Black Magic Halloween Cupcakes

Your eyes might be deceived that they are burnt but they are not. They are filled with (good) black magic, topped with ghostly buttercream, bugs, bones, pumpkins and specs of witches dandruff.

Today when I made these cupcakes I had three little devils help me mix the batter and also decorated some of them, my niece Lady Bug and nephew Mikey and Bodean.

I used a black cocoa powder for these to give them the spooky dark cupcakes.  The black cocoa powder is not bitter at all, its actually a sweet chocolate flavor. I used black cocoa powder in a different post, Black Magic Sauce.

These are kid approved, after the decorated their cupcakes they ate them up.

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Black Magic Halloween Cupcakes

Time

Prep: 20 minutes for Buttercream
        20 minutes for Cupcakes

Baking: 15 to 20 minutes

Yields: 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
8 cups Powdered Sugar
4 Vanilla Bean
6 Tablespoons Milk, I used Almondmilk

Black Magic Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 cup Black Cocoa Powder, can use Unsweetened Baking Cocoa with black food coloring
2 cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Tablespoon Cold Brew Coffee or instant coffee
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk, room temperature I used Almondmilk Buttermilk
1 cup Vegetable Oil, can use any unflavored oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract, I used Homemade

Optional
Sprinkles
Halloween Candy Pieces
Decorations
Gel

Buttercream
1. In a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream softened butter, vegetable shortening and sea salt for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
2. Add scrap the insides of the vanilla beans with a knife and blend with butter and shortening. Slowly add one cup at a time powdered sugar. After the four cups of sugar add in 3 tablespoons of milk. Slowly add in the last of the powdered sugar and milk. Store in the refrigerator. I made this ahead of time.

Cupcakes
1. In a medium size bowl, combine flour, black cocoa powder, sea salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine vegetable oil, sugar, coffee, buttermilk, whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the flour cocoa mixture and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer for 5 minutes on a medium speed then bump up the speed on high for 2 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place cupcake paper into cupcake pans. Scoop out batter with an ice cream scoop 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on a wired rack before decorating.

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