icky cupcake candies and something for you too...! (updated with winner!)

 

....icky and creepy...right??!

...so since i have have little kiddos (7 year old boy and 4 year old boy/girl twins)....the spooky and gross halloween candies have been calling to be made this year....most of these are made from candy and candy melts (or wafers) that i had already and are pretty simple to make....

...some are molded from silicon ice cube tray molds that i have been getting for cheap at five below...it's great because they change their seasonal stuff all the time and always have a new ice cube tray to match the season...(i'm sure other dollar stores may have similar too)....i got a tiki one over the summer and need to find a reason to use it!....

....the bugs are from the infamous Hello, Cupcake! book (did you know there is a 3rd coming out in 1/2012??)...these are made from skittles and candy melt (so very easy and these were a huge icky hit!)....

....the other candies are vampire bunnies, skulls, jack o lanterns, vampire teeth (all made from ice cube tray molds and candy melts), eye balls 2 ways (1 from peppermint malt balls [got these at Target], m and ms, and candy melt [in black for the pupil and red to make them bloodshot]....the other is made from a white candy melt disc, a mini m and m, and candy melt in black and red as well, witch fingers (made from these really disgusting looking candy apple flavored licorice and topped with some red candy melt, and some vampire jack o lanterns (ok that one's a stretch!)...made from a pumpkin shaped york peppermint patty with googley eyes (made from black and white candy melt) and candy melt accents.....

.....and you get a bunch of semi-homemade halloween candies that you can use to top cupcakes, cakes....or whatever witches brew you concoct (such as these cupcakes which are just topped with a whole lotta them!...or you can just eat them on the go...if you get the craving for a centipede or a gross witch finger....

AND.....

.....i'm celebrating because in 2 days i'll be officially done with my doctor of pharmacy degree (woohoo!) and also because i want everyone to make some gross stuff this halloween....i put together a "halloween treat care package" to GIVE AWAY and spread the love!....

.....it has a bunch of my favs----vampire teeth silicon mold, regular sized and mini halloween cupcake liners, assorted halloween cookie cutters, candy melts (in white and assorted colors), caramel apple sugar babies, peppermint malt balls, some food colours (from the sugarcraft supply shop Motek Sugarcraft) and if you don't feel like making your own....that's fine too---i'm including some assorted halloween gumballs you can use too...!

....as my daughter would say...."that's a lot!"

....i can tell your creative juices are already flowing....you *need* to make some icky halloween stuff right...right?.....ok.. enter to win by leaving me a comment on what you are going to make with these goodies....you can also enter more by 1) following the blog 2) liking sugarswings on FB and 3) following sugarswings on twitter (leave a comment for each time to enter and if you already do those things...just leave comments as well...)...and that's it (continental US only)...i'll either use random.org or have one of the kiddos pick a number....please remember to leave a way to contact you if you win.....this will run until Saturday Oct 8th at midnight EST so i can get the stuff into the mail before halloween...!

....thanks and have an awesomely awesome day!

AND YAY the winner is: 

Dawn said...

Congratulations to you!

I would make the eyeballs - my son (and his friends) would get a kick out of those!

Congrats Dawn and can't wait to see some eyeballs!!!  Thanks to everyone who played along :)

tidy mom works for me wednesday

 

halloween whoopie pies (and Rutgers ones too!)....!

...yeah i know....more whoopie pies!....i've made them a few times already....some made with fall flavors....some made like the sun and planets....and some good old chocolate with buttercream....but these are super quick and made from a modified box cake mix....and the design is baked into the whoopie pie (not iced on top)....!

...start with your fav box mix then add 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil....and mix...i added the mix to a zip lock bag, snip off one end.. and pipe the pies onto parchment....(this lets me control the size of the circles better)....

...i had some left over vanilla cake mix (already mixed and frozen) so i thawed it and tinted some orange and left some un-tinted...add that to a zip lock bag and snip a small edge off to "pipe" on the halloween designs (or whatever design you want!).....you can leave 1/2 of them without a design since they will be the bottom of the pies....

