These hilarious green monster cakes are as delicious as they are spooky. The dyed-green cakes are a light vanilla sponge with milk chocolate chips, topped with a peppermint frosting and finished with candy eyes.
Put the sugar and margarine in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until pale and creamy.
Add the eggs, milk, vanilla and green food colouring. Whisk until smooth.
Add the flour, reserving one tablespoon. Fold through.
Toss the chocolate chips in the reserved flour (this helps stop the chips from sinking during baking) then add to the bowl. Fold through.
Line a muffin tray with cupcake cases. Share the cake batter evenly between them.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. Don't worry if they look a little brown on top - as long as you used a good bake-stable gel food colouring, they'll be a lovely, vibrant green inside.
Place your cakes on a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting
Place the icing sugar, peppermint extract and cubed, softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Whisk slowly, speeding up until combined.
Add the green food colouring. Whisk on high-speed until you have a green frosting that is airy and considerably increased in volume.
If your frosting seems a bit stiff, add the milk and whisk again.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle tip and pipe generous swirls onto each of the cakes.
Add two eyes to each cake to complete the green monster effect.