Floating Ghost Cupcakes

As a grand finale to my Hallo-week of special treats, I have saved the best and (perhaps) trickiest treat for last. These ghostly cupcakes were inspired by a slideshow of Halloween cupcakes on Martha Stewart's website (see the original below!). The cupcakes, which use cupcakes topped with fondant to create ghostly little desserts were too cute not to make.

The original Martha recipe calls for homemade Devil's Food cake, suggests using cupcakes topped with marshmallows as the base for the ghost bodies, and uses store-bought fondant. After reading a variation of the recipe on "Not So Idle Hands," another cooking blog, I decided to combine the two and add some of my own tricks.

I have slightly simplified the recipe by using Devil's Food cake mix, and mini cupcakes instead of marshmallows. I also decided to follow Emily's advice from "Not So Idle Hands" and make my own marshmallow fondant rather than buying expensive fondant from the store.

The recipe below is my own interpretation of the Martha and Emily combination.

The Recipe:

1 box Devil's Food cake mix
1 pound of marshmallows
1.5 boxes of confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup of shortening (to grease your hands and the counter)
2-5 Tablespoons of water
24 chocolate-candy-coated sunflower seeds, for eyes

First, make your marshmallow fondant several hours before the cupcakes.

Take your marshmallows and put them in a very large bowl. Sprinkle them with 3-4 Tbsps of water and microwave them 30 seconds at a time, stirring vigorously between heatings, until they are melted and smooth. Then, add the majority of your sugar and stir as much as you can. Grease a surface with lots of Crisco to prevent sticking. Also make sure you grease your hands, as you will be kneading the dough. Plop the mixture down and knead it until well incorporated. As you go along, add the rest of the sugar and as much Crisco as you need to keep it tame. Then, wrap the fondant in plastic and refrigerate for several hours.

In the meantime, carve some pumpkins, finish your costume, and start baking your cupcakes.

Make your cake mix as directed. To make the ghost bodies, you will need an equal number of large and mini cupcakes. The large cupcakes will be the bases, and the mini cupcakes will be attached for the upper part of the bodies. Let the cupcakes cool.

Once they are cool, cut the puffy tops with a sharp knife to make them level. Then, you can glue them together with either frosting or a toothpick.

After it has chilled, roll the fondant out on your counter, using cornstarch to keep it from sticking. Roll it as thin as you can without it tearing (you don't want it to be too heavy for the cupcakes). You might try breaking it up into 4 sections while rolling, to prevent them from drying out. (If it dries, microwave it for 10 seconds at a time and knead in a tiny bit more shortening.)

Now, it's time to cut out circles for the ghost capes. Use a bowl, cup, or circular object to cut circle shapes. Take the circles of fondant and drape them over the cupcake towers. Arrange it so that the folds of the cape look flowy and polished. Once done arranging the fondant, give the ghosts eyes and mouths by pressing sunflower seeds to them or by using icing to draw faces.

Let fondant harden slightly at room temperature before serving.


Check out another attempt / variation on these ghosts at :
http://www.marthastewart.com/333111/ghost-cupcakes?czone=holiday/halloween-center/halloween-center-desserts
http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/2009/10/spooky-cupcake-ghosties-plus-easy.html