4 Fairtrade Halloween recipes

Ghost meringues, spiderweb cakes, mummy cookies and pumpkin cupcakes: four deliciously scary bakes for a Fairtrade halloween.

1. Halloween Chocolate Cupcakes with Meringue Ghosts

Recipe by Anna Wierzbinska for Tate & Lyle

Spooky, Fairtrade chocolate cupcakes, topped with crispy on the outside but gooey in the middle meringue.

• Makes: 10 cupcakes and about 15 meringue ghosts
• Prep time: 25 minutes
• Bake time: 25 minutes for the cupcakes and 1 hour 30 minutes for the meringues

Ingredients

Method

To make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Line a muffin tin with 10 cupcake cases and set it aside.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, set aside.

3. Cream together the butter and Tate & Lyle Pure Cane Caster Sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

4. Add an egg, and whisk to combine. Add the yogurt and whisk again. Gently fold in the sifted flour and cocoa mixture and add 2 Tbsp of milk. Mix until just combined.

5. Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes, before transferring into a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the meringue ghosts:

1. Heat the oven to 120C (100C fan). Line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

2. Put the egg whites into a bowl of an electric mixer and whisk to stiff peaks (when you lift the beaters the egg white forms peaks that don’t flop over at the tip).

3. Add Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking back to stiff peaks after each addition, until all the sugar is incorporated. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain, round nozzle.

4. Pipe the meringue ghosts onto the baking sheet. You want them to be roughly 5cm wide and between 4 and 5cm high. Hold the piping bag vertically to the baking sheet and gently squeeze, pulling it up and away gently, to create a peak. Reserve about two tablespoons of the meringue to assemble the cupcakes.

5. Bake the meringues for 1h 30 minutes until crisp. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely.

6. Use the remaining meringue to ‘glue’ the eyes onto the ghosts. Top the chocolate cupcakes with the meringues and enjoy!

Ingredients

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C, gas mark 3. Grease the base and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin and line with baking parchment.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients except the sugar; set aside.
3. Using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar for 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.
4. Beat in a quarter of the dry ingredients, then a third of the buttermilk and repeat, until fully combined.
5. Mix the vinegar and food colouring together then beat into the mixture.
6. Scrape into the tin and spread until level. Tap the tin on the work surface to knock out any air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set on a wire rack and leave to cool completely in the tin.
7. For the filling, use electric beaters to beat together the butter, soft cheese and icing sugar.
8. Remove the cake from the tin and cut horizontally into 3 even layers (use a serrated knife). Take the bottom layer and place on a baking sheet, spread with ½ the filling, then repeat with the middle layer of cake and remainder of the filling; top with the final layer of cake. Leave to set in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
9. For the icing, melt the cream, chocolate and glucose together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Melt the white chocolate in another bowl using the same method and pour into a small piping bag.
10. Invert the cake onto a wire rack so there is a flat surface for the icing; set over a tray to catch the drips. Working quickly, pour the dark chocolate icing over the middle of the cake. With a palette knife, use long strokes to push the icing over the sides to create an even coating over the whole cake.
11. Starting slightly off centre, pipe a white chocolate spiral from the centre of the cake out to the edges (the tighter the lines, the more dramatic the effect). Take a cocktail stick and, starting from the centre, pull it through the white chocolate to the outside. Repeat, working around the cake, to create a spider’s web effect. Let the icing set for about 20-30 minutes. To store, keep refrigerated, and bring to room temperature before eating.

Buy Fairtrade baking ingredients from Waitrose

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