Recipe A Day

You don't need to be a fabulous cake decorator to make adorable, professional-looking Halloween cupcakes. In fact, these Vampire Cupcakes are so easy, you could probably do them with your eyes closed (although maybe keep your eyes open just in case). There's cherry-pie filling inside, which dribbles out for a dramatic bloody effect. You can make vanilla cupcakes like the photo here, but I think dark chocolate and cherries is a more perfect combination.

Vampire Cupcakes

Ingredients

For cake

• 1 box dark chocolate cake mix
• 1 can cherry pie filling

For frosting

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 3.5 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons milk

Instructions

1. Make cake mix according to directions on package.

2. Fill cupcake tins 1/4-full with cupcake batter. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons cherry pie filling on top of batter. (Reserve a couple tablespoons for decoration.)

3. Cover with remaining batter.

4. Bake according to directions on box.

5. Meanwhile, make frosting: Cream butter, salt, and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Add 3 tablespoons milk, beating until smooth. Beat in more milk until desired spreading consistency is reached.

6. Frost cupcakes.

7. Dip a toothpick into some cherry pie filling leftover from cupcakes, and poke two fang-holes in the frosting on one side of the cupcake. To make even more "bloody," dribble extra filling from the holes if desired.

Image via little blue hen/Flickr