Halloween is almost here, and there are fall festivals and parties popping up. Check out these frighteningly tasty Halloween cupcakes to really make the occasion special. You can make them as simple or as elaborate as you like. These have some spooky designs on there, but it would also be super cute with creepy eyeballs, jolly pumpkins, or ghoulish ghosts.
Check out my suggestions at the end for some cool ways to decorate them without having to have an ounce of artistic or crafty talents!
Frighteningly Tasty Halloween Cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup dark cocoa
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup boiling water
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup of unsalted butter (softened)
- 4 cup powdered sugar
- 4 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
Decorations (optional): - Purple gel food coloring
- Halloween sprinkles
- Sugar icing decorations (see notes below)
To Make the Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line each cupcake tin with paper liners.
2. Mix flour, sugar, dark cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
3. In a second bowl, mix together the eggs, whole milk, oil, and vanilla.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Begin to beat all of the ingredients together for three minutes on medium in an electric mixer.
5. Slowly begin adding the boiling water. Start with only a little bit at the beginning, stirring as you add, and then pour the remaining boiling water in. This may cause the batter to be a little runny, but that is okay.
6. Scoop the batter into the lined cupcake tins filling to 3/4rds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
7. Once done, remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes.
8. Finally, remove each cupcake from the pan placing them on a wire rack to completely cool.
To Make the Frosting:
1. Cream the powdered sugar and butter together until the mixture is light and creamy. If the frosting doesn’t cream, simply add a few drops of heavy whipping cream and mix until it creams.
2. Test the frosting to see if it can form and hold a stiff peak by getting a spoonful of frosting and turning the spoon upside down to see if the frosting stays on the spoon or falls off. If it stays on the spoon, you’re in good shape. If not, add more powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time and mix well.
3. Add several drops of the purple gel food coloring (or whatever color you like) into the bowl. Mix well until the color is thoroughly blended.
4. Once frosting is ready, you can spoon it into a pastry bag with a large tip. (This silicone pastry bag with tips is cool *affiliate link*)
5. Twist the open end of the pastry bag, forcing the frosting to the tip and frost the cupcake edges inward to the center of the cupcake.
6. Now you get to decorate! Sprinkle each cupcake with your Halloween sprinkles. Stick a candy icing decoration in the center of each frosted cupcake. Have fun and ENJOY them.
There are so many fun ways to decorate these cupcakes. Honestly, they’d be just fine with just the cupcake and the frosting. However, if you want to step it up, there are lots of options!
Wilton has a lot of sprinkles and decorations. You can probably find a decent selection at your local Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or even grocery store. If you want to get something online, check out my affiliate links for these little skull sprinkles, Halloween ghost mix sprinkles, bats and ghosts, or this fun little Halloween sprinkles carousel of several different types of sprinkles. For toppers, look into these ghosts holding candy corn, edible witch silhouette cupcake toppers, or these old school pumpkin icing decorations.
