Ghost Cupcakes

 So last weekend we went up North to "The Ranch" for our Halloween family reunion.

I don't know why we call it The Ranch. I guess you could call it a deer ranch.

That's a picture of Raymond from last year.

There's an albino deer there too. He just roams free around the whole place. I spotted him this time. The freak.

Anyways, The Ranch is actually more of a hunting lodge.

We have fun riding around on golf carts through the woods, chillin' with about fifty of the coolest relatives ever, playing pool, building bonfires and playing guitar around them, and buying amazing cinnamon rolls and pineapple bars from the Amish who live nearby.

Speaking of the Amish, check out Gramps' Halloween costume from our big Halloween party on Saturday night. 

Anyways, we have fun.

And look what I brought to share with everyone. These adorable, spooky ghost cupcakes. Never mind that they don't have paper cupcake cups. Who needs em anyways.

All the kids loved these cupcakes. Firstly because their adorable and secondly because the frosting tastes sort of like marshmallows.

Seven-Minute Frosting For the ghosts
 From Baking by James Peterson (My favorite cookbook ever, in case you haven't noticed) 

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. You don't want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water so make sure that you don't have too much water in the pot. Beat the egg white mixture with a whisk until the bottom of the bowl is too hot to touch.
Remove the bowl from the simmering pot and beat the mixture with a stand mixer for about ten minutes or with a handheld mixer for about twenty minutes or until the frosting is stiff.


To make ghosts, just squirt a dollop of frosting onto a chocolate cupcake (I actually used my secretly healthy cupcakes... again). I just cut a hole in the corner of a plastic bag and squirted it through that. If you didn't get a good peak for the top with your squirting, you can just use your finger and swirl it around a little (if you don't mind getting a little sticky). Then melt about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips with a few tablespoons of heavy cream (milk would work). You can melt them in the microwave if you turn the power down by about half. I took another plastic bag and poked a hole in the corner with a toothpick and then squirted the chocolate through that to make my eyes and mouths.

Boo.