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    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    23/10/2014 by thebakingexplorer 6 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    I love celebrating Halloween and every year I decorate my home with candles and pumpkins to celebrate. It's such a fun time of year and a great opportunity to get creative with baking. These Bleeding Brain Cupcakes are perfect spooky treats to delight family, friends, or your local trick or treaters! They are made with a simple red velvet sponge, filled with strawberry or raspberry jam and then decorated to look like a brain, which is so easy to do. They're definitely the yummiest brains I've ever eaten!

    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.

    How to make Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    To make the cupcakes, whisk together the butter and sugar, then whisk in the eggs, vanilla extract and buttermilk. Next, add the cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and flour and whisk them in, then enough red food colouring for a bright shade. Then divide the mixture between 12 black cupcake cases.

    Bake them for 20-25 minutes, then put them on a rack to cool fully. Once they are fully cool, removed the centre with a cupcake corer (or a knife) and fill them with strawberry jam.

    Make the buttercream by mixing the icing sugar, butter, vanilla extract and pink food colouring together. Then pipe it onto the cupcakes using a circular nozzle, pipe a line down the centre first, then squiggles on either side.

    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    And the Bleeding Brain Cupcakes were ready for any nearby hungry zombies!

    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    My friends and colleagues absolutely loved these creepy Bleeding Brain Cupcakes! They were gone in no time and I had lots of compliments on the flavour and appearance. I hope you enjoy making them for your Halloween celebrations!

    Recommended equipment & ingredients*

    • Cupcake tin
    • Mixing bowls
    • Kitchen scales
    • Electric hand mixer
    • Cooling rack
    • Piping bags
    • Red food colouring
    • Pink food colouring
    • Round piping nozzle
    • Cupcake corer

    *I earn a small amount of money if you buy the products after clicking on the links. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting The Baking Explorer!

    More Halloween Cupcake recipes...

    • Halloween Vampire Bat Cupcakes
    • Halloween Slime Cupcakes
    • Pumpkin Cupcakes
    • Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes
    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    Bleeding Brain Cupcakes

    Red velvet sponge, filled with jam, topped with brain themed pink icing
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Cupcake
    Prep Time: 40 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour
    Servings: 12
    Author: thebakingexplorer

    Ingredients

    For the sponge

    • 150 g Butter or baking spread
    • 150 g Caster sugar
    • 2 Eggs large
    • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
    • 85 ml Buttermilk
    • 165 g Self raising flour
    • 1 ½ tbsp Cocoa powder
    • ½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
    • 1 tsp Red food colouring I use Pro Gel

    For the filling

    • 200 g Strawberry or Raspberry Jam

    For the buttercream

    • 200 g Butter unsalted, softened
    • 400 g Icing sugar
    • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
    • 1 tbsp Milk
    • Pink food colouring I use Pro Gel
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    • Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a muffin/cupcake tin with black cupcake cases
    • Whisk the butter and sugar together in a bowl, ideally with an electric mixer
    • Add the eggs, vanilla extract, buttermilk and enough red food colouring to get a very bright red colour, and whisk them in
    • Add the cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and self raising flour, whisk in
    • Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases
    • Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean, then put them on a rack to cool full
    • Once fully cool, use a cupcake corer or a knife to make a hole in the centre of each cupcake
    • Fill each hole with the jam
    • To make the buttercream, mix together the butter and icing sugar with a spoon or electric hand whisk, when it starts to come together, add the vanilla and a small amount of pink food colouring and mix until smooth. (You only want a pale pink colour so be sparing with the pink food colouring.) If the buttercream is too stiff then you can add a little more milk
    • Put the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a circular nozzle. Pipe a line down the centre of the cupcake, then squiggles on either side for the brain effect
    • Keep in an airtight container in a cool place, and eat leftovers within 3 days
    Made this recipe?Share on Instagram with me @TheBakingExplorer or tag #thebakingexplorer!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 456kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 91mg | Sodium: 273mg | Potassium: 50mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 780IU | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg

    If you like this, check out more of my Cupcake recipes!

    Or you might like my Halloween recipes!

    « Salted Caramel & Pecan Baklava
    Gingerbread Bonfire Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Laura Denman

      October 23, 2014 at 8:55 pm

      Very clever =) the claw ones are my favourite but the brain ones are creepiest!

      Reply
    2. Emma | Fork and Good

      October 24, 2014 at 3:16 pm

      My favourite is the brain 😀

      Reply
    3. Nayna Kanabar

      October 24, 2014 at 3:44 pm

      Very innovative and perfect for a spooky party.

      Reply
    4. Choclette Blogger

      October 25, 2014 at 6:35 pm

      Kat, love your broken glass idea. The claw cakes are kind of scary and the brain is disturbing. You've come up with some real horrors for Halloween! Thanks for sending them in the direction of We Should Cocoa and enjoy the festivities 🙂

      Reply
    5. glutenfreealchemist

      October 26, 2014 at 11:36 am

      How gruesomely tasty! The brain icing looks disgustingly lovely and actually, the fact that the cherry sauce was jelly-like definitely adds to the visuals! Congealed blood is a MUST for halloween! Should NEVER be runny!!!!!

      Reply
    6. Hannah Hearsey

      October 29, 2014 at 8:51 am

      BRAINS! These are epic! Hope you have a happy halloween and many thanks for entering these into We Should Cocoa too!

      Reply

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