Halloween Cupcakes – Easier Than They Look
We found some amazing sprinkles and felt inspired to make halloween cupcakes in preparation for our party. Although these look like they’re from a bakery, they are SO easy to make.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create the yummiest cupcakes, create a mound of sprinkles (the easy way), and create a single or two-color swirl buttercream frosting.
What You'll Find On This Page
Halloween Cupcakes
Here at Ruffles and Rain Boots, I am REALLY looking forward to Halloween this year. No matter if we’re dressed in elaborate costumes or decide to call it a night early and watch a movie on the couch, we like to do something special each year.
RELATED READING: EPIC SPOOKY AND SWEET HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES
Get Cupcake Recipes, Freebies, and More!
One way we’re planning to add fun to our night is by making a fun Halloween dessert. These are elaborate looking but they are really quite easy to put together (and the kids will love to help). If you’re ready to make a simple cupcake for halloween, let’s get started.
RELATED READING: Caramel Apple Cupcakes – These Are Delicious!
No Time to Make This Now? Save or Share for Later
If you’re gathering ideas or we have a bit of time until the spookiest holiday, save this to your favorite cupcake decorating ideas pin board or share it to Facebook. Either way, this will be easy to find when you’re ready to begin.
As an Amazon Associate, I can earn from qualifying purchases. There could be affiliate links within this article.
Tips to Make This Halloween Treat
- Start with a rich and moist cupcake. I always recommend my VERY popular easy vanilla cupcake recipe or the lazy girl chocolate cupcake recipe because both come out perfect every time. Psst: you can even use store bought cupcakes – just scrape off that yucky shortening-based frosting.
- I recommend making the cupcakes a day in advance. They will be fine stored on the counter in an air-tight container. You can also make the frosting the day before (leave uncolored).
- One of my favorite things about decorating cupcakes is the intense colors. The trick I like to use is gel food coloring like this. You just can’t get that bright and vivid saturation of your icing with that standard water-based food coloring you use for Easter eggs. And the best part is that you use much less of the coloring.
- If you hate the clean up, create the frosting inside a piece of cling wrap to put into the piping bags. You just pull out the cling wrap, clean up the tips, and you’re done!
- My last suggestion: use whatever cupcake icing you love most to ice your cupcakes. Your cupcakes are made for your enjoyment, not mine. So, use buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting or even canned frosting. For my halloween cupcakes, I decided to use a homemade buttercream, included in the recipe below.
RELATED READING: Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes for Fall
Easy Halloween Cupcakes Recipe with Sprinkle Shelf
Below is the written and printable tutorial for this fun Halloween cupcake decorating idea. Use the comments section below if you have any questions and have fun!
To turn these into spooky cupcakes (while still being kid-friendly for the little ones), use this sugar spider webs tutorial to learn how to safely make them. They look amazing!
These also work as bite sized mini cupcakes. In order for the swirl to show up well, use a smaller frosting tip.
Halloween Cupcakes
You will not find an easier way to decorate cupcakes for halloween. In just a few minutes, with a little patience and some halloween sprinkles, you can make these halloween cupcakes with no stress.
Ingredients
- 12 Chocolate Cupcakes (I like to use my lazy girl chocolate cupcakes here)
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5-6 drops of black gel food coloring
- 5-6 drops of orange gel food coloring
- 3 cups of halloween sprinkles
Instructions
- Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream and vanilla together.
- Separate about 1/2 cup of the frosting in a second bowl. Set aside.
- Place a second 1/2 cup of frosting into another bowl and add 5-6 drops of orange gel food coloring. Stir until the color is consistent throughout.
- Place the orange frosting onto one side of a decorating bag with a star or other decorative tip loaded.
- Place the white frosting onto the other half of the decorating bag and set aside.
- To the remaining frosting, add 5-6 drops of black gel food coloring and stir until the color is consistent throughout.
- Scoop a small portion of the black icing into an ice cream scoop and place directly on the top of each cupcake then spread the frosting slightly to make a thick layer.
- Place the sprinkles into a cereal bowl, then dip the top of each cupcake into the sprinkles, being gently but firm so as to get the maximum sprinkles stuck to the frosting.
- With the decorating bag of orange and white icing, pipe the frosting onto the top of each cupcake in a small swirl then enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 374Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 186mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 2gSugar: 33gProtein: 1g
All nutrition information is estimated. For accuracy, please calculate your exact brands and ingredients if accuracy is desired.
More Easy Cupcake Recipes You Might Like
- Fun Frankenstein Cupcakes - I love how easy these fun cupcakes for halloween are to make! They're my favorite way to bring a little life to the party (get it?!)!
- Candy Corn Marshmallows - These easy Halloween dessert table cuties really look great and will be gobbled up in minutes.
- Spun Sugar Spiderweb Cupcakes - The kiddo is fascinated with how we turn sugar into spiderwebs with this fun spider cupcake.
- Easy Ghost Cupcakes - You're not going to find an easier halloween treat recipe. It's literally so fast and simple, you can't help but make a million in just a few minutes!
- Witch Cupcakes - John with Preppy Kitchen shows you how to use an ice cream cone and a cooke to form an iconic Halloween character cupcake.
Please Save or Share This
Your shares are how this site grows and I am sincerely grateful. Know a friend who’d like this? Please save this to a Halloween pin board or share it on Facebook.
