Blood is a great game an all but what about this cupcake recipe?

Here is what you will need to make 16 – 20 cupcakes.


For the Sponge

80g (1/3 Cup) Unsalted Butter, room temp
280g (1 + 1/3 Cup) Golden Caster Sugar
240g (2 Cups) Plain Flour
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
240ml (1 Cup) Milk, room temp
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs, room temp
For the Filling

300g (1 + 1/4 Cups) Lemon Curd
Red Food Colouring Gel
For the Icing/Decoration

500g (4 Cups) Icing Sugar
250g (1 + 1/8 Cup) Unsalted Butter, room temp
2-3 tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Halloween Themes Sugar Sprinkles
Essential Equipment

12 Hole Cupcake Tin
16-20 Foil Cupcake Cases
Apple Corer
2 x Piping Bags
Open Star Piping Nozzle

Step 1: How to Make the Cupcake Sponge
First up – preheat your oven to 170°C/Fan 160°C and line your cupcake tin with cases.

To make the sponge beat together the butter (80g |1/3 Cup), caster sugar (280g | 1 + 1/3 Cup), flour (240g | 2 Cups), baking powder (1 tbsp) and salt (1/4 tsp) in either an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk. Keep going until it’s sandy in texture but don’t worry too much if there’s a couple of lumps of butter.

Next, measure out the milk (240ml |1 Cup) into a jug. Then beat in the vanilla (1 tsp) and the eggs (x 2) with a fork until blended. Pour half this mixture into the dry ingredients and beat until it becomes smooth, then pour in the remaining mixture and beat until it’s smooth
once again.
See how easy that was?! Now half fill each cupcake case with the batter. If you have leftover batter, don’t top up those ones just make more cakes! Use a second 12 hole cupcake tin if you need to or simply wait until the first batch is cooked and repeat.

Bake on the bottom shelf in the preheated (170°C/Fan 160°C) oven for 12-14 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of 2 or 3 of them comes out clean. (If it still has cake batter on it when you pull it out, pop them back in for another couple of minutes then check again.)

When you can handle the heat, remove them from the tin and put them straight onto a cooling rack to cool completely before attempting to decorate.

Pour the lemon curd (300g | 1 + 1/4 Cups) into a small bowl.

Step 4: To Make the 'BLOOD' Filling

Pour the lemon curd (300g | 1 + 1/4 Cups) into a small bowl.

Now, a little at a time, add red food colouring gel and mix until it’s the colour that you want. Oooh that looks great doesn’t it?!

Step 5: How to Make the Buttercream Frosting

To make your buttercream frosting, sift the icing sugar (500g | 4 Cups) into a bowl. Next, beat the butter (250g |1 + 1/8 Cup) in an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk until it’s really soft.
Then add half the sifted icing sugar and start to mix on a slow speed. (Just trust me here or you will end up in a mushroom cloud of icing sugar!) Once it’s come together, gradually add the remaining icing sugar until it’s all used up and the mixture has blended together.
Now you need to add in a little milk (2-3 tbsp) and the vanilla extract. Beat the buttercream on a medium/high speed until it’s really soft and smooth. Remember that you can always add more milk but you can’t take it out so go easy! It should be a nice ‘pipeable’ consistency.

Step 8: How to Assemble Your Cupcakes

Now for the fun bit – assembly. Take an apple corer and carefully ‘core’ the middle of each cupcake. Don’t go all the way to the bottom or your filling will literally ooze out. We want it to stay a surprise not become a nasty clean up HAHAHAHA!

Now pour your lemon curd into a piping bag and snip the end. Fill each hole with your delicious ‘BLOOD’ whilst having a secret dark and scream like a cultist on fire.

Now we’ve sorted the surprise element, let’s hide it! Load another piping bag with your favourite piping nozzle (I used a 2M open star nozzle) and fill it with your beautiful vanilla buttercream frosting.

Working from the outside in – pipe swirls over the top of each cupcake, making sure you cover the blood filled holes.

Step 11: How to Decorate Your Cupcakes

Finally, while the frosting is still moist, sprinkle over some Halloween coloured/themed sprinkles, strands or decorations to finish.

Step 12: Surprise Your Friends and fellow Cabal cultists!

And there you have it! Your BLOOD surprise Halloween cupcakes are all ready to spook your friends and cultists. AAAAAAHHH!