolutely use canned mushrooms instead.

This recipe, like most of my other recipes, is more of a guide rather than a strict set of rules to be fanatically adhered to, so please feel free to make substitutions and alterations to suit your preferences and budget.

Café Con Tres Leches Cake

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Café Con Tres Leches Cake
A hauntingly beautiful plant based Café Con Tres Leches Cake with fresh, tart berries and dark chocolate skulls is just the kind of dessert I need this Halloween. Or anytime of the year, really.

Making and assembling the cake is pretty straightforward, though you do need to plan slightly ahead due to the number to steps involved. A little time consuming maybe but not complicated at all.

Café Con Tres Leches Cake

Use your preferred combination of plant based milks, either store bought or homemade. The milks listed in the recipe are my personal preference and I have made both the almond and pistachio milks myself.

Some may feel that a chilled Café Con Tres Leches Cake is perhaps a little summery for autumn/fall since the season mostly calls for warming desserts and cosy sweets.

Café Con Tres Leches Cake

The cream white pumpkin & dried foliage autumn/fall centrepiece that I made for Halloween 2021

 

If you’re one of those folks, please be assured that this is pretty good enjoyed at room temperature too.

Tips For Making A Stunning Café Con Tres Leches Cake:

  • The cocoa can be omitted from the cake base for an uninterrupted coffee experience.
  • I added cocoa + coffee to the lovely Vegan Tres Leches Cake recipe by Cook’s Hideout for 2 reasons:

Café Con Tres Leches Cake

-For visual drama, since the topping, berries and skulls show up more vibrantly on a darker base

-The flavour combination, as coffee is one of my favourite pairings with chocolate based desserts.

The chocolate skulls are of course, in honour of Halloween though if you’re a true horror fan like me, you wouldn’t mind adding these to your celebratory desserts throughout the year.

On to the recipe for this easy and eerily elegant Café Con Tres Leches Cake.

Café Con Tres Leches Cake

 

CAFÉ CON TRES LECHES CAKE

 

Recipe Type: Dessert    Author: Alice In Eatland
Serves: 6 – 8

 

Milky mocha sponge, creamy topping, tart berries & dark chocolate skulls make this elegant vegan Café Con Tres Leches Cake perfect for Halloween or for any time of the year.


CAKE

  • 1 cup plant based milk (oat, almond, coconut or any milk of your choice)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 teaspoon boiling water, cooled completely
  • 3/4 caster sugar
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • 1 1/4 cups plain flour
  • 3 tablespoons cornflour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

3 MILK SOAK

  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee
  • 1/4 cup sweetened coconut condensed milk *(recipe below)
  • 1/4 cup almond milk **(for homemade option, please see the recipe below)
  • 1/4 cup pistachio milk **(for homemade option, please see the recipe below)

TOPPING

  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup coconut cream, well chilled
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • Raspberries, blueberries or any fruit of choice
  • Chocolate skulls*** (recipe below)

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. Oil & flour an 8” square cake pan.
  3. Stir plant based milk & lemon juice or white vinegar to make buttermilk & set aside for 5 minutes.
  4. Whisk in the cooled coffee, sugar, oil & vanilla until combined.
  5. Sieve flour, cornflour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
  6. Stir dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture until just combined. Do not over mix.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 30 – 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean.
  8. Remove cake from oven and let cool in pan 10 minutes.
  9. Poke the entire surface of the cake with either a fork, a skewer or a toothpick.
  10. For the 3 Milk Soak, stir the coffee, coconut condensed milk, almond milk, pistachio milk & vanilla together in a pan and bring to the boil.
  11. Lower the heat, let simmer 5 – 7 minutes & pour evenly over warm cake.
  12. Let the cake cool completely and then chill covered for at least 2-4 hours. Overnight is best.
  13. To make the topping, whip the cold coconut cream with icing sugar & vanilla until thick and fluffy.
  14. Spread or pipe topping all over the top of the chilled cake.
  15. Decorate with fresh fruit & chocolate skulls, if using. I also added some well-washed leaves of a rose plant from my garden.
  16.  Keep refrigerated.

 

*Sweetened Coconut Condensed Milk

Stir 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk & 4 tablespoons sugar in a pan over medium heat.

Bring to the boil, stirring constantly and then lower heat and cook stirring frequently, until milk thickens & reduces by half ( 20 minutes or so).

Cool completely & store airtight in the fridge.

 

**Nut Milk

Soak 1/4 cup raw unroasted almonds or pistachios in 1 cup water for 8 -12 hours.

Drain, rinse with clean water and add to blender jar with 1/2 – 3/4 cups drinking water.

Blend until smooth and then strain through a nut bag, cheesecloth or muslin, squeezing all the milk out.

Save the leftover nut solids airtight in the freezer and add to things like roti dough, pizza dough or cookie dough for a nutty flavour & texture.

Stir a drop or so of vanilla extract into the strained milk, if you wish.

Cover airtight & store in the fridge.

Stir before using and consume within 2-3 days.

 

***Chocolate Skulls

Break a bar of vegan friendly chocolate (I used a bar of Nestlé Bourneville Classic Dark Chocolate) into pieces.

Microwave on high in 20 second increments, stirring every time until the chocolate is completely melted, being careful not to burn it.

You can melt the chocolate on top of a double boiler instead of using the microwave.

Pour melted chocolate into silicone skull moulds (I purchased my skull mould from Darak.pk) and freeze for an hour.

Unmould and store chocolate skulls in a paper towel lined airtight container in the fridge.

 

The raspberries & blueberries adorning this Café Con Tres Leches Cake were purchased from Al Fatah Gold Crest Mall, Lahore.

Chocolate Custard Cream Cake

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Moist cake layers & fluffy custard cream – Chocolate Custard Cream Cake is an elegant cocoa-based take on the classic vanilla custard cake of yesteryear.

A WhatsApp conversation with some of my school friends got us all dreaming of a certain custard cake that used to be a popular thing to bake when we were growing up in Daharki back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The confection in question was a simple sponge-style cake filled and covered with vanilla custard made from Rafhan Custard Powder – in truth, the sort of homely, old-fashioned baking one rarely comes across that often now.

