Hooting Halloween owls

Delicious and simple chocolate cupcakes that will please everyone at your Halloween party – not just the kids.

TAKES 1½ HOURS • MAKES 12

300g/10oz butter, softened

300g/10oz golden caster sugar

200g self-raising flour

1 rounded tbsp cocoa powder

6 medium eggs

FOR ICING & DECORATION

200g/7oz butter, softened

280g icing sugar, sifted

1 tube orange ready-to-use icing

1 small bag Maltesers

1 small bag mini chocolate buttons

1 tub jelly diamonds (just the orange ones)

1 Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with brown muffin cases. Beat the cake ingredients to a smooth batter and divide among the cases, almost filling them to the top. You may have a little left over. Bake for 20–25 minutes until risen and spongy. Cool on a wire rack.

2 To decorate, beat the butter and icing sugar for the icing until smooth. Slice off the very tops of the cakes and cut each piece in half. Spread a generous layer of icing over each cake.

3 Working on one cake at a time, squirt a pea-sized blob of orange icing on to two Maltesers and use to fix a chocolate button on each. Sit the eyes, two pieces of cake top (curved edge up) and a jelly diamond on the icing to make an owl.

PER CAKE 615 kcals, protein 6g, carbs 68g, fat 38g, sat fat 23g, fibre 1g, sugar 54g, salt 1g