Creature Black Velvet and Ganache Cupcakes

Halloween is a fab time to get creative with some cupcakes decorations!

Black Velvet Cupcakes

• 210g Gluten Free Flour Blend
• 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 75g Black Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• Pinch of Salt
• 170g Melted Butter
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 355ml Whole Milk

Buttercream Icing

• 600g Icing Sugar
• 300g Butter
• Dashes of Whole Milk

Red Ganache Filling

• 240g Gluten Free White Chocolate Chips (or broken up bar)
• 100g Double Cream
• Dark Red Food Gel Colouring

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

For the cupcakes, hand whisk all the dry ingredients together. Once combined, all in the wet ingredients and hand whisk again. This it to make sure our cupcakes are nice and light.

Evenly measure out the mixture into cupcakes cases (ours had to be black!) and pop in the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to check the cupcakes are cooked through by using a skewer/cocktail stick or knife and seeing if it comes out clean. Will be hard to tell with the dark colour!

Once baked, leave them on a wire rack to cool down. Take small knife and carefully take out the tops to make a little well.

For the ganache, heat the cream in a saucepan on a medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Put the white chocolate in a bowl and pour the warm cream over. Begin blending the mixture until it's smooth. If you still have some lumps, pop it in the microwave a few seconds at a time until fully melted. Add a few blobs of red food gel and stir it through. Add more if you'd like a deeper red!

Spoon the ganache into the cake well and leave to set a little.

For the buttercream icing, use a hand mixer until the buttercream is blended together until nice and fluffy. Add a dash of milk if it's too dry.

Optional - Separate the buttercream into different bowls to add different colours or go truly goth with more black cocoa.

Decorate how you wish!