Chocolate Custard Cream Cake

Luckily, one of my friends still has the recipe and inspired by that, I made this cocoa version with a slightly different take on the custard filling & frosting.

The cake is my basic go-to chocolate cake recipe and you will find more ideas based around this recipe on the blog.

The custard here is made from scratch and “lightened” (in the textural sense only obviously) with a little whipped cream that gives it an airier, fluffier quality.

Try it.

Chocolate Custard Cream Cake

 

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD CREAM CAKE

 

RECIPE TYPE: DESSERT    AUTHOR: ALICE IN EATLAND
PREP TIME: 60 Minutes    COOK TIME: 60    TOTAL TIME: 2 HOURS
SERVES: 6 – 8

 

Moist cake layers & fluffy custard cream – Chocolate Custard Cream Cake is an elegant cocoa based take on the classic vanilla custard cake of yesteryear.

 

MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 tbsp white vinegar
  • 2 cups caster sugar or superfine sugar
  • 1 cup + 3/4 cup plain flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
  • 2 tsp instant coffee
  • 1 cup boiling water

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. Grease two 6.5” x 2.5” round cake pans and line with parchment paper.
    Grease and flour the paper.
    Or do what I usually do: line cake pans with aluminium foil and grease and flour the foil. Set aside.
  3. Stir the milk and vinegar together in a small cup or bowl to make buttermilk. Set aside.
  4. Combine all the dry ingredients, except coffee, in a bowl.
  5. Whisk the eggs. Stir the buttermilk and add to the eggs along with the oil and vanilla.
  6. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.
  7. Stir the instant coffee into the boiling water and carefully stir into the cocoa mixture. Batter will be quite thin.
  8. Divide the batter into two and pour into the prepared cake pans.
  9. Bake 30 – 40 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.
    This can take up to an hour depending on your oven.
  10. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.
    Invert so that the top of the cakes is up and cool completely.
  11. Your cakes may have domed tops so trim off carefully with a long serrated knife and discard (by “discard” I mean eat with chai like I do).
  12. Slice each cake horizontally into two so you have 4 layers.

 

CUSTARD CREAM FILLING & TOPPING

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 – 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, well chilled
  • A few tablespoons of icing sugar, sifted

 

METHOD

  1. Whip the cream till thick & fluffy. Cover & keep in the fridge.
  2. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar & milk in a pan until combined.
  3. Place the pan on a medium-ish heat and keep whisking or stirring the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon thickly.
  4. Keep stirring and remove from the heat just as the custard begins to reach a gentle simmer. Do not let the custard boil as it may split or curdle.
  5. Once off the heat, stir in the butter and vanilla.
  6. Cover the entire surface of the hot custard with plastic wrap and cool completely.
  7. Push the cooled custard through a sieve so that you have a smooth custard & no tiny eggy lumps. Chill covered.
  8. When cold, fold in 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream.
  9. Sandwich the cake layers generously with this custard cream.
  10. Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  11. You may need to insert a long wooden skewer or satay stick into the centre to stabilise the cake layers.
  12. Fold any leftover custard cream into the remaining whipped cream and taste to see if it’s sweet enough. If not, beat in enough of the icing sugar till desired sweetness is reached.
  13. Frost the cake with the custard cream.
  14. Keep filled & frosted cake refrigerated.

 

 

 

 

White Haleem

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White Haleem

White Haleem is a delicately flavoured grain and lentil based stew that makes for a delicious, nourishing and satisfying meal.

Dubai based food blogger Tasneem Rajkotwala, and her beautiful blog “Thoughts Over Chai” introduced me to the wonders of White Haleem.

She refers to this haleem as her “Dadijaan’s Morning Haleem” and you can head to her blog for the original recipe and accompanying post here.

Tasneem’s blog is a treat and a great place to check out if you’re looking for traditional Bohra recipes.

I am always on the lookout for a good meatless Haleem recipe and this is a lovely vegetarian and vegan friendly version.

White Haleem is kind of like a milder sibling of traditional Haleem, the spicy meat, lentil and grain stew popular in Pakistan and parts of India.

White Haleem

Regular Haleem is meat based and generally packs quite a punch whereas White Haleem is meatless and fairly mild.

The lack of fire in this delicious stew however, by no means denotes any lack of flavour.

The absence of strong spices means that the actual flavour of the lentils and grains themselves really shines through.

The final damm of ground spices infuses the haleem with the pleasingly heady aromas of caraway seeds, nutmeg, mace and green cardamoms.

I love White Haleem and honestly, it reminds me more of Shorba, a light non-spicy Yemeni Haleem than of Pakistani Haleem.

I had Shorba over a decade ago at a school friend’s home in Sana’a, Yemen. It was made by her Mother and I have never been able to forget it’s tastiness.

White Haleem

I am hopelessly addicted to spicy food. But there are some recipes that work so well without being fiery that I don’t miss the bite of spices at all.

With White Haleem, I feel that an inclusion of heavy flavours would actually intrude on its deliciously soothing taste.

Traditional haleem toppings such as fresh herbs, green chillies, caramelised onions and roasted nuts provide a pleasant textural contrast to the creaminess of the haleem, the ghee or oil and garam masala add additional flavour and the lemon juice imparts subtle tartness.

To make this vegan, simply substitute the ghee called for in the recipe with oil.

Perfect for any meal or any time of the year really.

