brownie cupcake | Bewitching Kitchen

For a real scary version, you must go with Graveyard Brownies, another super cool recipe from Ghoulatheart. The second version takes the cute approach, and is also much simpler to make. But, first things first, let’s visit the graveyard.

GRAVEYARD BROWNIES
(from Ghoulatheart.com)

1 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. red food coloring

1 cup milk chocolate melting wafers, divided
8 Oreo cookies, processed into crumbs

Make the skull decorations: Place ½ cup of the milk chocolate melting wafers into plastic bowl and microwave gently until melted. Pipe into the skull mold. Freeze for a few minutes, un-mold and reserve.

Make the cookie dirt. Process the Oreo cookies in a food processor until crumbs form. Transfer to a bowl. Reserve.

Make the Red Velvet Brownies: Heat oven to 350℉ and line a 8 x 8 x 2-inch brownie pan with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a stand mixer. Lightly whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring in a small bowl and add to the stand mixer and process on low until incorporated.
Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt into a medium bowl and add it to the stand mixer and process on low until flour is incorporated. Take care to not overmix. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove brownies from oven and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup chocolate chips over the top of the brownies. Let it sit for 2 minutes to melt the chips and then smooth the chocolate with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle cookie crumbs over the melted chocolate and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Garnish with chocolate skull chips over the cookie crumbs and allow to cool completely before cutting into 16 pieces.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Super fun bake! To make the little skulls, I used this mold. I used candy melts because I did not want to have to temper chocolate, but feel free to splurge! The skulls won’t be fully glued to the brownie, let your guests know about it so that they don’t spill skulls on the floor…

HALLOWEEN BROWNIE CUPCAKES

Recipe for those can be found in this blog post from my past. I used Chai frosting for them. Orange dye, sprinkles and candy eyes. So simple! And delicious…

It is a bit hard to see Halloween at the corner and then ready to say goodbye for another year… Once again, I did not have a chance to bake all things I wanted to, but I will be back in 2025 for more!

ONE YEAR AGO: Revving the Engines for Halloween

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy Halloween from my Cookie Blog to You!

THREE YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Carrots

FOUR YEARS AGO: Sarah Bernhardt’s Cookies

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

SIX YEARS AGO: Stir-Fried Chicken in Sesame-Orange Sauce

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Monday Blues

EIGHT YEARS AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

NINE YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

TEN YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

One basic recipe, several ways to dress it up. I adapted the basic brownie and icing recipes from a version found in Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes. Clockwise from top left: Rose-Mint, Chai, Lavender and Orange-Ginger Brownie Cupcakes. I started making them in August last year and they’ve been a regular component of my weekly donations. Once iced and set, they stay good for a couple of days at room temperature.

BROWNIE CUPCAKE BASIC RECIPE
(modified from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)

1 package Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate (4oz)
1 stick (1/2 cup, 113 g) unsalted butter
265g sugar (1 + 1/3 cup)
2 room temperature eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Place 12 cupcake liners in a baking sheet, and heat the oven to 350F.

Chop the chocolate and butter in pieces, place them in a microwave-safe bowl and melt at 50% power just until the chocolate is almost fully melted. Finish melting by whisking gently until smooth. Allow it to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Reserve.

To the melted chocolate, add the sugar and mix with a handheld mixer, when the sugar is incorporated (it won’t be smooth), add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth, for a couple of minutes medium-speed. Gently sift the flour mixture on top, whisk just until the flour is incorporated and no dry bits can be found.

Fill each cupcake 3/4 full with the batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly moist. Cool completely before icing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

ROSE AND MINT BROWNIE CUPCAKES

1/3 cup milk (you won’t use it all)
1 bag Bigelow Rose Mint Tea
1/8 tsp rose water (I used Nielsen-Massey)
180g (1 + 1/2 cup) powdered sugar

Infuse the milk with the bag of tea by bringing it almost to a full-boil in a small saucepan, turning off the heat, adding the tea bag, closing the pan and leaving undisturbed for 10 minutes. Squeeze the tea bag. If you want a little more pink color, add a touch of food gel (I used fuchsia from Sugarflair, added with a toothpick).

Place the powdered sugar on a large bowl and add half the amount of infused milk, whisking gently until fully dissolved. Adjust with enough additional milk to make a spreadable icing that will not pour freely from the sides of the cupcakes, but instead be thick enough to form a stable layer. Decorate with sprinkles, or flowers made from Royal icing or molded chocolate, as in the picture below.

CHAI BROWNIE CUPCAKES

1/3 cup milk (you won’t use it all)
1 bag Double Chai Stash Tea
180g (1 + 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
sprinkles (I used this one, a favorite)

LAVENDER BROWNIE CUPCAKES

1/3 cup milk (you won’t use it all)
1/4 tsp dried lavender flowers
180g (1 + 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
sprinkles

Infuse the milk with the dried lavender by bringing it almost to a full-boil in a small saucepan, turning off the heat, closing the pan and leaving undisturbed for 10 minutes. Pass the milk mixture through a fine sieve to remove the lavender. Reserve the milk. If desired, add a tiny drop of purple food gel dye.

ORANGE-GINGER BROWNIE CUPCAKES

1/3 cup milk (you won’t use it all)
1 bag Orange-Ginger tea (I used this one from Republic of Tea)
180g (1 + 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
sprinkles

Infuse the milk with the bag of tea by bringing it almost to a full-boil in a small saucepan, turning off the heat, adding the tea bag, closing the pan and leaving undisturbed for 10 minutes. Squeeze the tea bag to release flavor and reserve the milk. If desired, add a very tiny amount of orange food gel dye.

ENJOY!

to print the basic recipe for icing, click here

Comments: My main modification of the recipe was to use the full package (4 oz) of the unsweetened chocolate, adjusting the flour and butter amounts, so that you are not left with a tiny bit of chocolate hanging around. The cupcakes bake without doming too much, perfect to have a flat layer of icing on top.

In this post I used tea to flavor most icings but you can also use orange or lemon zest, omit the decorations, or flavor the basic icing with any extract you like. They are super versatile. If you use molded chocolate to decorate and the room is too warm, the chocolate might get slightly soft, but it won’t lose its shape. To make decorations with molded chocolate I used mini silicone molds, and later painted them with luster powder + vodka.