Edible Glass Can Take Your Halloween Cupcakes To The Next (Spooky) Level

There's something about spooky season that brings out the special effects artist in all of us. With the magic of Halloween wafting in the air, we become inspired to create convincing illusions that lend to the season's sense of enchantment. While some choose to install elaborate mechanical decorations that scare the neighbors' kids, others prefer to whip up spook-tacular edible creations. If you belong to the latter camp, we've got a sweet recipe for your next Halloween party that's sure to impress all the guys and ghouls in attendance: edible glass.

Created by combining sugar, water, and corn syrup, and subjecting that mixture to extreme heat, edible glass is a brittle candy made to look and shatter just like glass. The resemblance is so uncanny, in fact, that Hollywood commonly employs the use of sugar glass while filming action scenes. But you don't need to be in movies to create this cool effect. Easy to make and endlessly entertaining, amateur bakers love this candied concoction for the making of dangerously delicious doughnuts, cakes, and cupcakes.

While making candy that looks like real glass may sound like a task better suited for big league SFX artists, in reality, it is an astonishingly uncomplicated endeavor. To begin, combine water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and turn up the heat. As the solution warms, each granule of sugar will begin to dissolve into billions of sucrose molecules, making the sugar invisible to the naked eye. In an effort to maintain that glassy, transparent appearance, corn syrup is added, which works to keep the sucrose molecules separate from one another, even after the solution is removed from heat.

As the solution begins to boil, water evaporates and the sugar becomes more concentrated. At this point, a candy thermometer should be used to measure the increasing temperature of the solution. Once it reaches 300 degrees, the liquid can be poured onto a cookie sheet fitted with aluminum foil and cooking spray and left to set. The hardened candy glass can then be shattered and used as a terrifying topper for homemade Halloween-themed cupcakes. To make them even more menacingly mouthwatering, red food coloring can be dripped over the glass for a bloody good time.