Howling Werewolves

Makes 24 cupcakes: 12 moon-and-bats, 12 werewolves

This pack of cupcakes will scare up a howling good time. Their fiery red fruit-leather mouths and neon candy eyes will send a chill down your spine. The snouts, cut from marshmallows, are shaped to bark, yelp, yap, and bay at the moon.

• 12 vanilla cupcakes baked in yellow paper liners
• 12 chocolate cupcakes baked in brown paper liners (see Sources)

Werewolves

Makes 12 cupcakes

• ½ cup vanilla frosting
• 1 cup dark chocolate frosting
• Black food coloring (available at baking supply stores or see Sources)
• 1 can (16 ounces) chocolate frosting
• 24 marshmallows
• Red fruit leather (Fruit by the Foot)
• 8 each orange, yellow, and green candy-coated chocolates (M&M’s)
• 12 black jelly beans

1. Spoon the vanilla frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air, and seal. Tint the dark chocolate frosting black with the food coloring. Spoon half of the black frosting up one side of a ziplock bag. Spoon half of the chocolate frosting up the other side of the bag. Press out the excess air and seal the bag. Repeat the process with the remaining frosting in another ziplock bag. Press out the excess air and seal the bag.
2. To make the ears, lay 12 of the marshmallows on their sides and cut off both of the corners at one end, angling your knife so that the cut side will be about 1 inch wide. Use the remaining 12 marshmallows to make the muzzles by cutting a ½- to 1-inch V-shaped notch from the end of each marshmallow. The size of the notch will determine the size of the mouth.
   
3. Snip a ⅛-inch corner from one of the bags with the chocolate frosting. Pipe a small dot of frosting on the cut side of each ear and on the flat side of the muzzle. Attach the ears on either side at the top of each chocolate cupcake and place the muzzle just below the center. Cut 1- or 2-inch-long ovals from the red fruit leather to fit the notched mouth openings and press into the notches of the muzzles to stick. Trim off any excess fruit leather with clean scissors.
4. Working on one cupcake at a time, pipe several lines of chocolate frosting along the length of the ears to cover. Starting at the edge, pipe a ½-inch border around the cupcake using the fur technique (see Making Fur), always pulling the frosting away from the center. Pipe another row inside the first, slightly overlapping the rows. Continue piping concentric rows of frosting, covering the cupcake and working your way up the marshmallow snout to the open mouth. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes and the second bag of chocolate frosting.
5. Press 2 chocolate candies of a matching color, edges in and at an angle, into the frosting to make the glowing eyes. Snip a ⅛-inch corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe sharp fangs all around the edge of the fruit leather, using a squeeze-and-pull motion. Add a black jelly bean, crosswise, for the nose.

Moon and Bat

Makes 12 cupcakes

• ¼ cup each yellow and white decorating sugars (available at baking supply stores or see Sources)
• 1 can (12 ounces) whipped vanilla frosting
• 12 thin chocolate cookies (Famous Chocolate Wafers)
• 12 brown candy-coated chocolates (M&M’s)

1. Combine the yellow and white sugars together in a small shallow bowl. Spread the vanilla frosting on top of the 12 vanilla cupcakes, mounding it in the center (see Techniques). Starting at the edge, roll the tops of the cupcakes in the sugars to cover completely.
2. Heat the chocolate cookies in the microwave for 5 seconds to soften. Using a serrated knife, cut the chocolate cookies in half. With a small paring knife, cut a scalloped edge along the straight side of each cookie half to make the wings (see Cutting Cookies). Insert 2 wings, side by side, into the frosting on top of each cupcake. Add a brown chocolate candy between the wings to make the body of the bat.