How to Make Halloween Cupcakes

How to Make Halloween Cupcakes

The Best Buttercream for Halloween Cupcakes

I used my Best Buttercream Recipe for each of these cupcakes. You can alternatively use my Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting if you’re making a darker-colored cupcake (like the Spiderweb option below). For ALL of my best tips, tricks, and advice on buttercream, I highly recommend you download my FREE guide here. 

What Cupcake Recipe Should I Use for Halloween Cupcakes? 

• My Yellow Cupcakes Recipe make for crowd-pleasing Halloween Cupcakes!
• For the chocolate lovers, my Chocolate Cupcake Recipe here is always a winner.
• My delicious Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes are always a great option. 
• My Funfetti Sheet Cake can easily be altered to make cupcakes too! Adjustment notes in the recipe card notes (right below the recipe). 

Halloween Cupcake Decoration Ideas

Candy Corn Swirl Cupcakes

A super simple approach to Halloween Cupcakes! Simply split a batch of buttercream between three mixing bowls, leaving one bowl white, and coloring one yellow and one orange. Spoon each into one side of a piping bag, like I do in method 3 of this Swirled Cupcake Frosting tutorial. Squeeze the buttercream back out into a mixing bowl until all three colors appear before piping onto the cupcakes.

What you’ll need:

• White buttercream
• Yellow buttercream (Americolor Lemon Yellow)
• Orange buttercream (Americolor Orange)
• Plain round piping tip (Ateco #808)
• Large piping bags
• Candy corn (optional garnish)

Chocolate Spiderweb Cupcakes

This one is a super pretty Halloween Cupcake, in the spookiest way! To get really dark buttercream, start with a chocolate buttercream, then add black gel food coloring. Melt down white candy melts and transfer to a squeeze bottle with a small hole, or a piping bag with a tiny hole snipped. On a piece of parchment, pipe out small spiderweb designs. Let them set in the fridge for about 10 minutes before peeling off and placing on the buttercream. Add a few plastic spiders for extra effect.

What you’ll need:

• White candy melts
• Black-tinted chocolate buttercream (Americolor Super Black)
• Small piping bags
• Edible glitter (for webs)
• Plastic spiders

Spooky Ghost Cupcakes

This is a ridiculously quick and simple Halloween Cupcake, and you might even have everything you need on hand! Simply pipe a swirl of white buttercream using a round piping tip, and add mini chocolate chips for eyes, and a regular-sized chocolate chip for the mouth. So fun!

What you’ll need:

• White buttercream
• Plain round piping tip (Ateco #808)
• Large piping bags
• Mini chocolate chips (eyes)
• Regular chocolate chips (mouth)

Frankenstein Cupcakes

These are SO fun and festive I can’t get over it. Unfortunately, I can’t take the credit for this Halloween Cupcake idea; I first saw it on Pinterest via Your Cup of Cake and knew I had to include this method in this post. I found large candy eyes at my local baking supply store, but I’ve also linked below to Wilton’s version, which you can find at most craft stores and some supermarkets during this time of year. If you can’t find them, feel free to use chocolate chips or M&Ms. I also cheated a little and used Wilton’s Red Decorator Gel for the scar, which ended up being a little goopy but was super easy.

What you’ll need:

• Green buttercream (Americolor Leaf Green)
• Black sprinkles
• Plain round piping tip (Ateco #808)
• Large piping bags
• Large Candy Eyeballs (or M&Ms or chocolate chips work, too!)
• Red Piping Gel
• Chocolate Chips (bolts)

Mummy Cupcakes

These are super fun Halloween Cupcakes, too! I ended up using a petal decorating tip to get the mummy cloth-wrapped effect. For this, I actually added extra vanilla extract to the plain buttercream to tint it a little, so the color looked more “worn” like a mummy’s cloth. This one takes a little practice to get the cloth strips right, so try it out a few times on parchment paper then scrape the frosting back into the bowl before actually frosting the cupcakes.

What you’ll need:

• Large candy eyeballs
• White buttercream
• Petal Tip (Wilton #104)
• Large piping bags