White Haleem

WHITE HALEEM

 

Recipe Type: Main    Author: Alice In Eatland
Prep Time: 15 Minutes (plus 2 – 4 hours soaking time)    Cook Time: 60 Minutes    Total Time: 2 – 3 Hours
Serves: 2 – 4

 

White Haleem, a satisfying, aromatic  grain & lentil stew. The topping of fresh herbs, ginger, cashews & caramelised onions add additional flavour & textural contrast.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 cup white basmati rice
  • 1/4 cup barley porridge / barley cereal (jau ka dalia)
  • 1/2 cup split black gram (maash daal / urad daal)
  • 1/4 cup split yellow mung (moong daal)
  • 1/4 cup split Bengal gram (channa daal)
  • 1/2 teaspoon black cumin seeds / caraway seeds (kaala zeera / shah zeera)
  • 1/4 of an inch or so piece of nutmeg (jaiphal)
  • 1 – 2 blades of mace (javitri)
  • 2 – 4 green cardamoms (hari elachi)
  • 2 medium onions, peeled & thinly sliced
  • Oil to deep fry
  • 2 – 4 medium fresh green chillies, roughly chopped
  •  1 medium onion, peeled & roughly chopped
  • 1 MSG free vegetable stock cube / vegetable bouillon cube (optional but recommended)
  • Salt
  • A few tablespoons of desi ghee (omit if making the haleem vegan)
  • Fresh ginger, peeled & cut into thin batons
  • Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
  • Fresh mint leaves, chopped
  • Fresh mild green chillies, seeded & chopped
  • Lemons, cut into quarters
  • Roasted cashews
  • Garam Masala

 

METHOD

  1. Place the rice, barley porridge and lentils in a large bowl and wash in several changes of water until it runs almost clear.
  2. Finally fill the bowl with enough water to come a couple of inches up the sides and let the grains and lentils soak for 4 – 6 hours or overnight.
  3. Grind the black cumin seeds, nutmeg, mace and green cardamoms to a fine powder in a small spice / coffee grinder. Set aside.
  4. Heat oil for deep frying and when hot, fry the sliced onions until golden. Remove fried onions to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Set aside.
  5. Reserve about 4 – 6 tablespoons of oil after deep frying.
  6. Boil a kettle of water and set aside to simmer on a very low heat.
  7. Drain the soaked grains and lentils and rinse one more time with fresh water. Place into a pan along with 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil, stock cube (if using), chopped onion, chopped green chillies and around 4 – 6 cups of water.
  8. Bring to the boil on a high heat, then lower the heat to low and let cook partially covered, stirring occasionally until the grains and lentils are completely soft and mushy.
  9. The mixture can take anywhere from 1 hour to more to soften to a mush. If you feel the haleem is getting too thick, add more water from the simmering kettle to thin it down.
  10. When cooked, the haleem will be thick but the consistency should also be slightly on the looser side.
  11. Sieve in the reserved ground spice mixture, cover and simmer on a very low heat for 10 minutes.
  12. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and blend in a blender or with a stick blender until somewhere between smooth and grainy.
  13. It is best not to overblend because you want some of that grainy texture to remain.
  14. Check salt and adjust if needed.
  15. White Haleem can be frozen airtight at this point, if wished.
  16. When ready to serve, ladle out hot haleem into serving bowl (or individual serving bowls, if wished).
  17. Heat ghee if using or the leftover reserved oil until hot and pour all over the surface of the haleem.
  18. Garnish with ginger, coriander, mint, green chillies, cashews and reserved fried onion.
  19. Sprinkle garam masala and squeeze lemon juice on top.
  20. Eat.

AUTUMN APPLE CARAMEL CAKE

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Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

Autumn/fall is well and truly here and as the temperatures fall, for me nothing feels cosier than pottering about the kitchen in general and some good old-fashioned baking in particular.

So here’s my Autumn Apple Caramel Cake, which can obviously be made any time of the year but is special particularly during the beautiful season it has been named in honour of.

And with classic autumnal things like pumpkins, caramel apples, falling leaves and Halloween in the air, I feel this is one of the most perfect cakes to celebrate the fall season with.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

A classic bundt cake is as old-fashioned as it gets. Add a retro style apple cake into the equation and you have all the makings of my ideal way to spend an autumn/fall afternoon.

I will admit that I am a bit obsessed with bundt pans which is frankly, a rather tragic obsession as at the moment I own just two bundt pans in total. Boo hoo!

I would love to get my hands on a couple of those intricately sexy Nordic Ware bundt pans but in the meantime, my trusty old and much less intricate no-brand-in-particular bundt pans will have to suffice. And honestly, they don’t do a bad job at all.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

This Autumn Apple Caramel Cake is moist, fragrant and nutty and can actually hold its own without the caramel drizzle.

My family loves this cake either with or without the caramel drizzle and we enjoy it cut into generous slices with cups of hot tea.

There is a subtle hint of cinnamon in there too – you can tell it’s somewhere in the background but just enough so as not to overpower the delicate apple taste and fragrance.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

And of course, the dehydrated apple wheels on top transform this simple cake into a stunning masterpiece.

This Autumn Apple Caramel Cake is also a fond reminder of two food related memories from my childhood.

One is of a cookbook brought from London by my eldest maternal Aunt back in the ’80s that had, amongst some rather imaginatively named recipes such as “Lightning Cake” (with the tag line ‘Made in a moment, gone in a flash!’), an old-fashioned “Farmhouse Apple Cake”.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

I loved imagining myself in a rustic English farmhouse and munching on slices of that apple cake with a thick caramel icing atop.

The other memory this cake triggers is that of a cooking class in Daharki during the early ’90s.

A group of French engineers were on a visit to the Engro (Exxon back then) plant and their wives held a cooking class for the colony ladies, teaching them some French recipes.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

There were two types of quiches, a basic quiche and a mushroom quiche and two kinds of rustic cakes – an almond cake and an apple cake.

I still have those recipe printouts somewhere and this apple cake reminds me of that time.

I hope you enjoy making this Autumn Apple Caramel Cake as much as I do. Thanks to STL Cooks for the apple cake recipe, Cooking With Ruthie for the recipe that I based the caramel drizzle on and to Entertaining With Beth for the decorating idea.

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake

AUTUMN APPLE CARAMEL CAKE

 

Recipe Type: Dessert    Author: Alice In Eatland
Prep Time: 20 Minutes    Cook Time: 40 Minutes    Total Time: 60 Minutes
Serves: 6

 

Autumn Apple Caramel Cake – moist, fragrant & nutty with a hint of cinnamon & a beautiful caramel drizzle. Perfect for autumn / fall!

