Bride of Frankenstein Cupcakes

These Halloween treats are easy to make with fairly quick assembly.

I used a white box cake mix but added a teaspoon of vanilla for a touch of flavor. Mix as directed. Line and fill cupcake pan and bake according to the box instructions.

I used chocolate almond bark, but any kind of melting chocolate would work. You can use a double boiler or an electric melting pot, but I used the microwave... 30 second increments and stir each time. I also added about 2 teaspoons of shortening as it was melting. The shortening helps it remain smooth.

I tried a few different techniques for coating the cones. Since I used a plastic mixing bowl, I found it easiest to hold it on 2 fingers and use a spoon to pour the chocolate over the cone. Shake it gently to remove excess chocolate. Turn them upside down on a cooling rack that has either parchment paper or wax paper lying underneath. I only put one coat on the cones, but I think two coats might hold up better.

I used store bought chocolate frosting and some homemade marshmallow frosting that was leftover from another baking project, but store bought white frosting would work great. Also, USE A LATEX GLOVE!! This is important. The natural oils in your skin plus natural body heat will melt the chocolate as you handle it. But, a glove will prevent that.

I tried a few techniques in this step too, and found that standing them upright in the cupcake tin worked great and kept me from handling them too much.

I used a star tip, but a round tip works just as well. I did not fill the entire cone, but went almost half way down and coated the inside all the way to the opening. If you have chocolate left, you can turn them upside down and dip the open edge of the cone into the chocolate just to cover any exposed cone.

Once the chocolate cones are hardened and the cupcakes are cooled, you can begin assembly.

Remove the cupcakes from the wrappers and turn them upside down, inserting the bottom end into the cone at an angle. You want the angle to allow more room for the face.

(You can use the same cupcake wrappers or transfer them to another wrapper. In my case, I baked in plain white and transferred them into wrappers that were black with purple bats.) Put a nice dab of frosting on the top of the cupcake on the edge toward the side that is inserted the furthest, this will serve as a "glue" to keep it in place when you turn the whole thing upside down onto the wrapper.

Using a small round decorating tip, pipe the eye on the cupcake. Let that sit to harden a bit while you pipe zig-zag parallel lines starting at the bottom and moving up to the end of the cone. Next, using a very small decorating tip and chocolate frosting, pipe dots on the eyes and a horizontal zig-zag mouth.

These take up more room than regular cupcakes since they sit at an angle. Delivery can be tricky. If you're transporting them, you can make long rolls of aluminum foil or paper towel tubes to create rows to separate them and keep them from tipping over.

++note: the chocolate coating compromises the crispness of the cone if they aren't eaten within about 24 hours, but it's still tasty!