Check out these movie star treats. Lime Slimer Ghostbusters cupcakes are made of a fluffy lime cupcake filled with gooey lime curd and topped with green vanilla buttercream. The funny mouth and eyes toppings bring out the real character. They make a perfect fun snack on Halloween or at a birthday party.
October means the start of the pumpkin, apple and mushroom season. But, it also means that Halloween is just around the corner. Yes, it’s that time of the year, when we all search for ideas and fun, spooky recipes which would make the night of Halloween perfect.
In addition, here you might find some of my favourite Halloween snacks: monster strawberry cupcakes, classic mummies, vibrant marbled deviled eggs or these monster jelly doughnuts.
Besides fun snacks, we also watch all our favourite Halloween movies. These weeks of October are all about horror, spooky and ghost movies. This takes us to my recipe.
Ghostbusters is one of my favourite ghost/monster movies. If you are an 80s kid then you know what I am talking about. Wink. And I am sure you know Slimer, right? Ghostbusters was my favourite cartoon in the 80s. And I love the theme song, as well. As a matter of fact, that intro is unmistakable. “Ta da ta da ta da Ghostbusters! Is there something strange. In your neighbourhood. Who are you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” Wink. It’s timeless!
Who is Slimer
My favourite character was and still is Slimer. Who is Slimer? Slimer happened to be the first ghost captured by the Ghostbusters. He’s that small, green-friendly ghost, that’s a bit goofy and always hungry. In fact, it seems like the perfect choice for these fun cupcakes.
These Slimer Ghostbusters cupcakes are made with fluffy lime cupcakes, filled with tangy lime curd and topped with vanilla buttercream. Lime, lime and more lime. Lime is green and green is Slimers’ colour. In fact, the real Slimer is made out of pure vibrant green Ectoplasm. I think lime curd is a perfect alternative. Wink. Since lime juice is not green, I needed the help of green food colouring.
However, what makes them so fun is the face. I used ready-to-roll fondant to get Slimer’s face just right. Those big eyes and an even bigger mouth, large teeth and a big red tongue describe him perfectly.
Tips
I used a standard muffin tin, where each mould is about 7 cm wide. And because I have only one, I had to bake three times. Therefore, I made the same batter three times and not all at once. Why? The batter includes baking powder and it’s too fluffy to let it stay outside waiting for too long. Wink. However, you can make either smaller or larger cupcakes, too. Just keep in mind, the decorations also have to have the same proportions.
If you really want to make a rich cupcake, be generous with the lime curd. Carefully cut out a hole from the top and fill it with the gooey curd all the way to the top.
I used ready-to-roll chocolate fondant and a bit of dark cocoa powder to get to the dark brown colour. But you can buy already a darker or black fondant.
Last but not least, keep your filled and decorated cupcakes in the fridge in an airtight container, to prevent spoiling the curd or buttercream and to avoid absorbing smells from other food you have in the fridge.
Very important! Bring your cupcakes to room temperature before serving. You don’t want to bite into a cube of butter. Right? Wink. The buttercream should have a lovely silky and soft taste to enjoy.
I also suggest making the lime curd a day in advance, in order to allow it to cool properly and get the right consistency. These lemon curd leftovers stay good in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. I like my buttercream fresh, therefore I prepare it on the same day.
And since the fondant needs some time to harden, I like to prepare and shape all of the decorations the evening before and allow them to harden and dry overnight.
Ingredients for ca 18 lime Slimer Ghostbusters cupcakes:
- 126 g butter (room temperature)
- 225 g sugar
- 135 g egg whites
- 120 g sour cream
- 120 ml milk
- 90 ml fresh lime juice
- 6 g vanilla
- 6 g lime zest
- green gel food colour
- 250 g flour
- 12 g baking powder
- 3 g salt
Ingredients for the lime curd:
- 55-60 g eggs (about 3 eggs)
- 60 g sugar
- two pinches of salt
- 40 ml fresh lime juice
- 4 g lime zest
- 35 g butter
- green gel food colour
Toppings elements:
I had the classic small 250 g Fondant packages, but you are going to use way less than that.
- dark chocolate roll fondant
- 1 tsp of cocoa powder
- white roll fondant
- red roll fondant
- marzipan
- cardboard to cut out the shape (optional)
- straws or spoons
Ingredients for the vanilla French buttercream:
- 450 g butter (room temperature)
- 8 g vanilla
- 155-160 g eggs (about 3 eggs)
- 160 g sugar
- 2 g salt
- green gel food colouring
To begin, preheat the oven to 175° C and line one or more muffin tins or cupcake pans (it depends on how many you need) with muffin liners.
In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat the butter until fluffy and brighter in colour. Add the egg whites and mix on medium speed until well combined. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.
At this point, mix in the sour cream, milk, fresh lime juice and lime zest, vanilla and the tip of the knife of the green gel food colouring. Mix until combined. Add more green colour if needed.
In a medium bowl, put flour, salt and baking powder. Stir and then add them, in two parts, to the wet ingredient bowl. Mix all on low speed just until combined.
Fill the liners up to 3/4, put them into the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes. To be sure the cupcakes are baked through, do the toothpick check.
Once the cupcakes are baked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a couple of minutes keeping them in the tin form. Then, remove them from the form and place them in liners onto a wire rack to cool off completely.
Lime curd
In the meantime, make the lime curd. In a medium saucepan, combine eggs, sugar, salt, lime juice and lime zest. Whisk it until smooth.
Place the pan on your stove and heat it, over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Afterwards, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter cubes, a couple at a time. Add the green colouring until the right shade. In order to make it cool off quicker, transfer the curd into a new bowl and allow it to chill off.
Vanilla French buttercream
For the buttercream, prepare one medium bowl and one larger heatproof bowl. Firstly, in a medium bowl, beat the butter and vanilla until fluffy and light in colour. Secondly, in the other bowl, add the eggs, sugar and salt. Place the bowl over a water bath and whisk until pale and warm.
Then, remove the bowl from the water bath, and beat the egg mixture (using a hand mixer) until cold and fluffy. At this point, stir the cold egg mixture, a bit at a time, into the fluffy butter. Last but not least, add the green gel colour.
Toppings
For the mouth, knead the chocolate fondant with some cocoa powder and then roll it out 2-3 mm thick. Cut out a mouth shape (a half-moon shape or a shape of a filled U or C letter). Using the white fondant, form small teeth. Place five teeth on the chocolate piece (top part, just like you see in the photo). To “glue” them, simply apply a small amount of water with a small brush. Or use edible glue. Place a straw on a tray and lay the mouth lengthwise (teeth side up) over it to bend it a little bit.
Use the red fondant to form the tongue. Again, roll the fondant about 3 mm thick and cut out a tongue shape. Using a modelling tool or the back of a knife “draw” a line in the middle of the tongue and then shape it into a small wavy tongue. Attach the tongue to the mouth.
To make the eyes, form small marzipan balls (ca 4-5 mm) and flat them out into a circle shape. Then, using the chocolate fondant, form very small perls (ca 2 mm), flat them out and apply them onto the flattened marzipan. Leave everything to dry overnight.
Slimer comes to life
Using a small carving knife, carve a 2 cm large and 2-3 cm deep hole in each cupcake and remove the dough. Put the lime curd into a piping bag and pipe it into each cupcake until filled to the top. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag with a large round nozzle (or simply cut it off) as well and pipe a large swirl on top of each cupcake.
Place the cupcakes into the fridge for 5 minutes, in order to allow the buttercream to set a little.
Finally, to complete your lime Slimer Ghostbusters cupcakes, carefully add the mouth and eyes toppings onto each cupcake.
Enjoy.
