mummy cupcakes

Halloween is only four days away! 

I remember all the anticipation that came with Halloween. What costume to wear? What pillowcase to carry? What part of the neighborhood to start at? My brother and I would wait until all the houses in the neighborhood turned off their front lights to head back home. Once we got home, we would pour out our candy stuffed pillowcases and count each piece of candy to see who won the candy battle. I don't actually remember who won because I was always so anxious to start trading candy with him so I could stock up on my favorites like Snickers and Reese's in exchange for my Sour Patch Kids. 

I live in an apartment complex so I don't get any adorable trick or treaters at my door on Halloween. Last year was my first year in my building and I bought (my favorite) candy just in case any kids stopped by but surprise surprise none did. With no trick or treaters or party plans my Halloween excitement is the boo bash bake-off at work. I won last years bake-off with spider cupcakes and wanted to find something equally boo-tiful for this years competition. I loved these mummy cupcakes when I first saw them but didn't want to use fondant or rolled marshmallows for the wrapping. Instead, I went with vanilla buttercream frosting and used Wilton tip #47 to pipe the mummy wrapping. I rarely make cupcakes because I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to frosting them that I'm never happy with the results. After frosting each one of these mummies I would think 'oh this one is ugly' but these cupcakes aren't supposed to be perfect and the inconsistency is the reason these mummies are so cute!

Mummy Cupcakes

for the cupcakes:

1 box of funfetti cake mix 

1/3 c. oil

1/2 c. water

3 eggs

food coloring

for the frosting:

1/2 c. butter flavored shortening

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp clear vanilla

4 c. powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp cocoa  

for the eyes:

M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

For the cupcakes, blend together the funfetti cake mix with oil, water and eggs on low speed for 2 minutes. For orange cupcakes, add 2 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red food coloring to the cake batter. Add more yellow if the batter is too dark and more red if the batter is too light. Bake cupcakes for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. 

For the frosting, cream together the shortening and butter. Blend in vanilla. Add 1 cup of 10x sugar at a time and mix until combined. Once all 4 cups of sugar have been added, blend in 2 tbsp of milk. Measure out 1/2 c. of the frosting and place it in a separate bowl, add the cocoa to this frosting. This is the frosting that will go behind the mummy eyes. Lightly frost the center of each cupcake with this chocolate frosting. Stick on the M&M eyes. Place vanilla frosting in pastry bag and start piping imperfectly!