Halloween Recipe: Nevermore Black Chocolate Cupcakes

What better way to celebrate a dark and dreary winter day than with a batch of Nevermore black chocolate cupcakes?!?  Each black chocolate devil’s food cupcake is baked with an Oreo cookie base, stuffed with a raspberry core, frosted with thick dark chocolate frosting and topped with a hand molded white chocolate crow skull.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,  

Over many a quaint and curious cookbook of forgotten lore—    

 Suddenly there came a tapping,  

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my kitchen door.  

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my kitchen door—             

 Only this and nothing more.” 

First thing’s first…let’s gather our ingredients!

For the cupcakes you will need:

• 1 box of Devil’s Food cake mix (I used Duncan Hines for this)
• Whatever ingredients that box mix calls for
• ¼ cup Red raspberry jam
• 1 pouch of raspberry Jell-o mix
• 24 Oreo cookies (I used double stuff)
• 1 jar Fudge frosting (again, I used Duncan Hines)
• 1 cup water
• Black food dye

Start by first lining each of your muffin tin cavities with a liner and drop 1 Oreo cookie into the bottom of each liner.

Next, prepare your box mix according to their directions.  Add in a few drops of black food coloring to give your mix a deep dark color.

Fill up your muffin tins to ¾ full and bake according to the box directions.

While your cupcakes are baking, on your stove bring your cup of water to a boil.  Add in your raspberry Jell-O and your raspberry jam and mix well.

Once the Jell-o and jam is fully dissolved, remove from the heat and allow to cool in your fridge.  As it cools, it will thicken.  Be sure to stir it once every 10 minutes or so to prevent it from cooling into one solid block.  You want it to be thick but broken up…like an extremely dense chunky jam.

Once your cupcakes are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Using a small knife, hollow out the center of each cupcake, being careful to stop cutting through once you reach the Oreo on the bottom.  You want to hollow them out, but not go all the way through.

Fill each cavity with a spoonful of your raspberry mixture and top off with a bit of the cupcake you removed when you carved out the centers.

In a mixing bowl, whip your frosting with a few drops of black food coloring until you achieve a shade of grey/black that you are happy with.

Ice the top of each cupcake and set aside for now.

Now it’s time to make our white chocolate skull toppers

For these you will need:

• 1 bag white or off white candy melts
• ¼ Cup cocoa powder
• ¼ Cup vodka
• 1 skull mold

To make your white chocolate skulls, you’ll first need to make a mold.

I’ve got a great two-part tutorial.  Here is part 1 and here is part 2.

If you’re looking for great skulls to mold, I love this one

Now that you’ve got your mold, start by first melting your white chocolate.  Put a handful of candy melts into a plastic bowl and zap it in the microwave in 15-second blasts.  Stir between each trip to the microwave until all the candy melts are melted and smooth.

Fill up your mold and pop it in the freezer to harden.

When it’s good and hard, unmold it.

While it’s totally fine to top your cupcakes with plain white skulls, if you want to add a bit more depth to it, I’d suggest painting it with a wash of cocoa powder and vodka.

(I’m using Virus Vodka for two reasons.  1:  it’s delicious.  2:  The high alcohol content makes it evaporate quickly, meaning my skulls don’t get soggy and they dry faster!  Plus, when you’re all done, you’re left with a small amount of cocoa powder flavored brush water…which is 100% safe, and delicious, to drink!  Bottoms up!)

To do this, mix a bit of your cocoa with enough vodka to create a thin runny mixture.  Brush onto your skull with a small paintbrush and then either wipe it off with a paper towel or brush off with your paintbrush using just vodka.

Allow to dry fully and then carefully place atop your cupcakes.

Serve your cupcakes immediately with a dreary glass of cold milk on a dark grey day…

Bone appetite!

Not ready to put away your skull mold?  Want to have some more fun with it?  Why not check out my Bone Collector Stacked Skull Cake recipe?

Like what you see?  Want to see more?  Help me keep making my disgusting creations by visiting my Patreon page.

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