Halloween Cupcakes

Last Updated September 18th, 2022 at 10:48 am by Lisa

Bake these Halloween Cupcakes topped with fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting that are not too scary and pretty darn cute. Decorate with sweet Halloween treats for your friends, family, kids, or the special trick-o-treaters next door.

The sugary options are endless. Make some chocolate tombstones, cookie dirt, use colorful sprinkles, gumballs, and spooky candy eyes 🧁🎃👀...

Easy Halloween Cupcakes

You can bake or buy prebaked cupcakes, they are often available in grocery store bakeries, just ask. I used a chocolate cake mix and made the homemade frosting. The best part is to use fun Halloween cupcake toppers, like mini candy bars, homemade chocolate work, and mini toys like plastic spiders, fingers, and skulls.

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 boxed chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs(called for your cake mix)
• ½ cup vegetable oil  (called for on cake mix box)
• 1 ¼ cups water (called for on cake mix)

Chocolate Frosting

• 2 cups salted butter (room temperature 4 sticks)
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 10 cups powder sugar (confectioners sugar)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4-6 tablespoons of hot water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract (optional but so good)

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Making Buttercream Chocolate Frosting

1. Gather your ingredients and a wire whisk on a stand mixer or hand mixer.
2. Beat soft butter and shortening in a mixer on high until creamy for 5 minutes.
3. At low speed, add 10of cups powder sugar 1 cup at a time until smooth.
4. On high speed, add hot water, mix until fluffy and smooth. Scrape down the bowl, add more hot water if necessary until the frosting is smooth. Add vanilla extract and almond extract. Add 1 cup cocoa powder, mix well.

Bake Cupcake Recipe

1. Mix your cupcake batter according to the box, or make it homemade.
2. Scoop your cupcake batter with a 2" ice cream scoop into paper liners.
3. Bake according to the directions on the box. Cupcakes typically bake between 14-19 minutes at 350 degrees. Use a toothpick to see if the batch is baked. Cool on a rack.
4. Frost each cupcake with an offset spatula, or pipe in a swirl on top.

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Gather Cupcake Decorating Items

• Halloween Candy ~ Reeses and Kit Kat Candy
• Gumballs
• Candy Corn
• Crushed Oreos for "dirt"
• Black Licorice
• Mini Peanut Butter Cups
• Use this Tombstones and Bones Mold for your chocolate work, use white chocoate candy melts and semi sweet chocolate chips.
• Sprinkles - orange, yellow, brown, purple, green, black
• Mini Chocolate Chips
• Colored Sugar - orange, black, purple, green, red
• Candy Eyeballs
• Colorful Cupcake Wrappers - Jack-O-Lanterns, witches, ghosts
• Small Halloween Toys - plastic eyeballs, fingers, spiders
• Decorative Cupcake Picks - skulls, ghosts, pumpkins, black cats

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Halloween Cupcake Decorations

• Add a couple of colorful paper cupcake liners, to make them look nice. The first one discolors during baking.
• Decorate right in the cupcake pan to help with cleanup.
• Slice some candy in half, or use them in the wrapper on top, it looks great!
• Use crushed Oreos as "dirt" around chocolate tombstones, bones, or skeletons.
• Try colorful sprinkles, gumballs, candy eyes, and candy corn.
• Make all the cupcakes unique! Add spider webs on some with melted marshmallows, or ice pumpkins on others. Large gumballs and jawbreakers are so fun too!
• The tombstones and bones are made with a candy mold from Wilton, using regular chocolate chips melted with a little vegetable oil, filled in the mold, and chilled. The bones are made with white candy melts, filled the mold, and chilled. They easily pop right out of the mold.
• In place of buttercream frosting, you can use cream cheese frosting, or frosting from the grocery store to make it easy.
• For kids make cute witch hats with storebought chocolate cookies and unwrapped chocolate kisses on top use chocolate frosting as glue then decorates with sprinkles, then top those on your baked frosted cupcakes.

Free Halloween Party Planner!

Download your FREE planner and get those party plans started today…

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More Halloween Desserts

Take a look at all of my Halloween Recipes, I have lots of ideas to make your Halloween party spectacular. Bake a spooky Halloween Cake for your party with orange and chocolate marbled cake inside, and a cemetery all made in chocolate! 

Everyone loves easy party food! These savory salty-sweet Easy Halloween snacks are loved by kids and adults. Build a fun snack board tray with your favorite chips, crackers, sweet treats, and spooky candy eyes!

Make a Caramel Apple Dip with crisp green apples, salted caramel sauce, and crushed Health bars. Both kids and adults love this easy apple dip, it's a real crowd pleaser and has the addictive flavor of caramel apples.

This Fall Snack Mix will disappear at your Fall, Halloween Party, or at your Thanksgiving feast. It has just 4 ingredients that are magical together. It is almost impossible to stop eating this sweet and salty mix and it will disappear before your eyes.

Halloween Bark is an adorable dessert treat to make with Halloween candy, sprinkles, cute candy eyeballs, licorice, and chocolates and would be great to put out on a Halloween theme snack board.

Chocolate Frosting is a chocolate buttercream that spreads so beautifully, holds its shape, and tastes amazing on desserts.