My Halloween ghost cupcakes (gluten & dairy free)

With Halloween coming up next week, I wanted to create a new recipe with a spooky theme, something that would be great for everyone, and fun for children too! My Halloween ‘ghost’ cupcakes have a rich chocolatey sponge base with chocolate chips and are topped with a chocolate butter cream and a mini meringue nest which is decorated with edible eyes, plus they are totally gluten and dairy free! If you do make this recipe I’d love to see, make sure to tag me over on social media @glutenfreealice and use the hashtag #glutenfreealice

Scroll down for my recipe.

You will need (makes 12 cupcakes):

For the cupcake mix:

12 cupcake cases

100g plain gluten free flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

30g cocoa powder (ensure that it’s dairy free)

140g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

50g dairy free butter

130ml soya milk (or any other milk alternative)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

80g dairy free chocolate chips

For the buttercream:

350g icing sugar

175g dairy free butter (I use Stork Perfect for Baking butter)

45g cocoa powder

For the toppings:

12 mini meringue nests

Edible eyes (click here to see which ones I used)

Small amount of icing (to stick the eyes on to the meringues)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, caster sugar and dairy free butter. Using an electric whisk, combine until it resembles a fine sandy mixture.
3. In a separate jug, whisk together your soya milk, egg and vanilla. Pour half of this mixture into the dry ingredients and using an electric whisk, mix together. Slowly add the rest of the mixture whilst continuing to whisk until fully combined.
4. Stir in your chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture equally into your cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
5. Whilst the cakes are cooling, get your toppings ready. Using a small amount of icing stick the edible eyes onto the meringues and put to one side for later.
6. Make your buttercream by combining your icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder. Using an electric whisk continue to whisk the ingredients together until it forms a thick butter cream (It may not seem like it’s coming together, but after a few minutes it will).
7. Pipe or spread the butter cream on top of each cup cake (depending on how neat you want them to look!), place your meringue nest on top of the butter cream. Enjoy!

I absolutely love seeing what you’ve created, so if you do make this recipe (or any other recipe from my website) don’t forget to tag me over on my social media pages @glutenfreealice and use the hashtag #glutenfreealice