Try your hand at one of Zilly's cupcakes...
Excerpt: recipe found at Made for Mums
Take a close look at the graveyard, and you might see a zombie rising from the dead – if you see a rotting hand reaching out from underground, you can be sure the rest of the zombie will soon follow.
They’re coming to get you…
This delectable mud cupcake gives you a taste of the grave from the zombie’s perspective – the earth is made from very finely crushed chocolate cookies.
Remember to warn your guests that the hand is secured using a cocktail stick.
Mud cupcakes
10 Oreo cookies
50 g/13/4 oz plain chocolate
150 g/51/2 oz white plain, cake or pastry flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
70 g/21/2 oz unsalted butter, softened
150 g/51/2 oz granulated sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 tsp soured cream
6 tsp water
100 g/31/2 oz mini plain chocolate chips
Decorations
360 g/121/2 oz Half and Half, coloured green with 1 drop mint green paste food colouring
1 quantity Dark Chocolate Ganache
115 g/4 oz chocolate cookies, finely crushed
115 g/4 oz mini plain chocolate chips
a little clear piping gel
12 Flies
How to:
1) The day before, make the hands. Roll the green Half and Half into 12 balls and then roll and press one end of each ball to thin it out into a cylinder shape. Flatten the rounded end so that the piece of icing vaguely resembles a ping-pong bat.
2) Using a craft knife, make one cut on one side of the flattened area to make a thumb. Pull it out to the side. Make a second cut in the middle of the remaining rounded portion, and a third and fourth cut on either side to create 4 fingers.
3) Pull and mould the tips of the fingers to make them slightly pointed. Using a cocktail stick, score 3 lines into each finger to create joints. This will be the palm side of the hand. On the reverse side, use the cocktail stick to indent a fingernail shape at the end of each finger.
4) Bend the fingers up from the palm to resemble a claw. Prop the hand against a vertical surface so that it dries in the claw shape. Make another 11 hands in the same way and leave to dry overnight.
5) Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with 12 large paper baking cases. Crush the Oreo cookies into 5-mm/1/4-inch pieces. Spoon 1 tablespoon into each paper case, reserving the remaining pieces.
6) Melt the chocolate in a microwave oven on Low or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together and set aside. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and, using an electric whisk, beat together until pale and fluffy. Blend in the melted chocolate and then gradually beat in the eggs and mix well together. Mix in the vanilla extract and soured cream. Add half the flour mixture and blend in, then mix in the water and remaining flour mixture until incorporated.
7) Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases and spread over the cookies. Add 1 heaped teaspoon of chocolate chips to each. Add the remaining mixture and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and cookie pieces over the tops. Bake for about 25 minutes, turning once halfway through baking, until well risen and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
8) When the cupcakes are cold, spread or pipe the Dark Chocolate Ganache on top of each cupcake. Mix together most of the chocolate cookie crumbs and all of the chocolate chips in a dish and dip the top of each cupcake into the mixture to create graveyard earth.
9) Push a cocktail stick into the wrist end of each hand and press into the earth to anchor it. To enhance the effect of the hand rising from the grave, paint clear piping gel in different places on the hand and at the base, and sprinkle the remaining chocolate cookie crumbs on the gel so that it sticks. Finish by adding a Fly.
You can get 2 more Zilly recipes, Brain Food cupcake and Bludgeon to Survive cupcake at Made for Mums.
