Ember Fox Cupcakes
Season three of Hollowmoor lands in October and the group chat has already picked sides. These tempered-chocolate fox toppers sit on a red velvet base — dramatic enough for a watch party, quick enough for a Tuesday.
Ingredients
for 12 cupcakes
- 9 oz dark chocolate wafers (255 g)
- Edible copper dusting powder, as needed (optional)
- 3 tablespoons amber sanding sugar
- 2 tablespoons charcoal sanding sugar
- 2 ⅓ cups vanilla buttercream (325 g), divided
- 12 red velvet cupcakes, cooled
- 3 drops persimmon food coloring
- 1 teaspoon bronze sanding sugar
- 12 rosemary sprigs, trimmed short
- Special equipment
- Silicone fox mold, 12 cavities
- Offset spatula, small
- Piping bag with a ½-inch round tip
Preparation
Add the chocolate wafers to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each, until completely melted and glossy.
Pour the melted chocolate into the fox-shaped mold — work in two batches if your mold holds fewer than 12 — then chill for about 5 minutes, or until the chocolate has set. Ease the figures out of the mold and, using a dry brush, dust them with copper powder if you want the metallic finish.
In a small bowl, stir the amber and charcoal sanding sugars together until the color reads like scorched earth rather than two separate sugars.
Fold 3 drops of persimmon coloring into 1 ⅓ cups of the buttercream. Leave the rest plain — you'll need the untinted frosting for the base layer.
Spread a thin coat of plain buttercream over each cupcake with the offset spatula, then pipe a tall swirl of the tinted frosting on top.
Roll the outer edge of each swirl through the sanding sugar mix so the ember effect climbs about halfway up the frosting.
Set a chocolate fox on each cupcake at a slight angle, tuck a rosemary sprig behind it, and finish with a pinch of bronze sugar. Serve within 4 hours — the sugar softens overnight.
