Halloween is definitely the time to go all in on your baking and sweets so this year I decided to to a fun group of spooky/cute cupcakes. I wanted them to have a wow factor but not be overly complicated or time consuming.
I whipped up my favorite moist and fluffy chocolate cupcakes and got to decorating!
Pro Tips for the BEST Halloween Cupcakes
- You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- If you prefer your frosting to be less sweet then try whipping up a batch of Swiss or Italian buttercream. Silky smooth and delicious!
- Candy eyes can be hard to find. Try upside down chocolate chips for an easy substitution.
- Most of these cupcakes don’t require any piping tips to make, just snip the end off of a bag. I used buttercream, melted chocolate tinted black with food coloring, M&M’s and candy eyes. No fondant!
- The spiders were so fun to make! I used a peanut M&M for the body, a regular M&M for the head and the piped some melted chocolate legs, which set in the freezer. If you really want to go all out you can use sanding sugar for the eyes, just attach two granules to the head using a tiny bit of buttercream or melted chocolate.
All of these cupcakes are pretty kid-friendly so if you’re looking for an easy holiday project this just might be it! Also they taste delicious, just thought I’d throw that in there!
How to Make Halloween Cupcakes
1. For the cupcakes; preheat the oven to 350 degrees and add papers to a cupcake pan. Sift together the flour, sugar, coco powder, salt, baking powder and soda into a large bowl. Whisk until everything is combined.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla then whisk together. Pour in the hot coffee and mix once more.
3. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until completely combined. The batter will be pretty thin but that’s how it’s supposed to be!
4. Fill the cupcake papers just under 2/3 the way up and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle, comes out clean. Allow some time for them to fully cool.
5. For the buttercream; whip the butter for about 5 minutes using a paddle attachment on the stand mixer.
6. Sift the confectioners sugar and beat it in slowly. Add the cream and vanilla and beat everything until you have an even, fluffy consistency. Separate the buttercream into 4 batches and prepare those piping bags starting off by coloring 3 of those batches using the food colorings.
7. For the mummy; give the cupcake a very thin black base, you can pipe it on or spread it on.
8. Now pop on two candy eyes and pipe on the bandages using white buttercream in a piping bag fitted to a 46 tip.
9. For the pumpkins; use a 2A tip or a medium round tip pipe bands of orange, working from bottom to top to create that pumpkin look.
10. Add a green leaves on top of the pumpkin and pipe the jack-o-lantern facial details in black.
11. For your Jack (or skeleton) cupcakes; pipe a white base and smooth.
12. Use the black frosting to create Jack’s facial details. I just cut the tip off or a piping bag but you can use a small round tip for more control if desired.
13. For the Frankenstein; pipe a green base and use an off-set spatula or a knife to flatten the top.
14. Place on some candy eyes and add the facial details in black using a piping bag fitted with a number 4 tip. You can also just cut off a really small portion of the tip of your piping bag. You’ll need this to create most of your facial details.
15. For the spiders; start off by piping some “V” shapes with melted chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper. Set aside to cool and set.
16. Cover the cupcakes with a thin layer of white buttercream and smooth. Use the melted chocolate to pipe a spiral then drag a skewer or any pointed tool through the buttercream, working from the inside out. This will create the web look. Place a brown peanut m&m in the center and a regular brown m&m right next to it. Then arrange 4 of the chocolate legs on either side of the body. You can add two tiny dots of buttercream on the head for eyes if desired.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried these cupcakes then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Halloween Cupcakes
Video
Ingredients
Halloween Cupcakes:
INGREDIENTS
For the Cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup sour cream 120g
- 1 cup buttermilk 240mL
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup hot coffee 360mL strong, use a mocha pot so it's basically espresso
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil 180mL
- 1 tbs vanilla extract 15mL
- 3 cup all-purpose flour 360g
- 2 2/3 cup granulated sugar 535g
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder 65g
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 6g
- 1 tbsp baking soda 18g
- 1 tsp kosher salt 5g
For the Buttercream:
- 3 tsp vanilla 15mL
- 1 lb confectioner's sugar 450g
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature 250g
- 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream 45mL
- Green food coloring
- Orange food coloring
- black gel food coloring
For the Assembly:
- brown m&ms regular and peanut
- 3/4 cup melted chocolate
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat to 350 degrees.
- Add papers to a cupcake pan.
- Sift together the dry ingredients (including the sugar) into a stand mixer bowl. Whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and whisk together.
- Add wet to dry ingredients in the stand mixer bowl.
- Whisk to combine, then mix on level 2 for two minutes.
- Distribute batter into cupcake papers. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow time to cool fully.
For the Buttercream:
- Whip the butter for about 5 minutes using a paddle attachment on the stand mixer.
- Beat in the confectioner’s sugar slowly.
- Add cream and vanilla. Beat until you have an even, fluffy consistency.
For the Assembly:
For the Piping Bags:
- Prepare 3 piping bags fitted with large round tips. Add green, orange and white to separate bags. These will be used as the base colors.
- Add black food gel to melted chocolate, transfer to a piping bag. Snip off the tip. This will be used for the base of the mummy and facial details for multiple cupcakes.
For the Mummy:
- Pipe a black base.
- Fit a piping bag with a 47 flat tip, add a small amount of white buttercream.
- Pipe lines to create a bandage look.
- Add candy eyes.
For the Spider:
- Pipe ‘L’ shaped legs onto parchment paper with the black gel bag. Transfer to the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes to set.
- Pipe a white base. Switch back to the black. Pipe a spiral.
- Drag a point tool or toothpick through the buttercream and chocolate layers, working from the inside out. This will create the web look.
- Add a brown peanut m&m for the body and a regular brown m&m for the head. Add chocolate legs.
For the Pumpkin:
- Pipe bands of orange, working from bottom to top to create a pumpkin look.
- Add a green stem on top of the pumpkin.
- Pipe black jack o lantern facial details.
For Frankenstein:
- Pipe a green base.
- Place candy eyes.
- Add black facial details.
For the Skull:
- Pipe a white base, then facial details with black frosting.
Notes
- You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- If you prefer your frosting to be less sweet then try whipping up a batch of Swiss or Italian buttercream. Silky smooth and delicious!
- Candy eyes can be hard to find. Try upside down chocolate chips for an easy substitution.
- Most of these cupcakes don't require any piping tips to make, just snip the end off of a bag. I used buttercream, melted chocolate tinted black with food coloring, M&M's and candy eyes. No fondant!
- The spiders were so fun to make! I used a peanut M&M for the body, a regular M&M for the head and the piped some melted chocolate legs, which set in the freezer. If you really want to go all out you can use sanding sugar for the eyes, just attach two granules to the head using a tiny bit of buttercream or melted chocolate.
Nutrition
I made these this week and they look SO cute and the flavor is amazing (I actually don’t like coffee but I love it here!)