Back onto the black bean band wagon and this time with a little halloween twist. I loved these cupcakes so much that I wanted to make it for my family when I went back to Singapore. Strange enough, I could not find canned black beans in Singapore and my mom said that she has never seen canned black beans before too. Guess it’s not an asian thing to consume black beans.

As halloween is just around the corner, I’ve decided to include pumpkin into the recipe and make little “spooky” frostings. These cupcakes are gluten free and it’s really dense and moist. You can add in chocolate chips if you like. I had a lot of fun making the halloween frosting. I’ve tried drawing a skull using melted chocolate but my skills were terrible so I stuck with cobwebs and the spooky ghost frosting – idiot proof!

Ingredients for the cupcakes

1. 2 cans of 420g black beans (no added salt), drained
2. 200g raw pumpkin
3. 3 eggs
4. 60g cocoa powder
5. 120ml maple syrup (1/2 cup)
6. 60ml vegetable oil (1/4 cup)
7. 1 tsp vs
8. 1/2 tsp baking powder

Ingredients for the frosting

1. 250g cream cheese
2. 40g icing sugar
3. 30g unsalted butter
4. 1 tsp vanilla essence
5. 50g chocolate chips

Directions
Preparation time: 20min
Baking time: 20-25min or when the skewer comes out clean

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
2. Prepare a 12 case muffin tin
3. Steam 200g of raw pumpkin till soft
4. Rinse the black beans and then place it into a food processor
5. Add in the steamed pumpkin, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla essence and vegetable oil into the food processor
6. Blend the mixture until smooth
7. Add in the cocoa powder and baking powder into the mixture and blend it until uniform
8. Spoon the mixture into the muffin case and place it in the oven to bake for 20-25min or when the skewer comes out clean
9. Leave it out to cool

To make the spooky ghost frosting

1. Whisk the butter and cream cheese at high speed until light and fluffy
2. Add in the icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla essence and continue to whisk until a uniform consistency is formed
3. Prepare a piping bag and a round piping tip and place the frosting into the piping bag
4. Pipe a circle of frosting onto each cupcake. Then, holding the bag upright over the centre of the cake, pipe a tall mound of icing, then quickly pull the tip away to form a small peak on the top
5. Add two pieces of chocolate chips onto the frosting for the eyes

To make the cobweb frosting

1. Spread the cream cheese frosting evenly on top of the cupcakes
2. In a separate bowl, melt the  chocolate
3. Prepare a piping bag and a small round tip and place the melted chocolate into the piping bag
4. Pipe the chocolate onto the top of the cream cheese frosting in concentric circles
5. Using a small skewer, drag through the circles at regular intervals, from the centre to the edge, to create a cobweb effect