Halloween Cupcakes

Is it something that’s cute and spooky or just plain gross and crawling with insects or snakes?   The ideal Halloween cupcake really depends on who’s doing the choosing which is why I have a selection of different ones for you to choose from.

First come the baking of the cupcakes – do you want to have round Halloween cupcakes using your usual cupcake baking pans or do you fancy different shapes?   There are a range of different Halloween baking pans available which make some great looking Halloween cupcakes.

Now I will say upfront that I haven’t tried any of these cupcake pans myself as I just use my usual boring cupcake pans and use decorations to ‘halloweenize’ my cupcakes.   However each year I drool over these cupcake pans and I’m pretty sure I’ll buy one eventually…….it’s just deciding which one I’d most like.

This year I’m in love with the ghost cupcake pans and I think these would make an awesome Halloween cupcake.   Last year, however, I was very much taken with the skull cupcake pans which is part of the reason why I don’t own any yet – decisions, decisions!

Now not everyone is confident enough to bake cupcakes from scratch and that’s fine.   I’ve used packet cake mix plenty of times and if that’s what you want to do I say go for it.   I would much rather spend time on getting the cake decorating perfect than making sure I baked the best ever cupcakes.

If you have a cupcake recipe that you regularly use then use that one and read on to find out how to turn your humble (or not so humble) cupcakes into Halloween Cupcakes!

If you don’t think you can follow any of the Halloween decorating tips above then what about just using Halloween cupcake wrappers and Halloween cupcake picks.   These offer great ways of transforming your plain cupcake into a gorgeous (or not so gorgeous, depending on the look you’re going for) Halloween cupcake.

Who doesn’t want a ghost cupcake on Halloween?   There are a number of ways of decorating a ghost cupcake and the easiest way in my opinion was like this –

Use white buttercream frosting (the icing in the can is fine) on cupcake.

Roll out some fondant (again ready-made is fine by me – who’s going to tell?)

Take a small bit of fondant and roll into a ball – pop that in the middle of the cupcake to give it some height and something for the ‘ghost’ to mold to.

Cut out a circle of the rolled out fondant that is quite a bit bigger than the size of your cupcake – the size will vary depending on the size of cupcake you use.

Drape this fondant over the top of the ‘ball’ and let it hang down over the cupcake – depending on how large a circle you cut out it may reach down to the bottom of the cupcake or it might be a little shorter.

If it reaches to the bottom then it’s great, just smooth it in a few places to make it look ‘ghost-like’.   If it’s a little shorter then make sure it’s in either a plain white cupcake wrapper or a ghost/Halloween decorated one – the combination of the white frosting and the fondant should create an illusion that your ghost is floating over the cupcake wrapper.

Use a black gel icing decorating pen to dot the fondant where the eyes should be or add some chocolate chips.

Halloween and eyeballs always seem to go hand in hand - I'm not sure why, but they get young and old feeling quite squimesh!   Creating an eyeball cupcake is actually quite easy -

You will need - white frosting, coconut rolls and a red icing gel decorator pen.

Frost your cupcake with the white frosting and try and make it quite flat, after all it is an eyeball.

Add a coconut roll in the middle of the cupcake, to clarify these are the coconut rolls that used to be sold in Licorice Allsorts, but are now also available to purchase on their own.   They come in pink and yellow and, personally, I think the yellow ones look best.

Take your red icing gel decorator pen and make what looks like red lightning bolts around the 'iris' of the eye towards the outside  of the cupcake.

Alternatively you could try decorating your Halloween eyeball cupcake using the method shown on Youtube.

The Wilton website recommends a way to make Mummy cupcakes that I’ve found replicated around the internet, but if the idea of piping scares you a little and to be honest I used to hate the idea until a few years ago, then I have a different way to achieve a great looking Mummy cupcake.

Take some white fondant – you can buy it all ready to roll out.   Roll it out and then cut into thin strips (the length of the cupcakes diameter approximately) – these are going to be your ‘bandages’ to decorate your cupcake with.   Place a little white frosting onto your cupcake and add two coconut rolls (or similar sweets to achieve the look of eyes) onto the frosting and now it’s time to mummify your Halloween cupcake.

Now lay the strips of fondant across the top of the cupcake to create the look of bandages covering it - allowing the 'eyes' to peek through of course.   The look will be the same as the one created on the Wilton website in photos, but to look at using fondant adds a more 'realistic' texture to your cupcake than icing does (and it's easier).

If you're baking your own cupcakes from scratch then you might want to check out the recipe for jam donut cupcakes.   Why would you want these for your brain cupcakes?   Well the jam inside makes it look like a blood clot when you open it up - ewh!

Whatever cupcake you use you can decorate it as a brain really easily by following the directions below -

How To Make Brain Cupcakes

I would just add one extra part to it and that is to use a red gel icing decorater pen and add a few veins of blood running through the 'brains.'

Delicious Halloween Treats
There are so many delicious Halloween treats that you can make for all of the Trick or Treaters this year, or for a Halloween party if you're the host. There are ghost inspired Halloween treats, bat inspired Halloween treats and more. From chocolates to cake and even a little fruit these delicious Halloween treats are sure to be a hit.