Toothy Monster Cupcakes

Here is a simple tutorial for some fun Halloween cupcakes!

I just love their big mouths full of pointy teeth,

and their staring zombie eyes...

Toothy Monster Cupcakes  

I was inspired by these cupcakes on the Wilton site.

What You Will Need:

A batch of cupcakes

Chocolate ganache or melted chocolate fudge frosting

Decorator bags fitted with a round tip (Wilton #12)
A batch of buttercream frosting

Purple and yellow food coloring gel

M&M's

First, cover the tops of your cupcakes with ganache or melted frosting.

Let them cool and harden.

Color 1/2 cup of the buttercream yellow. Divide the rest into two bowls.

Leave one bowl of buttercream white and color the other bowl of buttercream purple.

Pipe purple buttercream along the top third of the cupcake,

moving back and forth in a zigzag motion.

 Make the teeth by piping a dot, then pulling away quickly to form a point.

 Pipe two large dots of yellow buttercream for the eyes, and press M&M's into the dots.

  

Watch out, he bites!! 

  

Enjoy!

  I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

And this holiday link party...

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Fall Harvest vs. Halloween {The Switch Witch, Healthy Homemade Treats + Natural, Organic & Fair Trade Chocolates and Candy Ideas}

Willow Pond Organic Farm

How does your family celebrate?  Do you celebrate the Fall Harvest or Halloween?  Do you celebrate both?  How do you incorporate the two?  Does the Switch Witch come to your house for Halloween?  If you have time to share, I’d love to hear what you do. 

For many of us “Real Food” parents, Halloween can be an interesting time. 

Now that my daughter is in Kindergarten, Halloween is being talked about more.  In the past, Little Love has dressed up in costumes for Halloween and gone to see my mom, my Aunt and a few neighbors, but it’s never been for the traditional commercial candy/trick-or-treat.  I have tried to incorporate the Fall Harvest into Halloween with annual trips to pick organic pumpkins and apples, carving pumpkins at home and making a little party out of it, making homemade treats, and instead of commercial candies on Halloween, she gets little presents from my mom and organic chocolates. 

This year, since more and more kids are talking about Halloween at her school (she goes to a Waldorf school, they have a Harvest Festival and do not celebrate Halloween, so that helps some), I’ve decided to incorporate The Switch Witch.

There is a beautiful book called "The Switch Witch"{*affiliate} by Charity A. O'Neil-O'Kane that talks about a different way for families to celebrate Halloween (without the overload of commercial candy).  She is not a scary witch (which I appreciate), she lives in her house (which is more enchanted than haunted) with her cat Magic and has pumpkins and cornfields in her yard.  She visits homes on Halloween night where children with imaginations live, and she has the power to make a healthier Halloween.  I love this concept and this book.  The idea is that on Halloween night the Switch Witch can come and visit, take away the commercial candies (or some of them) and switch it out with healthier alternatives or treats, or even a special gift. 

* {Amazon Affiliate link included helps support this blog.  Price is the same for you.}

Little Love getting ready to choose some pumpkins.

In our home, we start to celebrate the Fall Harvest before Halloween.  My Little Love already got to go to our favorite organic farm, pick out her pumpkins and pick some apples (with me and her grandma/my mom), she looks forward to this tradition every year.  She celebrates the Harvest Festival today at her school.  As Halloween approaches, we will celebrate by carving pumpkins and having homemade treats.  This year I will probably make some gluten-free Owl-looking chocolate pumpkin cupcakes, some fresh fruit skewers, and maybe some caramel corn or caramel apples. 

Little Love and her little organic pumpkin.

Little Love picking some apples with her grandma.

Litte Love and Me

Wishing everyone a beautiful Fall Harvest and a Happy Halloween!

Need Recipe Ideas for Healthier Homemade Treats?

Here are some of my family’s favorites:

Spiced Pumpkin Smoothie

Honey-Sweetened Hot Chocolate

Spiced Pumpkin Tea (Chai – w/o black tea, caffeine free)

Slow Cooked Pears

Chocolate Fudge Sauce (to top your favorite ice cream)

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake (sprouted gluten-free flour & egg-free)

Mini Warm Chocolate Cakes

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites

Sprouted Cut-Out Cookies (use Fall or Halloween theme cookie cutters)

Need Ideas for Healthier, Organic, Fair Trade Chocolates & Candy?


Endangered Species Chocolate – Natural, Organic, Fair Trade, Ethically Traded

Milk and Dark Chocolates

Heavenly Organics – Organic, Sustainable, Fairly Traded, No Refined Sugars

 These amazing chocolates come in Mint, Pomegranate, Ginger, and Almond … my absolute favorite is the Chocolate Mints, they remind me of my childhood days when I used to eat Junior Mints.  The soft honey center is unbelievable.  Fillings are made with Raw, Organic White Himalayan Honey, Chocolate Shells made with Organic Unsweetened Chocolate.

