I’ve decided I want to make owl cupcakes when I saw the idea on Adina’s blog @ whereismyspoon.co. From there it went to Owls in the Pumpkin Patch because I’m not buying the biscuits she used. The palm oil they use is not sourced responsibly. I’m boycotting all products that are doing this, buying instead from brands that use palm oil in a responsible manner, without deforestation and the wipe out of habitat of our closest relatives, the Orangutans. Sorry if I sound a bit preachy, it was not my intention. I just needed to point out why I’m not using and naming those biscuits on my blog.
Going back to funny stuff; the cupcakes and the pumpkins. I was so eager to make these. It didn’t take a long time, especially as the pumpkin cutters were huge, so I’ve only had to bake a few.

I loved how they turned out. It might be a bit late for this year’s Halloween celebrations, but you might keep it in mind for next year. I think I’m going to make these again, as they are so easy to make and such a delight to see.

Ingredients for the Owls and the Pumpkins:

biscuits
– 350g mix of self raising white flour and self raising wholemeal flour
– 1 large free-range egg
– 175g sugar
– 125g butter at room temperature
– 1/2 tsp buttery caramel flavouring (optional)
– 4 tbsp golden syrup
– white ready-made fondant
– vegetarian red food colouring
– vegetarian black food colouring
6 cupcakes
– 115g wholemeal flour
– 60g unrefined sugar
– 1 spoon of cocoa powder
– 120 ml milk
– 1 egg
– 50 ml oil
– 1/2 tsp of baking powder
– 25ml Rum (optional)
– oil for greasing the cupcake cases
– icing sugar (to taste)
– 150ml whipping cream
– vanilla paste

Start by making the biscuit dough. Make it in the food processor, put the flour, sugar, and the butter and blend until it resembles breadcrumbs. In a bowl beat the egg with the golden syrup and the flavouring. Pour the egg mixture over the flour, mix until it starts to clump together.
Tip the dough on the worktop. Divide it in two parts and add the food colouring. Knead for a couple of minutes, until all the food colouring is incorporated. Wrap each dough in cling film. Put them in the fridge to chill.

Pre-heat the oven at 200C or 180C fan.

Meanwhile make the cupcakes. Put all the ingredients in a bowl for the cupcakes and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. You can use a hand mixer or mix by hand. Oil the cupcake cases and pour the cupcake batter.

Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes. When they are baked, take them out of the oven. Leave them to cool for a couple of minutes, after that take them out of the baking tray and let them cool on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are baking you can make the first batch of biscuits. Start with the red dough to make the pumpkins. Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Roll the dough out at a 6 mm thickness. Cut the biscuits and remove the excess dough. Transfer the biscuits on the baking tray. Knead the rest of the dough and roll it out again to cut more biscuits. Do that until you use all the dough.

Turn down the heat to 180C or 160C fan.

Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes. Meanwhile you can make the second batch of biscuits. Cut the black dough with a round cutter for the “face”. Using a slightly bigger cutter, cut the “eyebrows”, cut them in four. You’ll use a piece of that for the beak too. Also cut smaller round pieces for the eyes. Bake them for 10 minutes and, like before, leave them to cool on a cooling rack when done.

When cold, cut white fondant and make the eyes of the owls. Using a small brush and water, stick the biscuits with the white fondant circles.

Whip the cream with as much (or less) sugar as you like, add the vanilla paste too. Using a spoon smother the cupcakes with whipped cream. You can pipe it, but I think they look better without a regular shape. Put the biscuits on top to decorate the owl cupcakes.

That’s it. This is how you can easily make your own Owls in the Pumpkin Patch.