Mummy Cupcakes

First up lets make the sponge; preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan oven/gas 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with 12 muffin cases.

Put the butter, oil and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until pale in colour and fluffy in texture.

Mix in the egg, then add the Vanilla Extract and Cocoa Powder and mix again. Squeeze in the Red Gel Food Colour and mix until the colour is evenly mixed through.

Sift over the flour and pour in the buttermilk, mix until all incorporated. In a small bowl mix together the Bicarbonate of Soda and vinegar then add to the cake mixture stirring it in by hand until it is all incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcakes case and bake for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tins for 15 minutes then remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Whilst your cupcake are cooling, it is time to get creative and make the mummy faces. Knead the white fondant on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Roll your fondant out to a thickness of approx. ¼ cm and then cut out 12 circles approx. 6cm in diameter. Wrap your remaining fondant in cling film.

Make 24 pea-sized balls using the coloured fondant and pop onto the fondant circles pushing them down on the fondant so they stick and flatten out. Then create 24 smaller black fondant balls and pop them on top of the coloured balls. To finish the eyes, pop a tiny ball of white fondant on the black part of the eyes to give them a twinkle!

Re-roll the remaining white fondant and using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut into 1cm wide strips. Cut the strips into 6cm long pieces. Lay the strips of fondant on top of the fondant circle leaving a gap to show the eyes, it works best if you overlap some of the fondant pieces to create the bandage effect. If you are struggling to get the fondant to stick use a brush with a tiny bit of water. Use the round cutter to re-cut the circle and remove any of the excess fondant. 

Spread a layer of Buttercream on top of each cooled cupcake using a palette knife or back of a spoon. Pop your decorated fondant disc on top of the buttercream.

Ta-dah your spooky mummy cupcakes are ready to serve and enjoy!