Stirs the SOUL – Organic Raw Chocolates, Fairly Traded, Sustainable, Allergy and Gluten-Free, Unrefined Sugars

Chocolates are Banana-Fig-Currant Sweetened, Date Sweetened, Coconut Palm Sugar Sweetened, or Raw Honey Sweetened.

There are many flavors to choose from such as Blissful Dark, Spiced Chai, Mint, Orange Gogi, Cayenne Cinnamon, Honey Rose, Lavender, Coconut, Espresso, Hemp, Hemp & Maitake.  I have had the honey and date sweetened chocolates – the dark, spiced chai, mint, cayenne cinnamon and orange gogi flavors.  All were delicious.    

Yummy Earth – Organic, Gluten-Free, No Artificial Flavors or Colors, No High Fructose Corn Syrup, Real Fruit Extracts

Lollipops, Jelly Beans, Gummy Worms, Gummy Bears, Twist Wrapped Hard Candies.

Chocolate Orange Spider Web Cake

Have you ever combined two things that you love,
to discover that together they make something even more awesome?

That's what is going on here today.
Because, chocolate + orange = WOW!!

Chocolate Orange Cake

I was inspired by those yummy chocolate oranges you smack on the table to break into slices.

And orange sticks. And Jaffa cakes (it's a British thing).

I added orange extract to my favorite chocolate cake,
covered it with orange cream cheese frosting,
and topped it all with chocolate ganache.

And this flavor combination just happens to make Halloween colors.

So I put a spider web on the top to make it fun.

Chocolate Orange Cake

by Bird On A Cake

6034094

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 c. milk mixed with 1 T. vinegar)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange extract

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• orange gel food coloring

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake pans with wax paper and grease the sides. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and keep it simmering while you mix the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and orange extract. Beat with mixer until combined.

Add 1 cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-22 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature and soften. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, orange extract and vanilla. Gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar. Mix in food coloring.

Chocolate Ganache

Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat the cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 2 minutes. Slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted and it is thoroughly combined. Stir in the vanilla. Let the ganache cool if you prefer a thicker consistency.

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To Make the Spider Web:

Reserve some of your orange frosting, and put it in a decorator bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off. Immediately after spreading the ganache on the cake,  use the frosting to pipe a spiral that covers the top. Using a knife, start in the middle of the cake and pull lines through the frosting to the edge (like spokes on a wheel).

Helpful Hint: Don't use orange candy melts like me. They harden too quickly.

 Enjoy!

 Would you like another yummy orange cake recipe?
Try my Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.
  
This post was featured!

News @ Recipes to Nourish

Enjoying a chilly day at the beach with my Little Love. 

Things have been quieter around here lately, for a few special reasons…

Little Love on her first day of Kindergarten

My Little Love started Kindergarten at a local Waldorf school this September.  We’ve been making some changes to our rhythm at home and adjusting to this new wonderful transition.  Little Love really loves school and has already made some dear friends.  I am so excited for her adventure there. 

Little Love hanging out in the tree at school.

And the big news – Little Love is going to be a big sister!  I am absolutely thrilled and so excited about our baby.  I love being pregnant and feel truly blessed.  Like I experienced with Little Love, the first trimester was a bit challenging with nausea and feeling tired all the time, so I had to put blogging on the back burner for a while.  I needed to focus on Little Love and take care of myself. 

Little Love and a picture of her baby sister.

We recently found out that we’re having a girl!  We are all so excited and can’t wait to meet her (mid Winter 2013).  Little Love really wanted a little sister.  Months before we knew, she drew a picture of her little sister playing with her at the park, she just knew.  Little Love is beyond excited for her baby sister.  She talks about how she can’t wait to hold and care for her little sister.  She’s already requested to be the one that gets to pick out the baby's outfits, she even asked if she could make a birthday hat for her baby sister to wear to her birthday party (she’s already planning her birthday party in the spring and knows her baby sister will be here then).  She’s asked if she can get to hold her each day when the baby is napping so she can sing her lullabies.  She keeps coming up with new ideas, things she wants to do with her, things she wants to share with her and things she wants to teach her.  It’s so sweet.

I am really looking forward to my second homebirth.  I have the most amazing midwives, I am truly grateful for them.  I have wonderful support around me too, my sweet Little Love, my loving fiancé, my family and my dear friends.    

So ... I am trying to find balance with blogging.  It can be challenging at times.  I will still be posting recipes, but not as often as I used to. 

The best way to make sure you don’t miss a post is to Subscribe/Follow by Email - you will find the box to subscribe in the top right-hand corner of my blog.  Simply add in your email address, and every time there is a new post, you will be emailed directly.  You can also "Like" me on Facebook, which is normally the best way to contact me and also keep up with posts.    

Love and light,

Emily