Black Velvet Mummy Halloween Cupcakes

This post is quite the mashup of things. For starters, these cupcakes are made using a black velvet recipe, which is DIVINE! I was quite determined to make a recipe using black velvet this Halloween season, and sadly for my waistline I liked this recipe so much, there is a good chance I will end up using it again within the next few weeks for another dessert!(Obviously) I made cupcakes, which I baked approx. 25 minutes for the large ones, and 20 minutes for the mini cupcakes. If you were to make this as a cake, pour in two 9-inch pans and bake 30-35 minutes. If you are on the hunt for a good cake recipe but don’t feel like going all the way with the mummy decor, don’t feel bad for it at all! This is a great recipe and the cake itself is a lot of fun.

Now, on to the mummy frosting! All I did to accomplish this is use a flat piping tip, and piped some haphazard lines across the face of my cupcake to look like mummy wrapping. If you don’t have a tip like this, take a look at a piping set like this… I think this is a good kitchen investment for anyone who has even a slight interest in baking and frosting!

tProductStore 29 in 1 Cake Decorating Kit Tips, 24 Pieces Professional Stainless Steel Icing Tip Set Tools for Cakes, Cupcakes with 2 Silicone Pastry Bags and 2 Reusable Coupler and Plastic Case

Okay, lets get on to the recipe!

Cake Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (if you use regular cocoa powder you will just need more food coloring)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tablespoon black food coloring (I prob used more than that)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium, whisk your flour, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

Combine the sugar and oil on medium speed until well combined. With mixer on low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well.

Add food coloring and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, and mix until fully combined without over-mixing.

In a small bowl, mix baking soda and vinegar until combined. Add to batter, and beat for a few seconds. For those of you new to red velvet, the chemical reaction between the vinegar/baking soda with the buttermilk is where this cake gets its namesake. All ingredients are crucial to making a ‘velvet’, so don’t sub in something in place of them!

Line your cupcake tins with cupcake papers, and butter the top of the pan so that the cupcake tops don’t stick. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes, or until the tops are firm and a toothpick can be inserted in the middle and come out clean.

 

Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

When it comes to the frosting, I used this recipe from I Am Baker​… I however used butter flavored Crisco, which I absolutely would NOT suggest. since I was not a fan of the flavor, I melted some white chocolate candy melts and beat them into the frosting and that totally saved the day! 

So, learn from my mistake please, and don’t make your frosting gross! If you want to add white chocolate, I think 2-4 ounces melted beat in is an extra tasty touch.

Once you have your frosting, set up your piping bag with the flat tip as I specified above. All you need to do is ice lines in alternating directions, which gets you that woven/overlapping look. I set a small side of my icing aside and whipped in my purple Wilton coloring and piped on mouths with the smallest piping tip. The eyes were candy eyes… I had thought about using some plastic googly eyes I had at home but figured my toddler would take them for candy and eat them when I was not looking, so better to be safe! Here are the ones I used:
Wilton Candy Eyeballs,0.88 Ounce,Count of 50

Well, if you give these black velvet mummy cupcakes a try, be sure to comment and let me know what you think! Happy baking Halloween’ers!

And just because I talk about it all the time, here is the Wilton coloring kit that I have and LOVE! I find it especially cool since it comes with some pre-mixed gel colors that are good for blending with, like brown and black to obtain interesting hues. Plus, it comes with a guide on how to blend to come up with all different pastels and fun kinds of colors you wouldn’t normally see with your 4-color food gel kits!
Wilton Color Right Performance Color System, 601-6200

*Disclaimer* I am an Amazon affiliate and get a tiny kickback if you purchase anything from my links… I only share things that I use and love, and it is just a small avenue for me to earn money to support my blog as I go.