Happy Halloween! You know I would never pass up the opportunity to make a spooky treat. Although I didn’t have a ton of time this week (and the kitchen space I normally have at home), I decided to make these bloody cupcakes to share with friends and my neighbors! They’re perfect for your upcoming Halloween party…
The best part of these cupcakes is that they’d be great for any occasion! All the flavors are classic combinations, so you could make these year-round. If you don’t want the “bloody” effect, you could even swirl the raspberry coulis into the cream cheese frosting.
The base of these cupcakes was made using one of my Grandma’s recipes. It’s basically a chocolate cake with a cream cheese swirl! The recipe actually uses box cake mix and instant pudding mix, which makes them super easy to make but still so delicious and fluffy. When making the cake, you’re going to sandwich the cream cheese batter within the chocolate batter. Just eyeball the amounts, you might get some cream cheese peeking out of the chocolate, but it all tastes good, I promise.
I opted to go with a traditional cream cheese frosting (a lot of cream cheese, I know, but trust me) and a raspberry coulis to give it that “bloody” effect. I personally added a little less sugar into my raspberry sauce because I wanted that tartness to offset the sweetness of the cake and frosting.
These cupcakes are also filled! I just used a small knife to cut out small cores, but you can use a melon baller, small cookie cutter, or apple corer if you have them. This makes for a fun surprise when you cut ’em open!
Once filled and frosted, keep cupcakes in the fridge in an airtight container. They should keep for up to a week. Enjoy!
Bloody Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 box devil's food cake mix
- 1 box chocolate instant pudding
- 5 large eggs, divided
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
For the raspberry coulis:
- 20 oz frozen raspberries
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Prepare the cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare two cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
- Beat the first five ingredients (cake mix, instant pudding, ONLY 4 eggs, vegetable oil, and water) in a medium mixing bowl. Mix until smooth.
- In another medium mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients (cream cheese, sugar, and 1 egg) and beat with a handheld mixer (or a whisk) until smooth).
- Fill one cupcake liner about 1/4 to 1/2 way full, about one tablespoon, with the chocolate batter. Then, add a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Lastly, top with more chocolate batter until about 1/2 inch from the top of the liner.
- Repeat for all cupcake liners or until you run out of batter.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Use a cake tester or toothpick to know when it's done (it should come out clean).
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
Make the raspberry coulis:
- While the cupcakes are baking, make the raspberry coulis.
- In a medium saucepan, add raspberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar. Cook on medium until sugar is dissolved, raspberries are completely thawed, and the mixture has thickened slightly.
- Strain out the raspberry seeds. Place the raspberry coulis into an airtight container and store in the fridge until needed.
Make the cream cheese frosting:
- While cupcakes are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the cream cheese and butter. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
- Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix well between each addition. Add the pinch of salt and give it one more good mix.
- Place the frosting into a piping bag, fitted with a medium star tip.
Assemble your cupcakes:
- Using a melon baller, apple corer, or just a small knife, punch out a small cavity on top of each cupacke.
- Pipe a small amount of cream cheese frosting into the cupcake's cavity, then pour as much raspberry coulis inside as you can. Pipe cream cheese frosting on top of cupcakes to cover.
- Drizzle additional raspberry coulis over frosted cupcakes to get the "bloody" look. Enjoy!
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