Ghoulish Macadamia Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2/3 cup macadamias
1 1/3 cups plain flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 Tbs beetroot powder
1 Tbs baking powder
2 eggs
60g butter, melted and cooled
2 Tbs macadamia or vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk

Icing:

180g cream cheese
1 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup maple syrup

To Decorate:

8 whole macadamias
A black, blue and red food decorating pen
A tube of red edible write-on gel

Method

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place Halloween coloured paper liners into an 8-cake capacity muffin tin. Place the macadamias, flour, sugar, beetroot powder and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture becomes a flour-like consistency. Do not over-process or it will start to stick together. Coarse macadamia pieces are ideal. Place the flour mixture into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, butter, oil and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, taking care not to over-mix. Spoon into the cupcake liners so that they are 3/4 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until puffed and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing:

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and beat on a medium speed until the mixture is combined and stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Do not overbeat or the cream will curdle.

To Decorate:

Use the food decorating pens to turn each whole macadamia into a bloodshot eyeball – black for the pupil, blue for the iris and red squiggles for the bloodshot veins. Pipe icing onto each cake and drizzle over some red write-on gel. Top with a macadamia eyeball and serve.