Graveyard Cupcakes

This Halloween, bring a little spooky fun to the party table with these rich and delicious Chocolate Graveyard Cupcakes! Made with our Natural Vanilla Bean Artisan and Natural Espresso Coffee Artisan, these treats are as deliciously dark as they are spine-tingling.

These cupcakes may look like an intricate, but they’re secretly super simple to make! The grass is just green buttercream made using a grass pipping tip, and each “gravestone” is simply a cookie half dipped in chocolate—no fancy tools or expert skills needed. They’ll have everyone at your Halloween party convinced you spent hours in the kitchen when really, these cupcakes come together in a flash. So, you get all the wow-factor without the fuss!

These eerie Chocolate Graveyard Cupcakes are the perfect mix of spine-chilling looks and devilishly good flavor. Sink your fangs into one... if you dare. Halloween has never tasted so terrifyingly delicious!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs (room temp.)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed) 
• 1/3 cup vegetable, canola or melted coconut oil
• 1.5 tbs. Amoretti® Natural Vanilla Bean Artisan
• 3 tbs. Amoretti® Natural Espresso Coffee Artisan
• 1/2 cup buttercream (room temp.)

Buttercream

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temp.)
• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. Amoretti® Vanilla Madagascar Bourbon European Style Extract
• 1-3 tsp green food coloring (gel works best)

Decorations

• 6 Milano cookies
• 1 cup of white chocolate candy melts
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp. food grade charcoal powder

Directions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl until combined then set aside.
3. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, sugars, oil, Amoretti® Natural Vanilla Bean Artisan and Amoretti® Natural Espresso Coffee Artisan until completely smooth.
4. Pour half the wet ingredients into the dry, then half of the buttermilk and gently whisk for a few seconds, then repeat with the remaining wet ingredients and buttermilk. Stir until just combined, make sure to not overmix. The batter should be thin. 
5. Full your cupcake liners with the batter only halfway to avoid spilling over the sides or sinking. Bake for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Allow to cool completely before frosting. 

Buttercream

1. Beat the softened butter with a hand or stand mixer on medium until soft and smooth, add in the powdered sugar slowly while still beating on medium.
2. Once the sugar and butter have come together, add in the Amoretti® Vanilla Madagascar Bourbon European Style and mix. Then mix in your green food color.
3. If the consistency is too thick, you can add in some milk or heavy cream until you reach your desired consistency. 

Decorations

1. Cut your Milano cookies in half with a knife so you have 12 halves, then melt your white chocolate candy melts with your coconut oil in the microwave in bursts of 10 seconds.
2. Add your charcoal powder into the melted white chocolate then mix and dip each halved Milano cookie and set aside to dry.
3. Press your gravestones (chocolate covered Milano cookies) into each cupcake so they stand then put your green buttercream in a piping bag with a grass tip and pipe the grass on by holding your your piping bag at a 90 degree angle about 1/8 of an inch from your cupcake and squeezing the piping bag to create grass. You can create the grass to be as long or short as desired, I usually pull away when grass is about 1/2 an inch. Repeat for all cupcakes
4. Serve and enjoy your spooky treat!