Graveyard Cupcakes

I know that most people have already put Halloween behind them and are already well on their way to Christmas. But I like to remember the spookier side of the year for a little while longer and I didn't get a chance to post this until now.

Halloween is my all time FAVOURITE time of year. I jumped at the chance to throw a party this year complete with spooky food. I had another huge camera fail and didn't take pics of everything. But, I did manage to get some shots of these graveyard cupcakes that are just *ahem* to die for.

The grave stones are lady fingers that I , along with Cory's help, wrote on with melted semi-sweet chocolate. The bones, sadly, are not edible. I bought some decorative skeletons from the dollar store, cleaned them then cut them up into little bits.

For the cupcakes I made a rich, extra moist chocolate batter and baked them in square muffin tins. I was running a little short on time, so I did something I don't normally do and used *gasp* a boxed cake mix. I know, I know it is something I almost steadfastly stay away from. But when faced with little time and a lot of food to make, with a little bit of adjustments, boxed works just fine.

Graveyard Cupcakes

• 1 chocolate cake recipe (be it homemade or boxed)
• 12 ladyfingers cut in half (to equal 24 gravestones)
• handful of semi sweet chocolate chips
• green icing sugar
• tooth picks
• Small plastic skeletons (or if you can make edible bones go for it!)
  

Prepare cake recipe. (For the boxed recipe I left out some of the liquid it asked for and replaced it with a splash of vanilla extract and some brewed espresso. The coffee really helps bring out the chocolaty flavour without you actually being able to taste it.)

Pour batter into square cupcake pan and bake 15-20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the grave stones. Cut the lady fingers in half (1 lady finger = 2 gravestones). Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Using a toothpick scoop up a small amount of chocolate and write RIP on the lady finger gravestones. Put aside and let chocolate set.

Once the cupcakes are cooled spread the green icing on top. Take a gravestone and spread a bit of melted chocolate on the bottom (you can skip this part if you want I just found that it helped it to adhere to the cupcake). Slide a tooth pick into the grave stone about halfway in. If desired use a toothpick to create some wisps of grass on the bottom front of the gravestone. Place gravestone on top of cupcake making sure to leave enough space in front to place skeleton bones. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Take your skeletons and wash thoroughly to make sure they are clean. Using scissors cut the skeleton into bits so you have various amounts of legs, arms, skulls, ribcages etc. Place on top of cupcakes pressing down slightly or inserting parts into the cupcake to make sure they don't fall off.

Place on a spooky platter and enjoy!!