bitterbutton

these are pumpkin cupcakes (using the same trick as with the pumpkin caramels, adding canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to the liquids of a yellow cake recipe.  for this, i added about 2/3 cup of canned pumpkin, 1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice, and 1 t. of extra cinnamon.  it was tasty!).  i used dutch-process cocoa in the frosting, so that it was that dark, rich brown color.  it was also tasty!

i really wish that the bones were edible, too.  they’re not.  i found them in a halloween store, labeled as “table sprinkles.”  i’ve never heard of table sprinkles, but the packaging so matter-of-factly called them by that name that i felt underexposed to the world of table-setting.  they seem really under-scaled to sprinkle on a table, though.  i’d feel a little weird to see a little arm bone the width of a fork tine near my dinner plate.  and what are the table sprinkles for other seasons? rudolph antlers and hooves?
anyways, i liked that you got little skulls, little ribcages, little arms and little legs–little deconstructed skeletons–in the package.  in particular, i like how, when stuck onto frosted cupcakes, they look more like unearthed archeological rubble than a grinning, intact and friendly skeleton.

other uses i’ve thought of for table sprinkles:

1. i’d like to bury them in some sort of chocolate dessert and serve with a pick axe and brush.
2. it would be equally awesome to recreate the ruins of pompeii–maybe covering them in a toasted meringue shells?
3. you know how specialty coffee stores sell chocolate-dipped coffee spoons?  chocolate dipped arm for your espresso cup!