Halloween Cupcakes

The clock is about to strike midnight. It's almost the witching hour. Sign up for Tuesdays with Dorie now, before you miss the chance to bake on the cheap with our rowdy crew of spirited bakers. Eerily enough, the deadline is Halloween. Egads, did I hear a thunder clap?

This week's assignment, from Clara at I heart Cuppycakes, couldn't have come at a more opportune time. I don't need extra reasons to bake chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but it was actually my turn to bring cupcakes to the "young women" at church for the monthly "Cupcake Sunday." If you ever want to bake for a grateful crowd, choose teenager girls. I thought they might break out into a fist fight-in church, no less- over which cupcakes was whose, and whose cupcake was which, and who saw which one first, and which one had more of this and that. I sat on the back row grinning. You have to love food that inspires such heart felt irreverence. I spent Saturday churning out cupcakes, 36 to be exact. Exactly the number I need to bring to church, and not one extra. Not one. By Saturday night, my home was filled with chocolatey sadness and gooey jealousy. And it wasn't just me either. The Quiet Man and the little charges were also quite put out, not to mention their five visiting cousins. Even my mom popped by and asked if she might have a cupcake and I had to turn her down. Have you ever seen such cruelty? But at 9 PM, I cracked under the pressure. I made another batch, a fourth batch of Dorie's cupcake so that we could all enjoy a late night cupcake feast. Chocolatey sadness was replaced with chocolatey joy and gooey delight outshone the previous jealousy. We licked our candy coated wounds and went to bed completely content.

So head on over to Clara's and get this contentment-in-a- cupcake recipe for yourself. And make extra, because you'll be sure to have no shortage of takers.

Estimated Cost for my fellow penny pinchers: $5.00 for 12.

Notes: I used orange colored vanilla candy melts, melted into a squeeze bottle and piped onto waxed paper, for the words and letters.
Coming Tomorrow:

Halloween Supper Upper Upper