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup caster sugar / superfine sugar
  • 1 large egg (or 2 small eggs)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • 1 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups grated apples*
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. If using a small bundt pan (around 5″ or so in diameter) please refer to the note** below in which I also detail the pan size and shape I used to bake the cake in these photos.
  3. If using an 8″ round pan, a 7″ square pan or any other similar sized pan of your choice, oil it evenly.
  4. Sprinkle some plain flour and shake and tilt the pan until it is evenly coated. Tap off any excess flour.
  5. Now on to the cake batter. Toss the nuts in a few teaspoons of the flour until well coated***. Set aside.
  6. Beat the oil, sugar, egg(s) and vanilla until thick and pale.
  7. Stir the flour, salt, baking soda and ground cinnamon together and fold into the wet mixture.
  8. Stir in the grated apple followed by the flour dusted walnuts or pecans.
  9. Pour mixture into your prepared pan.
  10. Bake 30 – 40 minutes or until skewer or toothpick inserted near the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  11. Remove baked cake from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 – 15 minutes.
  12. Loosen the edges of the cake slightly with a knife, turn upside down onto the cooling rack, gently removing the pan as the cake inverts out onto the rack.
  13. Cool cake completely to room temperature.
  14. Store airtight.

 

DEHYDRATED APPLE CHIPS

 

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil.
  3. Place 1 medium or large apple on its side on a chopping board.
  4. Using a sharp knife, slice the apple as thinly as possible into wheels.
  5. Place the apple wheels in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
  6. Place in preheated oven.
  7. Keep an eye on the apple chips. They should begin to turn a pale brown, look dryish and the edges should begin to curl up in places.
  8. Make sure they don’t over brown or burn!
  9. Once this stage is reached, flip them over with a pair of tongs.
  10. Continue baking until the other side is also brownish, dry and curling up.
  11. Remove from oven, transfer the apple chips to a wire rack and cool completely to room temperature.
  12. Store in an airtight jar if not using right away.

 

CARAMEL DRIZZLE

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 cup light or dark soft brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted

 

METHOD

  1. Place the brown sugar, butter and milk in a pan and stir over medium heat.
  2. When the butter and sugar have melted and the mixture reaches the boil, remove from heat.
  3. Stir in the vanilla.
  4. Whisk in the icing sugar until smooth.
  5. Place cake on a wire rack with a parchment paper lined tray underneath to catch icing drips.
  6. Spoon the warm caramel drizzle all over the top of the cake so that it runs down over and drips down the sides.
  7. I pour the warm caramel drizzle in a Pyrex measuring cup and pour it all over the cake. I find this much easier and quicker than the spoon method.
  8. If using dehydrated apple chips / wheels or any other decoration (such as nuts), place them into position immediately after pouring the glaze so that they adhere to the cake before the icing sets, which it does rather quickly.

 

NOTES

 

*I used two kinds of apples to make this cake – one and a half each of Granny Smith apples (my favourite) and local red apples.

I did not peel the apples and used a box grater to grate them.

Peeling the apples before grating makes the process easier so it is definitely recommended.

 

**Oil your bundt pan very well, using a pastry brush if you have it, making sure you reach and coat all crevices, nooks and crannies evenly.

Place your well greased pan upside down on a rack with a parchment paper lined tray underneath to catch excess oil.

Oil begins to pool inside bundt pans once they’re greased so this step will prevent it from doing that while you finish preparing your batter.

You can spray your bundt pan with a cooking spray containing flour instead of oiling it.

I do not flour my bundt pans because I find that the baked cakes seem to crust in places if flour is used.

I have used a 10″ silicone bundt pan and double the recipe to make the cake in the photos.

This particular bundt shape is known as The Cathedral.

A cake baked in a silicone bundt can take longer to bake compared to a metal pan.

If using a silicone bundt, place the prepared pan on a baking sheet before pouring in the batter and place it in the oven on top of the baking sheet.

The baking sheet will provide stability to your silicone bundt pan which can sometimes be a bit wobbly and unsteady.

 

***This step of tossing the nuts in a little flour will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan while baking.

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

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Gothic Chic Cupcakes

Post Updated: 11.03.24

Gothic Chic Cupcakes have been my favourite Halloween dessert idea since 2017! Moist vanilla cupcake base topped with a very chocolatey black cocoa fudge frosting, these are perfect for any special occasion during the year and absolute showstoppers especially at Halloween.

The first cupcake recipe on my blog was for Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes for Halloween 2016. Check that one out too for a fun but sweetly spooky Halloween cupcake recipe.

The first Halloween cupcake recipe had a chocolate cupcake base topped with vanilla frosting. The Gothic Chic Cupcake recipe is the other way around – my favourite moist vanilla cupcake recipe with a very old fashioned and very delicious cocoa fudge frosting.

As mentioned in my previous Halloween post, I did not grow up celebrating Halloween except for one year in the ’90s. As an adult now, I have been getting more and more excited about Halloween each year.

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

Instagram and Pinterest with their fabulous Halloween related food, decor and craft posts are definitely to be credited for making Halloween popular in parts of the world where it isn’t really celebrated as such.

I had decided that along with food, I would do some sort of Halloween DIY craft or decor project as well this year.

I had a very clear idea of something very chic and very minimalistic Gothic in mind hence the black, gold and silver theme for my Halloween.

Not being very “crafty” as such, I wanted to do something simple but effective so I chose the very aptly titled Creepy Black Twig Wreath – thanks to Earnest Home Co. for the fabulous idea and the easy tutorial.

I collected the branches and twigs off a basil plant and a rose bush – both from my garden and both completely dried up. I then put the twig wreath together bit by bit according to the step by step tutorial.

My brother says the finished wreath looks like something out of the horror movie “The Ring” – target achieved!

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

Pumpkins were next and after trawling through various pumpkin ideas on Pinterest, I decided on simple painted pumpkins for Halloween 2017.

Pinterest has a photo of a large pumpkin painted matte black sitting on a chair and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have a black pumpkin this Halloween. I was finding gold and silver painted pumpkins on Pinterest quite appealing as well.

