Boo-tiful Cupcakes: Hi Hat Ghosts!

Okay, okay…technically these aren’t hi hats, but yours hopefully will be.

As you’ll recall from yesterday, I have been unsuccessful in all attempts to melt white chocolate. I’m frustrated by it, but at the same time, I’m glad that I can share my trials with everyone! It’s a good lesson learned. You know the saying, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”

These sweet ghosts are my compromise with Mother Nature. They are what I was able to achieve without my white chocolate or candy melts. However, I hadn’t originally planned for today’s hi hats to be ghosts at all. My original idea was more colorful, but I’m hoping to be able to share them with you next year. For now, I took advantage of the white, fluffy filling of a hi hat and came up with a pure white alternative for Halloween.

They’re honestly pretty darned cute, though. Obviously, mine haven’t been dipped, but they hardly look any different than you lovely dipped ghosts will look. These also aren’t nearly as tall as they would be if everything had gone according to plan. Because of the nature of the frosting, I had to keep mine on the short side. Had I been able to dip them, they would have had a layer of chocolate to protect the frosting from the heat and humidity, so they could have been much taller (which I hope you will venture to do). As it is, I actually love them.

Plus, they’re not hard to make at all. I used the same frosting for these that I used in my original hi hat post. I had already had a vanilla cupcake made for my original plan, but these could easily be made in any flavor you choose. You can use the same cupcake from my other hi hat post, or, since the tops are coated in white chocolate, you could make a matching cupcake. If you choose to make a special flavor cupcake, like lemon, you could easily substitute half of the vanilla in the frosting with an extract to match the cupcake.

Once you have all of the components made, it’s easy to put them all together.

Start by getting a good thick swirl of frosting at the base.

Next, just pull straight up as you ease off of the pressure on the bag. If you make your ghosts taller, just give them another swirl or two of frosting at the base. Chill your un-dipped cupcakes in the freezer for 15 minutes before coating them to allow the “hats” to firm up.

While the cupcakes are chilling, melt your white chocolate or candy melts. Combine one bag of chips or candy melts in a bowl with one tablespoon of shortening or canola oil, then melt gently in the microwave or set over a pot of barely simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly until the cupcakes are ready. I recommend pouring the melted chocolate into a tall, wide container so that the tip of your ghosts doesn’t hit the bottom of the container.

Once the cupcakes are chilled, take one out, turn it upside down, and dip your ghost into the chocolate all the way up to the cupcake. Gently remove it from the chocolate, turn it right side up, and place on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet or aluminum foil to catch any stray drips (but you shouldn’t have any). Before the chocolate has a chance to set, add the ghosts’ eyes and noses, using mini chocolate chips (with the points pressed in), or black sugar pearls. I think mini m&m’s would work well too.

Move the finished cupcakes to the freezer to chill for another 15 minutes, then keep them refrigerated until you serve them.

Voila! Really, though? How fun are these guys?! You can see in my pictures that my naked ghosts are already succumbing to the heat and humidity, and beginning to melt over the edges, but they’re still so fun (and quite delicious).

Necessity really is the mother of invention. These ghosts never existed until I was forced to get creative with what I had. Which is why, in some ways, I’m happy for my white chocolate fiasco. I hope you have a lot of fun making these. Enjoy!

Some cupcake flavors to choose from:

Orange
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Original Hi Hats
Lemon
Cream-filled Chocolate (If I were to do these again, I would probably pick this one. Yum!)
Vanilla Chai
Vanilla with Chocolate Bottoms (Or these! *drool*)