You Little Devil!

Guess what - Halloween is getting closer!  Just 2 weeks away now, which also means that Cupcake Camp London is also only 2 weeks away!  I've got a quick little cupcake decorating post for you all, with another larger post coming tonight or tomorrow that you definitely won't want to miss.  This post was also featured on The Pink Little Cake blog today, and is part of their 28 Days of Halloween series - check them out for lots of other cute Halloween ideas! 

To make these Little Devils you'll need:

Cupcakes - preferably in red liners

Red buttercream icing

Red sanding sugar - *instructions below

Red candy melts

1. Start out by covering the top of your cupcake with the red buttercream icing.  It doesn't matter if the icing isn't perfectly smooth, just make sure that the icing meets the edges of the cupcake liner.

 

2. Now it's time to cover your frosted cupcake in the red sugar*.  To do this you'll need to have your sugar in shallow bowl that's wide enough to fit the top of your cupcake in, plus a little extra.  Start by holding your cupcake upside down and gently rolling it around in a circular motion, making sure to get to the edges where the icing meets the paper liner.  Keep on rolling your cupcake in the sugar until the top is completely covered in red sugar and it's got a nice shape to it.

* For those of you who don't have any red sugar on hand, or don't want to use up all your expensive decorating sugars for this, you can make your own red sugar for free!  I don't really like to store bought decorating sugars because the individual grains are too big to cover a cupcake with, and as a result they don't give it a very nice texture.  Instead I take some fine granulated or caster sugar, put it in a plastic zip lock back and add a few drops of liquid red food coloring.  Seal up the bag, and start to smoosh the sugar around, so that the food coloring mixes with the sugar.  Do this until the food coloring is entirely mixed with the sugar.  If it's not dark enough, just add a bit more food coloring and repeat the same process.

3. To make the devil horns you'll need to melt some red candy melts and pour them into a disposable piping bag or a plastic zip lock bag, and snip the tip off so you've got a small opening. On a non stick surface such as a silicone baking sheet or clear plastic sheet, start creating an outline of the devil's horn (# 1 in the photo). Next you'll need to fill it in, don't worry about getting the chocolate perfectly smooth while your doing this - just make sure there's enough to fill the horn (#2 in the photo). Now take a tooth pick and smooth out the candy melts so the horn is completely filled and there are no empty patches. Make sure that the candy melts meet the edges of the horn.  If you don't have any candy melts you could also use red royal icing which should work just as well.

4.  Let your candy melt horns set, and very gently peel them off.  Now place them into the top of your cupcakes and you're done!  I think I made my horns a bit too big, but feel free to experiment with different sizes.

There you have it - you're own little devil cupcakes!  Perfect for Halloween!  I hope you all can give these a try, and if you've got your own little devils at home I'm sure they'd love to help make these!