Hooting Halloween owls

Ingredients  

280g butter , softened

280g golden caster sugar

200g self-raising flour , minus 1 rounded tbsp

1 rounded tbsp cocoa powder

6 medium eggs

   

   FOR ICING AND DECORATION

200g butter , softened

280g icing sugar , sifted

1 tube orange ready-to-use icing

1 small bag Maltesers

1 tube choco M&Ms minis (use just the brown sweets) or Cadbury's mini buttons

1 tub jelly diamonds (just the orange ones)

METHOD

1.   Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with brown muffin cases. Beat the first 5 ingredients to a smooth batter and spoon between the cases, almost filling them to the top. You may have a little left over. Bake for 20-25 mins until risen and spongy. Cool on a rack.

2.   Beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Slice off the very tops of the cakes and cut each piece in half. Spread a generous layer of icing over each cake.

3.   Working on one cake at a time, squirt a pea-sized blob of orange icing onto two Maltesers and use to fix a brown M&M on each. Sit the eyes, two pieces of cake top (curved edge up) and a jelly diamond on the icing to make an owl.

Credit to: bbcgoodfood.com