Bloody Halloween cupcake recipe

I have been thinking and planning a lot of the Halloween recipes for you this year. I wanted to create recipes that are equally fun AND delicious and I must say these two do not always come together in Halloween theme baking. Bloody cupcakes are an easy and fun way to turn cupcakes into epic Halloween treats and this recipe comes with no compromise on taste! In fact, the "strawberry cheesecake" flavor is so delicious that I would definitely make this again even after Halloween may be in a different design though.

This Bloody Halloween cupcake is moist, fluffy, and tastes just amazing! Besides its fun design with the edible glass and fake blood, it has a super delicious strawberry cheesecake flavor due to the cream cheese frosting and strawberry sauce added as decoration. Try it, you won´t regret it!

First, let’s start with some important notes regarding the ingredients of this Bloody Halloween cupcake recipe

• read the recipe carefully
• avoid using substitutes unless aware of how to fully reformulate the recipe in order to keep the balance in texture as well as flavors
• measure your ingredients with the help of a digital kitchen scale

For the cupcake

1. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. In this recipe, the butter needs to be at room temperature which technically means soft enough to be able to cream but not too soft or runny so avoid last-minute microwaving
2. Granulated Sugar: Standard, all-purpose granulated or white sugar is perfectly fine in this recipe, nothing fancy. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article here
3. Egg: Room temperature as always
4. Flour: All-purpose flour or pastry flour makes the best cupcakes. They are so-called “soft flour” which is low on protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture. It is always a good idea to sift your flour as it tends to form lumps. If you want to be a pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my article here
5. Salt: An essential ingredient in most dessert recipes. Balances flavor and enhances other ingredients
6. Baking powder: Has two functions: increase the volume and lighten the texture
7. Milk: Room temperature whole milk is the best
8. White vinegar+baking soda: The SECRET ingredients to make cupcakes that stay super moist and tender even after days, the exact opposite of those sad-looking dry ones from the supermarkets

For the frosting

1. Mascarpone: Very rich Italian cream cheese, exceptionally smooth, and easy to spread or whip. The flavor is milky and slightly sweet.  Use at room temperature.
2. Cream cheese: I always use Philadelphia when I state cream cheese in my recipes. I find it easy to cream (need to bring it to room temperature first) and very pleasant in taste. I usually beat it with a hand mixer for less than a minute, just until it becomes fluffy and increases a bit in volume. Please avoid over whipping
3. Icing sugar: Icing sugar is the first choice when it comes to whipping up the frosting. The question I often get is whether the quantity is a typo. NO, it´s not! You do not actually need a lot of sugar when making cupcake frosting! It stays beautifully fluffy without tons of sugar, the secret is the technique of whipping, not the amount of sugar

For the fake blood

1. Strawberry: Use fresh or frozen, the key is to boil it until it thickens into a "blood-like" consistency
2. Sugar: Use granulated sugar, easy. The exact amount of sugar will need your judgment depending on the sweetness of the strawberry you use
3. Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice to balance the sweetness

For the fake glass

1. Sugar: The fake glass is made of granulated sugar and glucose syrup (and water) so easy and looks super impressive. Corn syrup works too instead of glucose syrup and you can even use food coloring

Now let’s continue with my top 5 tips regarding the technique of making this Bloody Halloween cupcake

1. How to make vanilla cupcakes

I have a popular vanilla cupcake recipe that I use for this Bloody Halloween cupcake. Couple of important notes to remember

1. Do not overmix the batter: Once you beat up butter and sugar and mix the egg in, I suggest adding the remaining dry (flour+baking powder) and wet (milk) ingredients in 4 steps: wet, dry, wet, dry, that keeps the mixture well blended. Do not overmix, instead fold with Rubber spatula just until combined

2. Do not overfill your cupcake tin: For this recipe, I recommend filling your cupcake tin until ¾. The cupcakes will beautifully rise but won´t explore as there is not too much baking powder in the recipe

3. Let cupcakes fully cool down before filling: The cupcakes will be filled with strawberry sauce and it is really important that they are fully cooled down to room temperature before filling and frosting

2. How to make fake blood

It is so easy! Many recipes out there recommend food coloring and sugar syrup but why would you do that when you can use flavourful ingredients like strawberry sauce? Some tips to prepare the fake blood for this Bloody Halloween cupcake:

1. Cook strawberry sauce until thickens: Whether you use frozen or fresh strawberries, first blend strawberry then cook with sugar and lemon juice over medium heat until slightly thickens. You don´t want to cook it for too long (that would be jam texture) just long enough until reaches a "blood" consistency

2. Strain the cooked sauce through a sieve: We want a clean sauce that does not look like the strawberry sauce at all so you will want to use a sieve

3. Let sauce slightly cool down before using: You will have to use the sauce on top of the frosting and on the fake glass pieces too so make sure you let the sauce slightly cool down. We want to avoid the sauce melting the frosting!

3. How to make edible glass

It is actually easier than you might think and you can absolutely use this recipe to decorate another type of cakes too! It is actually an edible sugar glass that I use for the Bloody Halloween cupcake

Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper ahead. Mix sugar, glucose syrup, and water in a saucepan and start boiling the mixture over high heat until it reaches 150C / 302F, stir constantly. As soon as the mixture reaches the desired temperature pour sugar syrup over the prepared baking pan with parchment very carefully, do not burn yourself! Make sure to pour it thin and spread it out if necessary to achieve a thin "glass". Make sure the pan is level as well. Let the syrup cool down in the fridge then break it into pieces! Be throughout the whole process, hot sugar syrup, as well as broken sugar "glass", is not something I recommend experimenting with while small children are around!

4. How to make cupcake frosting

I am using my go-to cream cheese frosting; it is whipped cream cheese, mascarpone, and a small amount of icing sugar whipped until fluffy, pipeable consistency. The key here is to 1. have all the ingredients at room temperature 2. sift icing sugar and 3. do not over whip. Basically, you will have to whip the mixture with an electric hand mixer for a minute or two until it reaches a creamy, fluffy consistency then stop. It won´t get stiffer after this point, in fact, if you overbeat it, it will get only runnier then it will break. I don´t use my stand mixer to whip cream cheese frosting since it is really easy to overwhip it.

5. How to assemble the Bloody Halloween cupcake

I recommend making the edible glass first since it will need to be set in the fridge for a few hours

Continue with the cupcakes and let them completely cool down

Prepare the fake blood and let it cool down slightly

Make a small hole on each of the cupcakes and fill it with fake blood (approx. one tablespoon per cupcake)

Prepare the frosting and pipe on top of each cupcake, I am using Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip

Break edible glass into pieces and use 2-3 on each cupcake

Decorate the cupcakes with some further "blood" to your liking

Why not try some other Halloween recipes too?

Easy, no-bake pumpkin cheesecake

Spooky Meringue Ghost

Now let´s see the recipe of this Bloody Halloween cupcake!