Chocolate Spider Cupcakes - Halloween Special!

Halloween is in the air folks, and there are pumpkins, skeletons, spiders, and terrifying spirits lingering all around:) So how do you pacify those spirits?? I think no one can resist something sweet and cute, and the best way to win over someone to your side is by appealing to their stomachs, and thereby their souls(do spirits have souls??! I think I'm going cranky:D) Well, when my husband had to take in something for their halloween party at work, I thought of making these cute cupcakes and use some frosting to create the spooky effect. I'm not too great with art work, and this was my first experiment with creative icing decoration which was going to be seen by a lot of people, so I decided to be simple, yet meaningful. Hope you like these Chocolate-Spider Cupcakes too!!

I'm not too much of a fan of frosting on cupcakes. It's just way too much cream and sometimes kills the flavor of the cake itself. But special occasions demand special efforts, so I decided to go for it. Handling frosting cone is like applying "Henna" or "Mehendi" on the hands, which is a tradition in India. You have to be really smooth and have control on your hands to be able to draw something on a cake. As I didn't trust myself too much with this, I decided to just go for simple white spiders on chocolate cupcakes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour (or use ready chocolate cake mix instead of flour and cocoa)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup water
White Frosting Cone

Method
Combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixer bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. In a seperate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add alternately with water to the creamed mixture. Blend just until combined. Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 degress F for 20 to 25 min. Allow to cool completely before applying the frosting.

Arrange the cupcakes on a flat tray and put it on an even surface. Space them apart so you can apply frosting to them. Now using a frosting cone, apply a thick dollop of icing in the center. Draw the 4 legs of the spider as shown in the pic, followed by the tentacles, and finally the hind legs. Then drop a small dot in front of the large one to form the spider's face. There, your cupcake is ready. Repeat for all your cakes and celebrate the spirit of Halloween in your own way!

Tip: You can even use orange frosting to cover the whole cupcake, then draw the spider on it with black frosting to create the classic "black spider on orange" effect. For those with a more delicate and artistic hand, you can create a spider's web too. You'll find hundreds of decoration ideas on the web, and can choose one that suits you. But be sure you don't overdo it! After all, you don't want your guests to be spooked enough to drop the cupcake as soon as they see it, or run away from it!!:)

Wishing you all a very Happy Halloween!!!