Add some sweetness to your November 5th celebrations with these chocolate flake bonfires with orange buttercream flames
If you’re not from the UK, you may not know that it’s traditional here to celebrate the night of November 5th with bonfires and fireworks. This cupcake decoration idea – using chocolate flakes to create the firewood and piped orange buttercream for the flames – is another one I saw a photo of on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.
The cupcakes
Use your favourite cupcake recipe! My recipe index has lots of cupcake recipes if you need some ideas. For example: caramel cupcakes, yoghurt cupcakes and brownie cupcakes.
I used my golden syrup sponge cake recipe. I used the same quantities of ingredients for making a loaf cake, but divided the mixture between 12 cupcake cases and baked for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C (160 fan, 356 degrees F, Gas Mark 4) until risen and golden.
Decoration ingredients (for 12 cupcakes)
- 70 g / 2.5 oz butter (at room temperature)
- 140 g / 5 oz icing sugar (sieved)
- Orange food colouring (I used gel colouring)
- Approx. 20 g / 0.7 oz dark chocolate, melted (use a microwave to melt the chocolate or put it in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water)
Method
Leave your cupcakes to cool completely before you start to decorate them.
Make your buttercream. Use a stand mixer or electric hand beaters to beat the butter for 3-4 minutes until it begins to pale. Add the icing sugar to the butter and beat for another 3-4 minutes until the buttercream is smooth. If you have a hood for your mixer, use it to stop the icing sugar being thrown up into a cloud. If you don’t have a hood, mix slowly by hand at first to minimise the chance of icing sugar flying all over the place.
Divide the buttercream: put about two thirds in one bowl and the other third in another. To the larger amount, add the melted chocolate and stir through the buttercream until combined. Add the orange food colouring to the smaller amount of buttercream and stir until you have an even colour. Continue to add colouring until you get the brightness you want. If adding the melted chocolate or colouring makes the buttercream too thin, simply add some more icing sugar to the buttercream and stir through to thicken it.
I used Cadbury’s Flakes, as shown in the above picture, and chopped them roughly to resemble firewood. If they don’t sell Flakes where you are, you could try chopping another chunky chocolate bar to achieve a similar effect.
Spoon some of the chocolate buttercream onto the centre of your cupcakes. Use the chocolate buttercream as edible glue into which you can press and fix the chocolate flake firewood, arranging it in a pile.
Put your orange buttercream into a piping bar with a star tip. Pipe four or five small “blobs” of buttcream between the chocolate flake firewood to look like flames.
As an optional extra, put some mini marshmallows on toothpicks, ready to toast on your chocolate and buttercream bonfires.
Your bonfire chocolate flake and buttercream cupcakes will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container stored in a cool, dry place.
Happy 5th November!
If you’re looking for other cupcake recipes, you could try:
Caramel cupcakes with caramel buttercream.
Piñata cupcakes, baked using condensed milk.
Delicious 👌
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Thank you!
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Great idea.
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When I saw the picture I knew I had to give it a try. And I hadn’t had a Flake in ages! 😊
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They look fabulous, Claire 😋
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Thank you! I was really pleased with how they turned out given I was just making up how to do it by looking at a picture! 😊
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Perfect for a day like today! X
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I know! Shame the kids have already eaten them all (I might have helped…) xx
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That’s brilliant though! I bet they’re excited for Halloween! 🎃 xx
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What a cute idea! Love the little logs and fire.
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Thank you! I can’t take credit as I saw lots of pictures on Pinterest and did my best to recreate them 🙂 People come up with some terrific ideas – so simple and yet so effective!
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it’s perfect!
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Yes please!! They look delicious Claire!!🧁🧁💜
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Thank you!
I was pleased with how the golden syrup sponge recipe worked as cupcakes (worked brilliantly and much shorter baking time than the loaf cake). And I love a Cadbury’s Flake! 🙂
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They do look good!
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Thank you!
They were very tasty 🙂
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A great idea, Claire.
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Thank you! I spend longer than I should on Pinterest looking at pictures for ideas. I’m just pleased I could recreate the pictures I saw making it us as I went as there were no instructions! 🙂
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I love it! 🔥
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Thank you! 🙂
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I just gained 10 lbs reading the recipe.
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😂 Sorry… 😁😁 It’s worth it though! And it’s for a special occasions 😊
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These look fab! 😍
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Thank you! I was really pleased with how they turned out. I don’t think the kids cared – they just wanted to dismantle the bonfires and scoff the cake 😂
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😂
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Oh wow these look absolutely amazing! I love baking, and I’ll definitely bookmark this recipe!
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Thank you! I hope they turn out really well for you 🙂
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These are too precious! I need to make them the next time I go camping.
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Thank you! 🙂 They will be a big hit! The kids scoffed them very happily here.
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These are adorable, Claire! I’d planned to make ghost cupcakes for my 6-year-old grandnephew since there’ll be no trick or treating in my area, but I love this idea even more. Thanks!
Stay safe! 🙂
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Thank you! I really hope they turn out well for you and I’m sure they’ll be a big hit with your grandnephew. My 2 and 7 years old scoffed them very happily! 🙂
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Mmmmm looks delicious
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Thank you!
They were lovely. It had been ages since I’d had a Cadbury’s Flake and they were delicious 🙂
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These are so cute! I love the mini marshmallow sticks. xx
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Thank you 🙂 I was really pleased with how they turned out, although I did struggle to keep the marshmallows safe from my “little helpers” as I was putting them on the skewers!
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Haha I can imagine! Using candy/cookies for decoration can be dangerous with those little helpers closeby… I remember the time I was decorating a cake with smarties and I had to go out to buy more because more than half of the bowl had ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. xD
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These look amazing. I’ve been wanting to do a bonfire night themed bake this year. Seeing as we can’t do much else, I think I’ll give these a go x
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Terrific! I really hope they turn out well for you and you enjoy the cakes even if there are no fireworks this year 😊
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These look lovely Claire! Taking me right to the woods 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
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Pingback: Recipe | Bonfire night chocolate flake cupcakes — Art and Soul (Reblog) – The Midlode Mercury
I will definitely try this recipe!
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I hope it turns out really well for you 🙂
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I love those campfires! Be so good with a fire brewed cup of coffee!
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Thank you! They were fun to make and the kids loved them 🙂 They went very nicely with a cup of tea too.
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You’re welcome!
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