Dirty Cupcakes!

   No, I did not drop cupcakes on the floor to make them dirty! I put dirt on them on purpose! But, not your regular dirt... it's a delicious Oreo dirt with some nasty worms sticking out of it. Last weekend I had some friends over for a Halloween dinner and since we decided not to dress up for it, I made my dessert wear a Halloween costume. Since I made the entire dinner from scratch, I decided that it's OK to take a little shortcut for the dessert and I used a store bought red velvet cake mix. As long as you add your own twist to it, it's perfectly fine... at least that's what I keep telling myself! Here is the recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting (makes 24):

Cupcakes:

*  store bought Red Velvet cake mix
*  3 eggs
*  1/3 cup vegetable oil
*  1 1/4 cup water

Frosting:

*  16oz cream cheese
*  1 cup powdered sugar
*  1 cup raspberries
*  1 tbsp lemon juice
*  6 Oreo cookies, without white filling, finely crushed
*  24 gummy worms

Directions:

1. Combine cake mix with eggs, oil and water and beat everything with hand mixer. Transfer batter into 24 cupcake liners (about 3/4 full), and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
2. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
3. Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and raspberries until smooth.
4. Frost cupcakes with the cream cheese, cover with Oreo dirt and place a gummy worm on top of it.

   It's a funny looking and delicious dessert. The raspberry cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite and pairs perfectly with red velvet cake. Who said silly food is only for kids... adults (I'm not sure if we qualify) can have lots of fun with it too!

Happy Halloween,
Magda