With ghosts and ghouls of every age unable to celebrate this spooky season to the fullest I thought I’d give you a spine-chilling recipe that’s sure to get that undead blood pumping! 

 These Cookies and (s)Cream cupcakes are to die for! They taste spookily good and are drop dead adorable too! Each little ghost having its own personality! Made with plenty of Oreo goodness (or naughtiness) they are bound to be a hit! 

 Made with or without the meringue ghosts these cupcakes are the perfect treat along-side a scary movie, you just have to ask yourself one question… “Do you want to die tonight?!” Of choccy cookie overload obviously! 

 So, if you want to celebrate the spooky season in style why not make these devilishly good treats! Just don’t blame me if they’re so good they raise the dead! 

Ingredients

Makes 12 cupcakes 

For the batter -

130 ml buttermilk - see recipe for how to make if not available to buy

130 ml strong brewed coffee (cold)

100 ml vegetable or sunflower oil 

2 large eggs

185 g caster sugar 

140 g plain flour 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1/4 tsp salt 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

35 g dark cocoa powder

50 g Oreos, crushed 

12 whole Oreos (one for each cupcake)

For the Oreo buttercream - 

200 g softened unsalted butter 

320 g icing sugar 

3 tbsp buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract 

100 g Oreos, crushed 

For the meringue ghosts 

2 large egg whites (room temp)

Caster sugar (double the weight of egg whites)

1 sachet / 1 tsp cream of tartar 

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

White vinegar (for cleaning)

To decorate 

Shop bought black writing icing or home made royal icing (ingredients below)

1 egg white (at room temp) 

200 g icing sugar 

Black gel food colouring 

Method

*** TO MAKE BUTTERMILK ***

If you are unable to buy buttermilk, you can make it by mixing 1 tsp of lemon juice with the quantity of whole (that is, full fat) milk you need and setting aside for 20 to 30 mins to thicken.

Cupcake batter

1 - 

Preheat your oven to 180 dec C and line your cupcake tin with paper cases (bonus points if they’re Halloween themed!) Place 1 whole Oreo in the base of each case and set them to one side.

In a bowl or zip lock bag, crush the Oreos into a fine crumb filling and all. 

Brew some strong coffee and allow to cool. 

2 - 

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients -  flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa powder. Once sifted, stir in your finely crushed Oreo cookies. Set aside.

3 - 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients - eggs, buttermilk, oil, coffee and vanilla. Once combined, add your wet mixture to your dry and mix gently until just combined. Do not over mix. This mixing step is very easily done by hand with a balloon whisk. 

4 - 

Evenly fill each cupcake case two-thirds full (these do not rise too much when baking) and bake for 15 to 20 mins depending on your oven or until a tooth pick, when inserted, comes out clean. Another way of knowing if they’re finished is if they spring back when pressed gently. Once done, set these aside to cool fully, transferring to a wire rack after 10 mins.  

Meringue Ghosts 

1 - 

For this part, I recommend using either a stand mixer or hand mixer. Thoroughly wash and dry your bowl and whisk and, once dry, wipe it down thoroughly with your vinegar using a paper towel. 

Preheat your oven to 100 deg C and line a large flat baking / cookie sheet with either baking parchment or a silicone sheet and set aside. 

2 - 

Carefully separate your egg whites and add them to your clean bowl set on an electronic scale. Do this one at a time in case any egg yolk or shell makes it into the mix. If the yolk breaks you will have to discard and start again. You can buy egg whiles in a carton in most shops if you would find this easier. 

Weigh the egg whites and make a note of this. In a separate bowl, weigh out double the weight of your eggs in caster sugar (for example, 100 g egg whites needs 200 g sugar). Set the sugar aside. 

3 - 

Place your egg whites, cream of tartar and salt to your clean mixing bowl and begin to mix on a low speed with a whisk attachment. After about 30 seconds, increase the speed to medium and whisk until foamy / bubbly, approximately 60 seconds. Once the eggs have become foamy, turn your mixer to medium / high speed and start to, very slowly, stream in the sugar 1 spoonful at a time, pausing slightly between spoonfuls. Keep adding your sugar gradually until you have used all of it. Whisk on high speed for 5 minutes. 