So my sister-in-law and I spray painted a few pumpkins black, gold and silver. I could not get hold of perfectly shaped pumpkins but after they were painted and were sitting in all their beautiful painted glory, I felt the irregular shapes, indents and imperfections here and there somehow added to the Gothic appeal that I was after.

And lastly, the Gothic Chic Cupcakes. I adore this moist vanilla cupcake recipe so much and for the life of me I can’t find the link to the original recipe because I wrote the recipe down the old fashioned way in my crumbling old recipe diary.

Like a fool, I completely forgot to write down the name of the blog where I took the recipe from. I am trying to search for that particular blog and hopefully if I find it I will update this blog post with proper credit to the original creator of this wonderful recipe.

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

The frosting recipe comes via My Gluten Free Kitchen with a deep cocoa flavour and dreamy pipeability. The idea was to dye the cocoa fudge  frosting a jet black with food colour.

As I was adding the black food colour to the frosting and mixing it in, I stopped when the icing reached a deep dark charcoal gray. It looked incredible and very broodingly sexy – so much cooler than the flat black I had intended to achieve.

I used gold and silver cupcake liners / paper bake cups for my Gothic Chic Cupcakes.

I wanted the vanilla part of the cupcake to show very clearly so instead of covering almost the entire top of the cupcakes with frosting, I opted to pipe rosettes that would leave room for the vanilla part to show.

I have been ‘piping partially’ this way lately and liking it. You can obviously cover the entire tops of your Gothic Chic Cupcakes in frosting like it is usually done.

Happy baking and frosting and a very happy Halloween to all!

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

Gothic Chic Cupcakes

 

Recipe Type: Dessert    Author: Alice In Eatland
Prep Time: 30 Minutes    Cook Time: 20 Minutes    Total Time: 50 Minutes
Serves: 8 – 10
Keyword: Gothic Cupcakes Recipe, Goth Cupcakes Recipe, Halloween Cupcakes,

 

These moist & fluffy Gothic Chic Cupcakes are perfumed with vanilla & frosted with a dark & intensely chocolate cocoa fudge frosting – so tasty & so chic!

 

INGREDIENTS FOR MOIST VANILLA CUPCAKES

  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup cream
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/8 cup cornflour or cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup + 1 tablespoon caster sugar or superfine sugar
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract or essence (optional)

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a standard size muffin pan / cupcake pan with gold and silver paper baking cups / cupcake liners. Set aside.
  3. Stir the milk and vinegar together to make buttermilk.
  4. Add prepared buttermilk to the cream and stir together to make sour cream. Set aside.
  5. Combine the flour, cornflour or cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
  6. Beat the oil and sugar together for 30 – 60 seconds.
  7. Add the egg and extracts and beat until combined.
  8. Beat in the combined dry ingredients until smooth.
  9. Lastly beat in prepared sour cream until just mixed.
  10. Pour batter into a glass measuring jug.
  11. Fill the paper baking cups in the muffin pan between 1/2 – 3/4 full.
  12. Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until the cupcakes turn slightly golden and a wooden pick inserted into the centre of cupcakes comes out nearly clean. Do not overbake.
  13. Remove baked cupcakes onto a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.
  14. Store cool unfrosted cupcakes airtight until ready to frost.

 

INGREDIENTS FOR COCOA FUDGE FROSTING

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cups + 1/3 cup icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
  • Black gel food colour (prefereably from Wilton or AmeriColor)

 

METHOD

  1. Put butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave uncovered on high 10 – 20 seconds or until almost melted.
  2. Remove bowl from microwave and stir until butter is completely melted.
  3. Whisk in the cocoa and then microwave uncovered again on high for 30 seconds.
  4. Remove from microwave and beat in icing sugar and milk alternately until creamy.
  5. Beat in vanilla.
  6. Lastly add the black food colour, a little at a time while beating until desired colour is achieved.
  7. Frosting dyed with black food colour deepens in hue as the frosting sits, so wait 10 or so minutes after adding food colour to see how much the colour of the frosting darkens before adding more.
  8. Make sure the frosting is completely cool before piping onto cupcakes.
  9. Use a Wilton 1M tip to pipe rosettes of cocoa fudge frosting onto the cupcakes.
  10. Store your Gothic Chic Cupcakes airtight. These can be refrigerated but make sure you bring the cupcakes completely down to room temperature before serving.

Christmas Cake Recipe

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christmas cake

Christmas Cake Recipe (updated 18.12.23)

A classic homemade Christmas Cake has to be one of the nicest gifts you can give your family and close friends.

It is the ultimate Christmas present and people are always pleased that you went the extra mile and baked them a Christmas classic.

A rich fruit Christmas Cake is great for gift giving but also great to have on hand at home during the festive season.

Like many families that celebrate Christmas, it is an important part of our festive Christmas table that is especially set up for guests visiting during this very special season.

christmas dessert recipe

Christmas Cake: The Inspiration

Since Christmas time can be crazy hectic for many people, you want a no-fuss recipe that requires minimal effort and delivers maximum results.

For me, a good Christmas Cake recipe is fuss-free and makes a cake that tastes something like a good rich fruit wedding cake or an old-fashioned Plum Cake. Bonus points if it looks like a traditional Dundee Cake.

Rich Fruit Celebration Cake recipe by Mich Turner of the fabulous “Little Venice Cake Company” is the basis of my Christmas Cake recipe.

I discovered Mitch Turner, and a few other skilled wedding cake bakers, on the tv show “The Great Cake Bake” on the now defunct channel Wedding TV UK, over a decade or so ago. What a master of her craft!

Her recipe promised a deep, dark, moist fruit cake with a flattish top ready to be covered in marzipan and that is exactly what it delivered.

Rich Fruit Christmas Cake

I have adapted this Christmas Cake recipe very slightly from Mich Turner’s. A photo of this lovely retro looking Dundee Cake on Pinterest inspired this almond and glacé cherry cake pattern.

Rest assured that this Christmas Cake recipe gives you a deep, spicy and decadent cake that tastes of Christmas itself!

