Easy Bonfire Cupcakes Recipe

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Want to go to town for Bonfire Night? Really want to impress, but not a confident baker? These visually effective bonfire cupcakes are actually super easy to make! Meaning you can impress, without needing to be a qualified pastry chef! Keep reading to learn how…

Celebrate Guy Fawkes Night in style with these eye catching bonfire cupcakes! Made with easy, two tone frosting, Matchmakers and Cadbury’s Flake, I guarantee they will bring fireworks to your party table!

Don’t feel confident enough in your baking skills to make these firework cupcakes yet? Check out baking for beginners, where you can get my Top 5 Tips to Guarantee Baking Success first!

Need a few more bakes to put out for your guests? Try this traditional bonfire toffee and chocolate firework cookies!

Easy Bonfire Cupcakes – Step by Step Picture Recipe

Here is what you will need to make approx 16.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 80g Unsalted Butter, Room Temp
• 280g Golden Caster Sugar
• 200g Plain Flour
• 40g Cocoa Powder
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 240ml Whole Milk, Room Temp
• 2 Eggs, Room Temp

For the Frosting

• 400g Icing Sugar, Sifted
• 200g Unsalted Butter, Room Temp
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Splash of Milk
• Orange Food Colouring Gel
• Yellow Food Colouring Gel

For the Decoration

• 1 x 130g Box of Matchmakers (I used Honeycomb flavour)
• 4 x Full Sized Cadbury’s Flake Bars

Essential Equipment

• 2 x 12 Hole Cupcake Tins
• 16 Foil Cupcake Cases
• Piping Bag
• Large Star Nozzle

Cake Instructions

Line your cupcake tins with the foil cases and set to one side. Preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 170°C.

In an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until it becomes like fine breadcrumbs.

In a jug, beat together the milk and the eggs. Pour two thirds into the dry ingredients and mix until really smooth. Add the remaining third and mix again until all the ingredients are blended well and smooth.

Fill each case to about 2 thirds full then bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely whilst we make the frosting.

Frosting Instructions

In an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Start slow (or you will be engulfed in a mushroom cloud of icing sugar!) then work up to a high speed. Beat on high for a good few minutes until the mixture is really light and smooth. Add a splash of milk to loosen it a little and mix again until smooth.

Divide the frosting between two bowls. Using cocktail sticks, add orange food colouring to one and yellow to the other. Keep gradually adding colour until you get the shades that you want.

Assembly Instructions

Load a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then carefully spoon one colour of frosting down one side of the bag and the other colour down the other side. It doesn’t have to be exact, just roughly.

Have a little practice swirl on a plate to make sure that both colours are coming through, then pipe swirls on each cake by piping circles from the outside in. You may like to pipe another smaller swirl on top like I did. I think it looks good to have a tall fire under the “logs.”

To Decorate

Snap some Matchmakers in half and others into smaller pieces. Cut the Flakes into small pieces. Start with a frame of 3 or 4 larger Matchmakers then dot smaller Matchmakers and pieces of flake around the bottom. Repeat until all the cakes are covered and look like super cute mini bonfires!

See! These Bonfire Cupcakes aren’t as difficult as you might think. In fact, If you have children, I bet they would LOVE to get involved in the decorating stage. You’ll just have to watch that those cheeky little monkeys don’t eat all the chocolates before they make it to the cakes!