Yummy Mummy Cupcakes

 Happy Halloween! I hope you all have a very fun day!  Today I am mostly excited because my 3 year old is super excited to go trick or treating tonight. He is dressing up as a penguin and my almost 1 year old will be a bear.

I love Halloween although I'm all about cute and fun things on Halloween. I am not a fan of scary or creepy things.  My sister-in-law and I made these super cute mummy cupcakes. We saw the idea on the internet but we did our own thing. To make it extra tasty we added a layer of chocolate ganache then Reese's Pieces for eyes and then the buttercream frosting. I used Emily's (One Lovely Life) recipe for cheater's ganache. It's amazing and you should have all the ingredients on hand.

We made these for a fundraiser for the boy scouts at tonight's church Halloween party. These were sold in a flash!  And might I add these were the cutest cupcakes there! To make these extra cute you could buy the candy eyes they sell at craft stores.

 Bake the cupcakes, let them cool, add the eyes and wait until the chocolate is set.

Lastly you pipe on the frosting any which way you want!  I only did a few since I needed to take care of my baby. I think they turned out really cute! Just a quick note. The frosting I used is my favorite buttercream frosting recipe. It's not super white because it has butter in it. If you are looking for a really white recipe you could use this recipe or this one.

Yummy Mummy Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Chocolate Cupcakes, baked and cooled
Cheaters Ganache (recipe below)
For the eyes- Reese's Pieces, M & M's or candy eyes
Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)
Directions:Using the back of a spoon lightly frost each cupcake with a smooth layer of ganache. Add the eyes to each cupcake. Wait until the chocolate is set. (I waited about 10 minutes but longer is just fine.) Using piping tip #47 pipe on the buttercream frosting in long bands using the smooth side of the tip.

Cheaters Ganache
(Adapted from One Lovely Life)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Add all ingredients to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for another 15-30 seconds or until chocolate chips are melted. Stir.

Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp. heavy cream or milk      

Directions:                                                                                       

In a *standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add powdered sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream or milk, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 20 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.

*or a hand mixer is fine.