.....then bake @350 for about 8-10 minutes....(ignore the weird color and date stamped onto the pics--it must be the camera and not the photographer... :)

.....then slather your favorite filling (cream cheese frosting, buttercream frosting, etc) in between....and you get some really cool whoopie pies for halloween.....!

...and since we have been season ticket holders for the past few years....also made RU whoopie pies for the Rutgers football game this past saturday.....!...go RU!

....just used the same technique....pipe some red tinted cake batter onto unbaked whoopie pies...then bake as usual....

....did some red ones too......

.....and you get some really cool and tasty whoopie pies for halloween (or a football game!)

....a couple of tips...

1. bake them a little extra if you are not sure...i took some out too soon and they were not firm enough when i tried to pick them up and they cracked a bit (not sturdy enough)...
2. also for the tinted cake batter---you should really go with a whoopie pie batter (i just used a regular cake mix batter that i already had mixed and you know how some cake mixes get a little sticky on top after you bake the cupcakes (like it's really moist)?...well that's how some of the tops of the whoopie pies were...and when i picked it up the tops to add the filling, the tops stuck to my hand and peeled off (you can see it in the white one below)....
3. go with a homemade whoopie pie recipe...i usually use this one...and it's simple and comes out great every time...but i wanted to try this cake mix one--and although it worked...the homemade kind is much better....

.....regardless they were yummy and the kids loved the designs....and did i mention the design is baked into the pies...!?!...you can do this for whatever occasion you like....halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, valentines day, 4th of july, pretty much any....wouldn't wedding whoopie pies with the couples initials be cool?...(and it's actually pretty simple to do)....!

....anyway hope you like them, and thanks for stopping by!!---still working on the posts for those fall flavored ghost cupcakes....what would you like to see first chocolate & beet, ube, or avocado...??

tidy mom works for me wednesday

ghost cupcakes in fall flavors...!

....so i guess i'm jumping ahead like all the retail stores and posting halloween treats already....well if you can't beat 'em...join 'em....right?....

....the weather is getting a little crisp here on the east coast....so you can't help but start thinking about fall and all the flavors that go along with it....i've been a pinning nut on pinterest lately (me on pinterest!)...and have been meaning to do some different fall flavor cupcakes that i have found around the blogosphere....and although i love all the traditional fall flavors....like pumpkin, apple, carrot, etc...i wanted to try different ones as well.....

....these little guys are:

....and the colors are pretty much all from the veggie/fruit and/or spices used....i love the way the colors came out.....don't the colors work well for fall....and for halloween...?

....i may do some "how to" posts on some of the flavors because they are a little uncommon...but in general they are a little denser than regular boxed cake cupcakes....but very moist, and very tasty.....

...in case you are interested though...the recipes are linked for chocolate and red beet, avocado, butternut squash, and ube...(the maple cinnamon is just some left over boxed vanilla cake mix...about 3-4 cups....with about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon added).....

...so you can really taste the flavor of the cupcake...just topped them with some good old cool whip...and then decided they looked like ghosts....so why not add some eyes and a mouth.....(made with some black candy melts)......

....and you get some little spooky ghost cupcakes in some unusual fall flavors for this halloween....!

.....oh and if you make these....i found it's better to not say what the flavors are....i took them to a family party and just said there were a bunch of flavors....then asked what kind they thought they were....some guessed wrong...but a couple guessed right....but 1 or 2 did say they would have never tried a "beet cupcake" or "avocado cupcake" had they known the flavors ahead of time....!...but it's always good to try new things right...?...except weird animal parts like gizzards and tripe and eye of newt or any of the plethora of dishes andrew zimmern seems to enjoy....no thanks, will stick to lots of sugary sweets instead...!

...thanks for stopping by and have an awesome week!

tidy mom works for me wednesday