Christmas Cake: When Good Things Come In Small Packages

My reason for making smallish Christmas Cakes is a fairly practical one; a well made rich  fruit cake is a joy to eat, but is best enjoyed in small quantities as it is indeed, quite rich.

I don’t know anyone who eats Christmas Cake in copious quantities.

Moreover, I’ve seen leftover Christmas cake lying around and drying around far too many times and in far too many homes and it literally breaks my heart.

Also with quite a few other delicious Christmas goodies and treats competing for attention at homes celebrating Christmas, I feel small sized cakes are best for gift giving.

However, you do you, so feel free to bake a bigger cake should you wish, adjusting the ingredients, cake pan size and baking time accordingly.

Christmas Cake: Spreading Joy Beyond Christmas

This cake makes a pretty awesome New Year’s celebration cake.

Or any special occasion celebration cake really; a milestone wedding anniversary such as a silver or golden one, calls for a uniquely special cake, such as this one.

Christmas Cake: Where To Buy The Ingredients From

As far as sourcing some of the special ingredients required to bake this Rich Fruit Christmas Cake such as the glacé cherries & the orange peel, online stores are your best bet.

In the US, you may find everything you need on Amazon.

Daraz.pk most probably has every ingredient available to make this cake in Pakistan.

Sethna Store in Empress Market is the place where Karachi folks can find them.

I have vague memories of a few stores in Saddar that stocked these supplies – I will ask my Mother if she remembers the names of those shops and will update the post if she does.

For people wishing to bake this cake in Lahore, head to The Bake Shop or Metro and you will find most ingredients called for in the recipe.
Treacle and molasses can be found at Esajee’s (DHA).

Christmas Cake: Fruit Soak Options

Your choice of the liquid that is used to steep the fruit will give it a slightly different flavour profile and affect the colour of the cake somewhat as well.

Lighter coloured juices will obviously give the cake a lighter tone whereas darker juices, tea and coffee will obviously impart a deeper hue.

However the colour turns out, be assured that your cake will look and taste wonderful.

Christmas Cake: Patience Will Be Rewarded

This is an ingredient heavy (read “chock full of dried fruit”) Christmas Cake recipe.

Hence the cake is pretty delicate when freshly baked so I would suggest that once completely cool, let it sit airtight and uncut for 2-3 days.

That not only makes the cake a bit firm and easier to cut but also gives the many flavours of the different fruits and spices time to harmoniously blend and settle together.

The taste improves and gets far deeper, complex and better after a few days.

Christmas Cake: A Note On The Recipe Update

Originally, I would bake half the recipe in a 6” cake pan. The baked cake, though absolutely delicious, was on the thinner side as can be seen in the photos.

While this was fine with me, and was actually perfect for cutting dainty bite-sized Christmas Cake pieces to serve to guests, I began baking the full recipe in a 6” cake pan for a taller cake (and a more substantial slice when cut).

A taller cake definitely makes for a better presentation and that is my preferred way to bake this cake now.

I have updated the ingredient amounts to reflect that, which is something I regretfully forgot while updating the original post a few days ago, sorry!

Christmas Cake: Video Tutorial

I have very recently uploaded a video of the recipe on YouTube which can be viewed here.

Rich Fruit Christmas Cake

 

Christmas Cake

Recipe Type: Dessert    Author: Alice In Eatland
Steeping Time: 4 – 12 Hours
Prep Time: 20 Minutes    Cook Time: 60 Minutes    Total Time: 80 Minutes

 

Dark, moist and fruity – this easy and delicious Christmas Cake is the ultimate traditional holiday classic!

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 200 grams glacé cherries, chopped
  • 300 grams raisins, stemmed
  • 300 grams black currants, stemmed
  • 20 grams candied orange peel, chopped
  • 1/2 cup fruit juice (apple, orange, pineapple, grape or cranberry) OR black tea
  • 1 tbsp treacle or molasses
  • 160 grams butter
  • 160 grams brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence or extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 160 grams plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 (1/2″) sticks cinnamon (daarcheeni)
  • 1/4 of a whole broken nutmeg (jaiphal)
  • 2 small (1/2″ or so) blades mace (javitri)
  • 4 whole cloves (laung)
  • 1/2 tsp ginger powder
  • Whole blanched almonds, to decorate
  • Halved glacé cherries, to decorate

METHOD

  1. Pour your choice of liquid onto the raisins, glacé cherries, black currants and candied orange peel. Mix well, cover and let stand 6-12 hours or overnight at room temperature, stirring the mixture once half way through.
  2. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C / 338 degrees F.
  3. Line a square 6″ x  2″ pan or a round 6″ x 2″ pan with grease proof paper or foil. Butter and flour the lined pan well. Set aside.
  4. Place the cinnamon stick, nutmeg, mace and cloves in a coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder. Sieve through a fine strainer.
  5. Combine flour with the baking powder, ginger powder and the sieved ground spices and set aside.
  6. Put the butter and brown sugar in a small pan over medium heat and stir until butter melts. The butter and sugar will appear separated at first so keep stirring for a few minutes until they both become uniform.
  7. As soon as you see the mixture beginning to bubble gently in places, remove from the heat and pour into your mixing bowl.
  8. Cool mixture 5 minutes and then beat in the treacle or molasses until combined.
  9. Next beat in the egg and vanilla essence or extract.
  10. Mix in the combined flour, baking powder and spices.
  11. Finally fold in the soaked fruit with any remaining liquid.
  12. Turn mixture into your prepared pan and level the top as much as possible with the back of a tablespoon.
  13. Press the blanched almonds and halved cherries on the surface in flower shapes or any other decorative pattern.
  14. Bake around 40 – 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean and the top is brown and set.
  15. Remove cake pan from oven and place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
  16. Let cooled cake remain in the pan, cover airtight with foil and let sit overnight at room temperature.
  17. Remove the cake from pan, peel off the paper or foil lining and store airtight.
  18. This cake is best cut and eaten 2 – 3 days after being baked.

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

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Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

Trick or treat! These chocolate cobweb cupcakes are absolutely delicious and a confirmed crowd pleaser. Make these for Halloween or for any day of the year really – they are as good to eat as they are to look at!