4 - 

Once the 5 minutes are up, add your vanilla and whisk on high for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Once done, stop the mixer and scoop a small amount onto a clean finger, and rub between your finger and thumb. If you feel any grains of sugar, whisk on high for another 2-3 minutes and test again. Once the mixture is completely smooth and glossy, you are ready to pipe / shape your ghosts. 

5 - 

Using a piping bag with a wide open tip, pipe your ghosts onto your prepared baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them. I piped them in a slight swirl to give them height, but you can pipe them shorter or taller as you wish. If you do not have a piping bag you can spoon them on and smooth them out with the back of a spoon to make ghost shapes. The more crooked and organic the better as it makes the end result more spooky! 

6 - 

Once piped, bake your meringues in the middle of your preheated oven for 50 mins, ensuring they do not brown. You can turn the oven down and bake for longer if your oven runs on the hot side. Once the 50 mins is up, turn off the oven, do not open the door and leave to cool completely. Once the time is up, they should be fully dry and lift away from the sheet easily. If they still seem a little wet, you can bake them at 100 deg c for another 20 mins. Once done, store in an air tight container until ready to decorate and serve the cupcakes, as adding them to the cupcakes too far in advance will result in the meringues taking on moisture from the buttercream and becoming soft and fragile. 

Oreo Buttercream

1 - 

In the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer), beat your softened butter on medium speed using a paddle attachment for 3 to 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.

2 - 

Once pale (almost white) and fluffy, add half of your icing sugar and mix on low to prevent a cloud of sugar going everywhere. Once mostly mixed in, beat again on high for 1 minute before repeating with the remaining icing sugar. Once combined, add the salt and scrape down the bowl, then beat on high speed for 2 to 3 mins to make a super fluffy and pale butter cream. 

3 - 

Add the vanilla and crushed Oreos then mix to combine fully, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is fully mixed. Add one tbs of your buttermilk and mix - you are aiming for a soft, fluffy and easily pipe-able mixture. If it is still tight/thick, you can add the remaining buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing between, to reach the desired texture. 

4 - 

Once achieved, cover and set aside to decorate, I recommend making the buttercream just before decorating to stop it stiffening / developing a crust. If you want to make it in advance and store it, cover it with plastic wrap, making sure it is touching the surface of the buttercream to stop air getting in, and store in the fridge. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and beat briefly to fluff up. You can add a touch of milk to soften if it still thick. This can be stored for 1 week in the fridge or up to 3 weeks in the freezer in an air tight container. 

How to Assemble  

*** Make the royal icing *** 

If you want to use royal icing over shop bought writing icing, follow the steps below:

In a bowl, combine your egg white and icing sugar and beat together to a thick but pipe-able pure white paste. If it is too thick, add water, one drop at a time, until the desired thickness. It needs to be piped but remain in place. Once mixed, add your black food colouring until the desired colour is achieved. 

1 - 

Pipe your spooky faces on your baked and cooled meringue ghosts and set aside to set. 

2 - 

Generously pipe / spoon a mound or swirl of buttercream evenly on your fully cooled cupcakes. This does not have to be fancy, or perfect as we will top it with the meringue ghosts. 

3 - 

Once piped, gently, but firmly, place the meringue ghosts in the centre of the cupcakes, pushing them in to ensure they stay and nestle into the buttercream. 

Serve and enjoy! They can be stored in an air tight container for 2 to 3 days once fully decorated. 

Tips and Troubleshooting

• To ensure they are tasty and retain their shape, it is recommended to add the meringue ghosts to the cupcakes the day they are to be eaten to prevent them from absorbing moisture from the buttercream. This does not affect the flavour so not a disaster if you need to store them fully decorated. 

• The hardest part of this is making the meringue. However they turn out, once they are baked and the faces added, they can still be transformed into cute little ghosts. If they do turn out completely wrong, you can opt to use large white marshmallows instead and pipe faces on them. You can omit them completely and you will still have the most incredible chocolate cupcakes ever! 

• Although you may think otherwise, the buttermilk is vitally important to this recipe. In souring the milk to make it buttermilk, it changes the qualities of the milk and allows the cakes to be incredibly soft, moist and totally delicious, so do not substitute this for regular milk. It is well worth it!

• Like with the buttermilk, the coffee is also important. Don’t worry, I know some people hate the taste of coffee, but trust me you will not taste it in this cake. The coffee deepens and enriches the chocolate flavour and makes the cakes super chocolaty! Have faith and embrace the coffee!