Halloween cupcakes

Made these very tasty Halloween cupcakes for the Cupcakes 4 Charity Event at the Roger Smith Hotel. A fun event, although I went into sugar overload dipping my finger in the leftover frosting afterwards. But hey, what better way to go about raising money for charity than to bake and eat cupcakes?

The icing is hands down my favorite icing recipe I’ve found. Here’s the recipe, which I altered from a Martha recipe (surprise, surprise).

3 sticks salted butter at room temperature
1 pound of sifted powdered sugar (1 box)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the butter with an electric mixer for a few minutes until it is fluffy. It’s important that the butter is at room temperature, and a little soft. If you forgot to take it out and bring it to room temperature, put each stick in the microwave for about 10 seconds. You don’t want to melt it, you just want it to be a bit soft.

Add the sifted powdered sugar a little at a time and then beat it. Don’t add too much at a time, or else it will go flying when you mix it in. Periodically raise the mixing speed to “high” for 30 seconds to get the icing fluffy, and continue until you have added all of the sugar. Add the vanilla and beat until the frosting is smooth. This should make enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes… with some leftover

I finished the cupcakes off with sanding sugar from Williams Sonoma and cupcake toppers from Target (they have a great Halloween section at the moment!).