VAMPIRE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line muffin tins (you will need 18 cups total) with paper liners and set aside.
• Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugar and blend.
• Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour mixture.Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
• In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and almond extracts.
• Beat lightly with a fork until combined.
• With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the buttermilk mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the buttermilk mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
• Divide evenly into prepared muffin tins, filling 18 cups as equally as possible.
• Bake for 16-20 minutes, until cupcakes are light golden and a toothpick inserted into their centers comes out clean. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed.
• Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Filling.
• Puree cherry pie filling - a syrupy mix of sugar and cherries, usually - in a food processor until fairly smooth. Very small pieces of cherries are ok.
• Take a cooled cupcake and, using a small pairing knife, cut a cone of cake (1-inch across by 1-inch deep) out of the top.
• Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set aside and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.
• Take the cherry filling and spoon about tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity, filling it almost to the top with filling.
• Top off with the flat circle of cake you just removed to seal the hole and hold the "blood" filling in place.
• Whisk sugar, egg whites, 1/3 cup water, light corn syrup, and cream of tartar in large metal bowl to blend.
• Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch simmering water).
• Using handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed until mixture resembles soft marshmallow fluff, about 5-7 minutes.
• Increase mixer speed to high and beat until mixture is very smooth and thick, about 3 minutes longer.
• Remove bowl from over simmering water.
• Add vanilla extract and continue beating until marshmallow frosting is completely cool, about 5-7 minutes longer.
• Assembly.
• Using a butter knife or a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with a layer of the cooled marshmallow frosting by placing a dollop of icing in the center of the cupcake (on top of the cut out circle of cake) and spreading from the center to the sides of the cupcake.
• Dip a wooden toothpick or skewer into some leftover cherry pie filling and poke two fang-holes, about 3/4 inch apart, in the frosting on one side of the cupcake.
• Dribble a little extra filling from the holes for effect.
• Repeat until all cupcakes are frosted and decorated. You will probably have frosting leftover for another batch if you are baking more.