From time to time we here at the OSF blog like to spotlight a few of the better recipes of the OSF community at large because, well, they have a lot of really good recipes! And they deserve spotlighting! (Check for yourself if you’re skeptical.) Anyway, today’s recipe spotlight goes to j6tran‘s “mini chocolate covered cupcakes” recipe because (1) it’s Halloween themed and thus perfect for any upcoming Halloween parties; (2) they’re fun, festive and colorful; (3) they’re chocolate on chocolate (sooo good!); and (4) they taste great!

I should note, however: the recipe is fairly involved. So make sure you have the time and are up for the challenge ahead of time — this ain’t a last second tray filler! Oh, and it’s also worth mentioning that these cupcakes aren’t just great for Halloween but, rather, for any holiday you want to celebrate with color and chocolate.

Just change the color scheme and design and, presto-chango, Christmas cupcakes! Or Easter cupcakes! Or … well you get the idea.

So, courtesy of j6tran, here’s what you’ll need to have, and what you’ll need to do.

Ingredients:

Peanut butter cup candy molds
Betty Crockers Devil’s Food Cake
1 can chocolate cream frosting
1 bag of original M&Ms
1 bag of Pink Candy Melts (you won’t need to use the entire bag, so a small bag works fine)
1 bag of Brown Candy Melts

(and optional extras)

Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
1 bag of White Candy Melts
1 pack of edible Pen Markers

Cooking instructions:

1. Bake the cake mix as instructed on the box.
2. When the cake is complete, take out of oven and crumble thoroughly. I used two forks to help me do this.
3. Throw in the can of frosting and continue to crumble and combine the ingredients.
4. Use your hands and compress the cake into tiny balls. I used the molds to help me with the sizing of the cake balls. Of course, they should be small enough to fit into the mold, leaving only a tiny space between the mold and the cake (because, don’t forget the chocolate that’s supposed to fill in the mold later).
5. After you’ve completed your cake balls, cover them and place them in the fridge for a couple hours to let it harden. (Or, if you’re in a hurry, you can place them, covered, inside your freezer for 15 minutes).
6. Once you have decided that your cake balls have hardened, melt the brown chocolates according to the directions on the back of the bag. (I used a microwave, and boy did it work well! But be sure not to over-do it and burn the chocolate, like I did on my first try. Boo me!)
7. Now that your chocolate is melted, fill the molds with brown chocolate (a little more then half way per mold) and place cake balls snugly inside the mold. This should cause the chocolate to rise up and cover at least half of your cake ball, which is what you want!
8. Place cake ball with mold, inside the fridge again for at least an hour. (Or, to speed up the process you can place it in the freezer for 10 minutes).
9. Melt the pink chocolate chips. Pop the cake balls out of the mold and dip the top half into the other colored chocolate. (Try to dip it in deep enough so that the pink color engulfs the entire top half of the cake ball, while also slightly touching the brown chocolate cup).
10. Add sprinkles and an M&M on top.
11. Set inside the fridge to harden.
12. If you want to draw faces on them (and you should!), wait until you take them out of the fridge to do so. And make them fun and spooooky!

Enjoy!