Halloween Black Cupcakes

White Chocolate Filling

1. Make the white chocolate filling first so it has time to cool down to room temperature.
2. Heat the cream + rose water extract + salt in a saucepan, until it starts to steam (near boiling, but not actually boiling).
3. Add the white chocolate chips and let them sit for a few minutes, with the pan covered.
4. Stir to completely melt the white chocolate chips in the cream. (All of the white chocolate chips should melt in the residual heat.)
5. Add a few drops of red gel food coloring and mix it in. Then add 1 or 2 drops of the brown food coloring to deepen the red color to a blood-like red. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cool, set aside until needed.

Black Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Place cupcake liners in 2 cupcake trays.
2. Make the batter according to the recipe here. Replace the dutch cocoa in that chocolate cake recipe with the black cocoa, and mix a little black food coloring in the milk before adding it to the cake batter.
3. When you have the black chocolate cake batter ready, use a 4 tbsp (or ¼ cup) cookie scoop to scoop the batter into the cupcake liners in the cupcake tray. You will have some leftover cake batter - just cover it with plastic wrap and set aside in the fridge.
4. Bake the two cupcake trays in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, rotating the trays once, at the 15 minute mark. I prefer to bake the cupcakes in the same rack for even baking.
5. The cupcakes will be done when a toothpick inserted in the middle, comes out clean.
6. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool down for about 5 - 10 minutes. Then gently remove them from the cupcake tray.
7. Repeat with the remaining cupcake batter.

Black Frosting

1. While the cupcakes are baking / cooling, make the frosting.
2. Make the chocolate buttercream frosting according to the recipe here. Replace the dutch cocoa with black cocoa. Add a few drops of black food coloring if needed, at the end of the whisking stage.
3. Scrape the black frosting into a large piping bag that is attached with a large open star or closed star piping tip.

Assembling the Cupcakes

1. When the cupcakes have cooled down, remove a cone or funnel-shaped piece from the center of the cupcakes with a sharp knife as shown in the pictures in the post.
2. Fill the cavity with room temperature white chocolate ganache.
3. Frost the cupcakes with the black frosting. I like to frost them with a large swirl, but you can frost them however you like.
4. Sprinkle Halloween sprinkles on top, and serve. (Note: remember to warn your guests that the cupcakes will "bleed", so that don't get “blood” on their hands! Or clothes.)