Spider Chocolate Cup Cakes can be decorated with liquorice legs, great for Halloween!

Makes 12 cakes

Spider Chocolate Cupcakes

 

 

Spider Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

100g plain chocolate
4tbsp golden syrup
150g unsalted butter, softened
80ml double cream
150g caster sugar
100g milk chocolate
20g cocoa, sifted
100g plain chocolate
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp Rachel’s Greek Style Natural Bio Live Yogurt
125g self raising flour
1 ½tsp baking powder

Decoration 2 tbsp Rachel’s Greek Style Natural Bio Live Yogurt Chocolate sugar strands Smarties or similar sweets (for the eyes) Liquorice laces or Catherine wheels

Method

1.Pre-heat the oven 180°C, gas mark 4 and line a muffin tray with paper cases.
2.Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave on medium power for 1 minute until melted, alternatively place over a pan of simmering water.
3.In a mixing bowl beat the butter, caster sugar, cocoa powder and eggs, until soft and creamy. Add the flour and baking powder. Lastly add in the yogurt ensure the mixture is well combined.
4.Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 20 minutes until risen and firm to touch. Leave to cool.
5.Meanwhile in a small bowl gently heat the icing ingredients, except the yogurt either do this in a microwave, medium power or over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate has melted, leave to cool then add the yogurt. The frosting should be soft but not runny.
6.Spoon the frosting onto each cake and carefully spread with the back of a knife. Dip each cake into chocolate sugar strands then place the Smarties for eyes, cut the liquorice laces into 8 equal pieces and push into the icing – work quickly before the frosting sets. To make the eyes stand out and a mouth simply place some of the frosting in a piping bag with a small plain nozzle and pipe for the desired effect.

Nutritional information

PER SERVING: 388kcal, Protein 5.4g, Carbs 39.6g, Fat 22.6g, Sat Fat 13.3g, Fibre 1.9g, Sugar 30.8g, Salt 0.4g COST PER SERVING: £0.25p

 

Jacky Ha-Ha Book

This easy Halloween Jelly is great fun to make and kids love to decorate their own – the spookier the better!

Halloween Jelly Recipe

 

Halloween jelly recipe

Ready in: 4 – 6 hours or overnight

Serves: 4

Halloween jelly ingredients:

4 leaves of gelatine

8 tbsps bottlegreen Cox’s Apple and Plum Cordial

2 clementines

Selection of jelly sweets, i.e., wriggly worms, false teeth and snakes

Halloween jelly method

· Place the gelatine in a bowl, add 3tbsps water, leave to soak for 10 mins.

· Peel the clementines, removing any pith and seeds, segment.

· Place the bottlegreen cox’s apple and plum cordial into a large measuring jug, add the softened gelatine, pour on 500ml boiling water, stir until dissolved, cool.

· Divide between 4 serving dishes; add the clementine segments, leave to set in the fridge for approx 4-6 hours or overnight. Decorate with the sweets.

Cook’s tip: To stop the clementine segments floating to the top wait until the jelly has set a little then press them in.

Link up your recipe of the week

Try this all-time favourite at home but take care when making as the toffee gets very hot! Children can help to weigh out and melt the ingredients but should let mum do the boiling and coating…

Makes 6

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

6 eating apples

175g (6oz) light buttery spread

100g (3½oz) maple or golden syrup

225g (8oz) light brown soft sugar

200g (7oz) Carnation Condensed Milk

Method

Dunk the apples into a large bowl of boiling water for 30 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and allow to cool slightly before wiping the skins with kitchen paper – this will remove any wax from the apples and allow the toffee to stick better to the skin!

Holding the apple firmly, insert a chopstick or lolly stick into the apples near the core. Place a piece of parchment onto a baking sheet.

Place the remaining ingredients into a large pan and melt gently over a low heat. Then bring to the boil for about 15-20 minutes stirring frequently – if you have a food thermometer the temperature you need is about 130C! IT IS VERY HOT SO BE CAREFUL! It will be quite a deep brown caramel colour and will have a cinder toffee smell.

Remove from the heat, and very carefully take each apple and roll in the toffee to coat completely. Leave to set on the parchment until hard.

Tips

If your caramel doesn’t set hard on the apples – it will be because the toffee did not get hot enough. It still makes a lovely chewy caramel but a good test of ‘readiness’ is if you drop a small bit of the toffee into ice cold water and it forms very hard toffee. Small strands should shatter, if it is soft and chewy then it needs to get hotter