Cupcake Ghosts

Bring a dessert to life with a simple technique from Karen Tack and Alan Richardson! In the book What’s New, Cupcake? Both of the authors implement a series of simple, plain, and unique alterations to cupcakes. With this dessert, I can emulate a finished piece, one that is creative and very easy.

These are the ingredients that I used:

1 can (16 ounces) chocolate frosting

2 containers (8 ounces each) frozen whipped topping, thawed in refrigerator

24 1 ½ - inch balls of ice cream (any flavor)

Multicolored candy-coated chocolate-covered sunflower seeds or chocolates

(Tack and Richardson 157).

I began this dish by prepping the cupcakes. I mixed the batter in with 3 eggs, a cup of water, and half a cup of oil. Then, after a few minutes of mixing, I placed it in the oven set to 325 degrees. After a set amount of time has passed, I had the cupcakes fresh and ready.

I began to approach the dish by carving out a spherical shape from the cupcake, not too far from the edges. Tack and Richardson suggested to sprinkle grounded cookies on top of the cupcake, but I decided to take a different route. I excluded that step, and, instead, I went on to filling the hollow portion of the cupcake with a small scoop of ice cream.

At this point, there were only a few more steps to put the final piece of the ghost together. I then coated the cupcake in a swirl-like fashion. As Tack and Richardson suggested, “Pipe a circle of the whipped topping around the base of the cone cake. Pipe a smaller circle on top of the ice cream and the whipped topping to cover the cake, then pipe a third layer of whipped topping, using a squeeze-release-pull motion” (157). This overall created a ghostly effect; the stacked swirls represent an animated outlook of how ghosts are shaped. At the end of this method, I peaked at the very uppermost portion to signify a ghost-like head.

I finished off the dessert by placing two sunflower seeds just below the very top of the frosted twirls to depict eyes. The finished piece was generally very simplistic, yet incorporates different flavors to achieve a desired effect both flavorfully and creatively. Through making this dish, I’m curious as to how else you can transform dishes like these. How do you bring your desserts to life?

Tack, Karen and Alan Richardson. What’s New, Cupcake? New York, New York. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Boston 2010