I adore this chocolate cupcake recipe because it is so easy and incredibly delicious plus it gives me the moistest chocolate cupcakes ever – dry cakes and dry cupcakes are one of my pet peeves!

The creamy vanilla frosting that these chocolate cobweb cupcakes are topped with is actually a crusting buttercream that tastes really lovely and is perfect for piping swirls, rosettes etc as it really holds its shape while remaining soft and creamy inside – this has to be my favourite recipe for pipeable frosting.

The fun cobweb toppers that the cupcakes are crowned with are made from melted chocolate and are a breeze to make!

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

Growing up, Halloween was something we’d just read about in books or comics or watch on tv or movies. Thanks in most part to Hollywood, many of us knew of Halloween as the spookiest time of the year when folks don scary costumes and kids dress up in adorably spooky costumes or as their favourite characters from books, cartoons or tv shows and movies and go trick-or-treating for candy.

I am a big fan of all things “horror” be it scary movies, creepy stories, haunted houses – you name it. So you can imagine how the spookiest time of the year makes me feel. The late October autumn/fall weather adds an additional something to the atmosphere; I love it! Even if Halloween isn’t celebrated in Pakistan as such, at least those of us who want to enjoy it can do so in ways that make us happy, be it pumpkin carving, making scary costumes or coming up with cutely creepy food!

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

The only time we actually kind of ‘celebrated’ Halloween was in the early ’90s in Daharki. A few Canadian engineers had been emlpoyed by Engro to help set up its new fertilizer plant that had been shipped from Canada. So they, along with their families, had relocated to the Engro Colony in Daharki from Canada until the new plant was up and running. It was Halloween, and the Canadians thought why not celebrate Halloween with the Pakistani residents of the colony and it was a great idea indeed.

Since there was obviously no “trick-or-treat” culture in the colony, the Canadian families arranged an evening Halloween party at the colony’s Club and everyone was invited. The Halloween celebration was more of a fancy dress party for us non-Canadians and it was a lot of fun.

There were some really nice things to eat at the party, made by the Club and I think some made by the Canadian ladies. As there are none of those huge gorgeous orange pumpkins growing in the middle of Sindh, the Canadians made do with what was available; they carved those classic scary Jack-o’-Lantern pumpkin faces on stocky little roundish green kaddus from the vegetable shop at the local Gulnar Market. Necessity truly is the mother of invention!

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

The party was arranged within a day or so of being decided which left almost no time for anyone to think of or make any elaborate costumes. All the kids were in costume and by costumes I mean all of us more or less improvised with whatever we had lying around at home or could borrow from friends.  I went to the party dressed as a fairy. That decision was based solely on a shimmery green (the hue of green that was known as “bottle green” back then; haven’t heard that color described as such in decades!) dress that I owned and I think we created a makeshift wand for me to hold from a small cane stick with one of those decorative stars that you get at party decoration stores stuck at the top. So I was a fairy and a wingless one into the bargain as there was absolutely no time to make any DIY fairy wings.

Fast forward to the present and with that one Halloween celebrated long ago, there was not much after that and frankly there are still no Halloween celebrations as such apart from a few parties here and there. But in the last few years, social media and Instagram and Pinterest in particular, have literally brought Halloween to the rest of the world with the celebration becoming something exciting to look forward to. There is an amazing array of wonderful Halloween ideas such as for food, decor and makeup shared by bloggers, makeup artists and other insanely creative folks that has made the countdown to Halloween one of the most exciting times of the year, for me at least.

This year, I have decided to do the creepy-cool half skull makeup look made popular by the uber talented makeup artist Chrisspy that she posted on her YouTube channel back in 2014. Though I obviously cannot come even remotely close to matching her finesse and experience as a makeup artist, I think I did a pretty okay job practicing getting the half skull look to look decent enough, haha!  Fingers crossed for the final look on the day! You can watch Chrisspy’s tutorial here as she uses her mastery over makeup to transform her look in minutes.

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

Just like Chrisspy, the sheer scale of talent and creativity of ideas, be it makeup, costume design, baking or anything really, on social platforms such as YouTube, Pinterest etc is nothing short of staggeringly impressive; so many great ideas and the fact that people share them in near microscopic detail to make it as easy as possible for anyone who might want to try them – how amazing is that! Thank you kind, helpful and crazily talented people for sharing your wonderful ideas and techniques so wholeheartedly!

I too wanted to do something in the spirit of Halloween (pun intended, hehe!). I had been wanting to put my go to chocolate cupcake recipe on the blog for a while so thought of making some Halloween-ish cupcakes to accommodate that idea. So I started browsing Pinterest for some spooky cupcake ideas and came across so many amazing Halloween cupcakes! It was hard to choose just one idea but these Pumpkin Chocolate Spiderweb Cupcakes by Bright-Eyed Baker frosted with orange colored frosting and topped with chocolate spiderweb toppers stood out as they were so arrestingly beautiful! So I decided that these would be my food inspiration for Halloween this year and that is how my chocolate cobweb cupcakes came to be.

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

The chocolate cupcake recipe I use most is a chocolate cake recipe that was shared by someone back in Daharki during the late ’90s – early 2000s and was titled “Deep Chocolate Cake.” It is such a flavourful and supermoist recipe that I instantly fell in love with it. Years later I discovered it is actually the recipe for Hershey’s Black Magic Cake. It is pretty much the same recipe that Ina Garten used to make “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” on an episode of “The Barefoot Contessa” so, if the recipe has her approval, then you know it must be pretty good.

The vanilla frosting recipe is a very slight adaptation of the wonderful Crusting American Buttercream Icing by Peggy Does Cake. It is a very good recipe, not overly sweet or too intensely buttery and the original can be found here.

I used orange coloured frosting for my Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes plus the classic bewitching purple of Halloween, thanks to a post on Wilton’s Instagram earlier this month of chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting topped with mint green spiderwebs! Wilton has been posting some really fun Halloween ideas this month so you might want to check them out.

