Happy Halloween, y’all! Are you dressing up this year?

Toby and I are at the airport, on our way to Kentucky for homecoming festivities at his alma mater, Centre College, so I am not wearing a full-on costume, but I am wearing some leopard-print items and a leopard-ear headband. And I wanted to share a red velvet skull cake and some spooky-cute cupcakes I baked for Toby’s Marines before we left!

 

I bought a skull cake pan when Isabel and I took the sugar skull class, and I had originally wanted to decorate this cake more like a Dia de los Muertos skull… but I ended up running out of time and going with quicker, easier Halloween sprinkles.

 

I considered a couple different types of cake, but I thought red velvet was creepiest while also being delicious.

 

The recipe I used was a good one, once I doubled the original amount of cocoa powder, but I didn’t notice that I needed sour cream until it was too late, so I used nonfat Greek yogurt. It still turned out pretty well… although the cake didn’t bake super evenly around the eye and nose sockets. I don’t think that is at all related to the substitution, though — I just didn’t bake it quite long enough.

There was enough batter left over for a dozen cupcakes, and I thought the black cupcake liners were appropriately Halloween-y, especially with that blood-red cake!

 

Clearly we have a bit of a skull obsession around here.

Not too bad, right? Especially considering the decorating portion took about two minutes. It would definitely look better with a firm decorating icing for outlines, but if you’re in a rush, sprinkles make everything better!

And pumpkins. Because there is nothing cuter than a mellowcreme pumpkin on top of a cupcake.

Red velvet skull cake and cupcakes (Makes 1 skull cake and 12 cupcakes, adapted from Epicurious)
Cake/cupcakes
1/4 cup (2 ounces) red food coloring
6-7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar (apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the skull cake pan and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. (You could also make a two- or three-layer cake or at least two dozen cupcakes with this recipe, if you don’t have a skull cake pan).

Stir the food coloring and cocoa powder together in a small bowl. Add a little bit of buttermilk or water if necessary to make it more paste-like. Set that aside.

In a large mixing bowl (if using a hand-held electric mixer) or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for a few minutes, until the mixture is very fluffy and nearly white. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine after each addition.

Use a spatula to scrape the cocoa-food coloring mixture into the batter, then beat the whole thing at medium speed for about four minutes.

Meanwhile, sift the flours, salt and baking soda together into a medium bowl, and stir the buttermilk and vanilla together in a measuring cup.

Turn the mixer off and add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter, then beat on low speed until barely combined. Add half of the buttermilk-vanilla mixture and beat until barely combined, then use the silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat, until you have incorporated all the flour and buttermilk. After the last after the is barely mixed in (it’s fine if some flour is still visible), add the sour cream and vinegar and mix on low speed just until everything is combined. Try not to overmix.

Pour the batter into the skull pan first, filling it about three-quarters of the way, then smooth the top with the spatula. Use the rest of the batter to fill the cupcake cups 3/4 full. Place the skull pan on a shiny cookie sheet, and bake everything for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when you poke them gently with your finger, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (or with a few crumbs on it). The cake may need to bake longer than the cupcakes.

Let the cupcakes sit in the pans for about 5 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack (or a plate/the counter). Let the cake sit for 10 minutes before carefully turning it onto a wire rack to cool. (I usually put the wire rack on top of the cake pan and then flip the whole thing over to unmold cakes) Make sure everything is completely cool before frosting and decorating.

Cream cheese frosting (I doubled this, but I had a ton left over… feel free to double it if you plan to use a lot of frosting, though)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (let it sit out on the counter for an hour or so, along with the butter)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add about a cup of the powdered sugar and all of the vanilla and beat on low speed to combine, then add another cup of powdered sugar and beat to combine. Continue adding powdered sugar roughly a cup at a time (to avoid exploding powdered sugar all over your kitchen) until the frosting tastes how you would like it to taste, then beat the frosting for a few minutes more to make it very smooth and fluffy.

Spread the frosting onto the cake and cupcakes using a spoon or knife, then decorate with sprinkles, decorating icing or other fun (but edible) items.

Store cake and cupcakes in the refrigerator, but allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.