Ingredients:

1 Box Cake, or your favorite cake recipe (Any flavor will do, the color doesn’t effect the finished cake).

1 Can of vanilla frosting (It has to be vanilla so the food coloring can show) or homemade frosting (recipe below).

Green, Black, and either Orange or Purple food coloring.

1 Box of Nilla Wafer Cookies (You only need 12).

1 Bag of Bugles Chips (You only need 12) (I like the original flavored, but you can use which ever flavor you like.)

1 Bag of Thin Pretzel Sticks (You only need 12).

1 Bar of Almond Bark Melting Chocolate (You can use chocolate chips but they take about ten times as long to dry – That’s not an exaggeration either, seriously.)

About 36 Green M&M’s. (You want 2-3 on each cauldron)

1 Small Bag of Green Sixlet Candies (You want 2-3 on each cauldron).

Green Sprinkles (You can make some with sugar and green food coloring. Mix 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 2-4 drops -it might take more- of green food coloring with a fork and Voilà! Simple as that)

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to the correct temp on your box or in the recipe. Prepare cake batter as directed, pour into all twenty-four cupcake papers evenly – or as evenly as possible – and bake as directed.

While the cake is baking, now is the perfect time to get started on your chocolate. Chop 2 of the 12 squares of the Almond Bark Bar or put 1 cup of your chocolate chips (about half a bag) in a bowl and put it in the microwave. (You can also use a double boiler but this is easier and much quicker). Put the chocolate in for 1 minute and stir. Put the chocolate back in for another minute and stir – it should be fully melted by now but if it isn’t put it back in for 30 second intervals, stirring in between each. (Be VERY careful not to burn your chocolate!! Seriously, it’s the worst thing ever. Like, worse then burnt popcorn and harder to get rid of.) Take some time to pick out 12 of the nicest Cookies, Bugles, and Pretzels you can find. Lay out a piece of wax paper and very carefully dip all of your decorative treats and lay them out carefully – making sure none of them are touching. Let. Them. Sit!! I know, I know. They should be moved and fixed so they can be perfect. No. Do not touch them until they are completely dry. Now that the most infuriating 7 minutes of your life are over, dip just the bottoms of the Bugles and press them (gently) onto the center of the chocolate covered cookies. (You may have to hold them and let them set a bit before they sit without slouching – after all, you don’t want a sloppy Sorting Hat now do you? Let the chocolate dipped hats and stirring sticks sit and make the frosting. Take just less than half out of the container and put into a bowl, then take about 2-3 tablespoons of it into a small bowl. Leave the rest in the container, no need to dirty-up another bowl.

 

Frosting Recipe:

6 Tablespoons Softened Butter or Shortening (shortening makes it white where as butter makes it more yellow).

3 Cups of Powdered Sugar.

1 Tablespoon of Milk.

Mix Softened Butter or Shortening in medium bowl. When it’s smooth and creamy add 1 Cup Powdered Sugar (You can add all 3 cups if you wish but going 1 cup at a time is much easier) mix completely. Add 1 cup of Powdered Sugar and mix until smooth. Add last cup of Powdered Sugar, mix until all sugar is combined with butter. Add 1/2 Tablespoon of Milk and mix carefully (It’s really easy to splash it and loose some of the milk). If it is still too thick add the other half. Mix until smooth. Divide into three bowls. Take about 3 tablespoons of it out into a small bowl and cut the rest in half and put in separate bowls.

Now for the coloring. Take your Green Food Coloring and drip about 5-8 drops – You can choose to add more or less depending on how dark you want it – into one of the bigger bowls of frosting, mix thoroughly. Do the same with the black. Now deciding time. Orange or Purple? (It’s for the ribbon around the hat). Whichever you choose, use 2-4 drops of it into your smallest bowl of frosting. Mix until smooth.

When and only when the cupcakes are completely cool you can frost them (If they are warm the frosting will melt and slip off the cupcake).

My advice to you is to look at the pictures to be sure that you understand how I’ve decorated them before you start just to get what I’m getting at.

Cover 12 of the cupcakes with the Green Frosting (leave some for the cauldrons). Sprinkle the green cupcakes with the Green Sprinkles and set aside. Now, take the other 12 cupcakes and use the Black Frosting to make a thick ring around the cupcake (kind of like a doughnut) fill the empty centers with the left over Green Frosting. Spread the Green Frosting out so it is a nice circle in the middle. Sprinkle the green centers with the Green Sprinkles. Set aside. Now, press (gently) each hat into the middle of the Green cupcakes. Take the Orange or Purple Frosting and put it into a piping bag – or a ziplock and snip off the very corner (carefully, not too big) of the bag – Use the tip to draw a thin line all the way around the base of the Bugles. Set aside. Now press each of the chocolate coated Pretzel sticks into the green part of the remaining 12 cupcakes. Now press 2-3 Green M&M’s into each of the green centers of the cupcakes in random order. Do the same thing with the Green Sixlets, pressing 2-3 inside the green circle in random order.

There we go! It seems a bit difficult because there are a lot of steps but it’s quite simple! Enjoy!!

Happy Halloween

~ Kristin Elizabeth ❤

 

(Pictures to come directly after this!)