Hello everyone! A super delicious Halloween Cookies and Cream cupcake recipe for you today in collaboration with Dr.Oetker, my go to for all things baking. #AD

This is the perfect halloween bake that looks and tastes incredible . A rich black chocolate fudge sponge filled with a white chocolate ”blood” ganache, topped with a cookies and cream buttercream. Decorated with fondant spiders, marshmallow cobwebs and some beautiful sprinkles.

Fondant spiders
Below is step by step pictures on making fondant spiders using pre dyed black fondant. I made these the day before so they could firm up to be placed on the cupcakes. I use water as a glue to stick the parts together.
Happy Baking! <3 Dm me on Instagram if you have any questions.
Spider ”Spookies” and Cream Cupcakes
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 22-25 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Cupcake
- 115g Dr.Oetker 72% Extra Dark Chocolate
- 115g Unsalted butter
- 85g Plain flour
- 15g Dr.Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder
- ½ teaspoon Dr. Oetker Gluten Free Baking Powder
- 1/8th of a teaspoon Dr. Oetker Bicarbonate soda
- 60ml of hot water
- 100g of caster sugar
- 100g of light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 40ml of buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 Teaspoons Dr. Oetker Extra Strong Black Food Colour Gel
White chocolate ganache ”Blood”
- 150g Dr. Oetker 26% White Chocolate
- 50g Cream
- 2-3 Teaspoons Dr.Oetker Extra Strong Red Food Colour Gel
Cookies and cream buttercream
- 170g Unsalted butter ( Room Temp )
- 340g Icing sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons milk (Till silky and pipeable)
- 1 teaspoon Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract
- 6 Oreos ( Crushed very fine in a food processor )
Decoration
- 1 Bag Dr.Oetker Heart Marshmallows
- Handful of Dr.Oetker Glamour & Sparkle Sprinkles
- Black Fondant spiders
Directions
Step one : Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 180C/160CFan and get your 12 cupcake tin lined with your desired cupcake cases.
- Melt Dark chocolate and butter together in the microwave then mix in the hot water.
- While chocolate mixture is cooling slightly sieve all dry ingredients (Flour,cocoa,baking powder, salt and Bicarbonate) into a bowl.
- Add in caster sugar and brown sugar to the dry ingredients and mix.
- In a separate bowl, Mix together the buttermilk, vanilla,eggs and black food dye.
- Now it’s time to incorporate your wet ingredients with your dry ingredients. (Be careful not to overmix as this will result in a dense cake). Fold the mixture.
- Once combined, scoop mix into cupcake cases evenly. An ice-cream scoop is ideal for this! Bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes and then leave to cool completely.
Step two: Blood ganache
- Place cream and chocolate into a bowl and microwave on 30 second blasts. Stir till smooth.
- Mix in the red food colour until you reach a deep red colour. Place in the fridge to cool until needed.
Step three: Buttercream
- Place soft butter into a mixing bowl. Using an electric hand whisk, whip up until very pale and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Add icing sugar in 3 separate batches until incorporated well.
- Whisk in the crushed oreos and vanilla.
- Whisk in milk to thin it out if needed.
- Set buttercream aside.
Decoration
- Now that the cakes are cool we want to core them. I use a cupcake corer but an apple corer or knife will do the trick. Fill up each cupcake with blood ganache.
- (If using a piping back to decorate) Fill up your piping bag. I used a Wilton 1m Tip. Swirl buttercream on top of cupcake.
- Set cupcakes in the fridge for 30 minutes. This is to make adding the marshmallow web easier.
- Add marshmallows into a bowl and melt in very short blasts until soft ( About 30 seconds)
- Stir until smooth and let cool until they are not piping hot. They need to be still warm and melty. (This will only take about 1 minute to cool)
- Remove your cupcakes from the fridge. Take a big pinch of marshmallow between your fingers and pull it apart between your fingers until thin and cobweb like. Wrap around each cupcake very gently. (This is super sticky and will take a few minutes to get the hang of it so try a few practice runs)
- If you need to heat the marshmallow back up, place in the microwave for about 10 seconds.
- Top cupcakes with some sprinkles and your fondant spider.
- Take a snap of your spooky creation and enjoy!
If you make this recipe I would love for you to tag me on Instagram!#gills_bakesandcakes @gills_bakesandcakes