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

So before we go on to actually making and decorating the cupcakes let’s keep the following in mind:

  • The first time I made orange icing for these cupcakes by mixing red and yellow gel food colors (both by AmeriColor) I added the red a little too enthusiastically which meant that I had to use A LOT of yellow to bring it to any semblance of orange. I did end up with a very vibrant, heart-stopping orange but also ended up thinning my frosting a bit – yes, even gel food colors, when used in copious amounts, can affect the texture of your frosting so note to self: Practice restraint when using food colors! You can obviously use orange food color for the frosting. AmeriColor’s “Electric Orange” seems to be a popular choice for bright orange frosting.
  • The chocolate cupcake toppers are very delicate. If you live in a place with a warmer climate it would be best to freeze the toppers until ready to serve and add them to complete your chocolate cobweb cupcakes right before serving. They’ll soften to room temperature fairly quickly.  Literally seconds after being placed on the cupcakes, the toppers began bending at the base which is the point where they’d been pushed into the frosting and finally, gently toppled over. The toppled cobwebs then softened and meltingly drooped over the frosting which kind of gave them a fairly cool look in a creepy sort of way, which if less pretty, was actually far more realistic as you can see in the photo above.
  • I discovered, rather very late in the day (after 2 attempts at making the chocolate cobwebs and having them topple over the cupcakes both times) that it is best to use chocolate that contains no cocoa butter to make the toppers as that kind of chocolate sets up firm and is not prone to softening just seconds after being placed on buttercreamed cupcakes. I used Hershey’s semisweet chocolate chips to make the cobwebs, which obviously contain cocoa butter, hence the super quick softening and yes I wish I had researched more before attempting to make the toppers. Candy coating or candy melts might work well too in creating firm toppers. I would still place the toppers atop the cupcakes just before serving to be on the safe side.
  • Serve the frosted chocolate cobweb cupcakes at room temperature. Store them airtight and if they’ve been in the fridge, allow them to come to room temperature before serving. Cold cupcake and cold frosting are not very nice, unless it’s a whipped cream frosted cupcake.

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

 

 

Chocolate Cobweb Cupcakes

Recipe Type: Desserts    Author: Alice In Eatland
Prep Time: 30 Minutes    Cook Time: 20 Minutes    Total Time: 50 Minutes    Serves: 10 – 12

 

Moist chocolate cobweb cupcakes with swirls of creamy vanilla frosting – perfect for the spookiest time of the year or for any time of the year!

 

CUPCAKES:

INGREDIENTS

  • Around 12 – 14 (1.5″ base) cupcake liners/paper bake cups
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp white vinegar
  • 1 cup caster sugar or superfine sugar
  • 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup plain flour
  • 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or essence
  • 1 tsp instant coffee
  • 1/2 cup boiling water

 

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.
  2. Line cupcake/muffin pans with the cupcake liners/paper bake cups and set aside.
  3. Stir the milk and vinegar together in a small cup or bowl to make buttermilk. Set aside.
  4. Combine all the dry ingredients, except coffee, in a bowl.
  5. Whisk the egg. Stir the buttermilk and add to the egg along with the oil and vanilla.
  6. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.
  7. Stir the instant coffee into the boiling water and carefully stir into the cocoa mixture. Batter will be quite thin.
  8. Pour batter into a measuring jug.
  9. Fill cupcake liners/paper bake cups with batter almost 3/4 full. I fill them nearly to the top with less than an 1/8 of an inch to spare at the top as I like my cupcakes to have nice high domed tops but if you’re making these for the first time, fill them 1/2 or 3/4ths full to see how they bake in your oven as every oven is different and you don’t want your cupcake batter spilling out and over while baking.
  10. Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until cupcakes are risen and a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out almost clean. Its okay if a few crumbs are sticking to the wooden pick. Try not to overbake.
  11. Remove baked cupcakes to a wire rack.
  12. Cool completely before frosting.

 

CREAMY VANILLA FROSTING:

INGREDIENTS

  • 200 grams salted butter (I use Lurpak’s Slightly Salted Butter), soft but cool
  • 1 tbsp water, at room temperature
  • 1 lb (around 450 grams) icing sugar, sifted/sieved
  • 1 tbsp cream
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract or essence
  • Orange food colour (I used “Super Red” and “Electric Yellow” both by AmeriColor to make orange)
  • Purple food colour (I used “Violet” by Wilton)

METHOD

  1. Cream butter until creamy, fluffy and pale in colour.
  2. Add the water and beat until combined.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the food colours, and beat until smooth, thick and creamy.
  4. Divide the frosting equally into two and colour each half with the food colours.
  5. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and store airtight.
  6. If storing in the fridge, allow your frosted chocolate cobweb cupcakes to come down to room temperature for 10 or so minutes before serving.

 

CHOCOLATE COBWEBS:

  1. Print out cobweb templates (I used the one available here by Candiquik – there are some cute bat and cat templates as well and these too would make pretty awesome chocolate toppers).
  2. Tape the cobweb printout on a flat cookie sheet or the backside of a flat tray.
  3. Lay a sheet of greaseproof or wax paper on top of the printout and tape it flat on top of it. You will be able to see the template design below.
  4. Fit a piping bag or a Ziploc bag snipped at one corner with a small plain writing nozzle/icing tip (I used tip number 4 by Ateco).
  5. Put 1 cup of dark or semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (whichever chocolate you use, make sure it has NO cocoa butter in it) in a bowl and microwave on high for 20 seconds. Stir and microwave again in 10 second increments, stirring every time until the chips are melted and smooth.
  6. Cool the melted chocolate a few minutes and put into the prepared piping bag.
  7. Carefully pipe out the chocolate over the wax paper covered templates, tracing out the pattern beneath. Don’t worry if you’re not super neat, as long as all the lines of each cobweb are connected by the chocolate.
  8. Once all the cobwebs have been piped, put the tray or cookie sheet in the fridge to set for at least half an hour.
  9. To remove cobwebs, carefully slide a thin spatula or thin flat butter knife under the cobwebs to dislodge them and carefully and quickly place them on top of the frosted cupcakes just before serving.