Easy Halloween Cupcakes, using candy and colored frosting you can make so many different fun and creative Halloween Cupcakes!
Coming up with fun and creative Halloween cupcake ideas is something I’ve been doing since high school. I think it was senior year when I made about 40 Halloween cupcakes to give out to my favorite teachers and the staff and I had so much fun decorating them!
For more fun Halloween Treat Ideas check out:
I recently shared how I made my Graveyard Cake and wanted to share these fun Halloween cupcake ideas too!
For these easy Halloween cupcakes, I use a combination of colored buttercream, candy (some that have Halloween shapes and some that don’t), and candy eyes.
I also use a few different piping tips for decorating as well as piping bags for the frosting.
Halloween Cupcake Ideas:
- Frankenstein Cupcakes: KitKats, green buttercream, black buttercream, and candy eyes
- Bat Cupcakes: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and candy eyes
- Halloween Spider Cupcake: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Twizzlers
- Ghost Cupcakes: Reese’s Peanut Butter Ghost, black butter cream, green butter cream, crushed Oreos
- Pumpkin Cupcakes: Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins, orange butter cream, green butter cream, crushed Oreos
- Graveyard Cupcakes: Hershey’s Chocolate Tombstones, green butter cream, crushed Oreos
- Treasure Cupcakes: Jolly Ranchers, Gold and Silver Sprinkles
What type of cupcakes should I make?
You can use any of your favorite cupcake recipes. I have a great buttermilk chocolate cake recipe that you can make into cupcakes and a delicious white chocolate cupcake recipe too.
What type of frosting should I use?
Use whatever color buttercream to frost the cupcakes that you want. I used orange and black, with a Wilton #4B Open Star Tip, and a Wilton #2A Round Tip
For orange or green buttercream, I recommend making my vanilla buttercream and adding food coloring gel to it.
For black buttercream I recommend making my dark chocolate buttercream and adding black food coloring gel to it (it will look grey at first but will darken into black).
Alternatively, you can find premade colored buttercream at your local grocery store (usually in the cake decorating aisle). Just be warned that it doesn’t taste nearly as good and can be a little pricey.
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How to make Frankenstein Cupcakes: simply decorate a KitKat with green and black frosting and add candy eyes.
How to make Bat Cupcakes: Cut one Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in half as the wings, and use another Reese’s as the body, add candy eyes (with a little frosting to adhere them).
Halloween Spider Cupcakes: Use a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup as the body and Twizzlers Pull’n’Peel pulled apart for the legs.
Ghost Cupcakes: Use Reese’s Peanut Butter Ghosts decorated with black butter cream, add grass with green butter cream and crushed Oreos as dirt.
Pumpkin Cupcakes: Use Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins, decorated with orange butter cream, add grass with green butter cream, and crushed Oreos as dirt.
Graveyard Cupcakes: Use Hershey’s Chocolate Tombstones, add grass with green butter cream and crushed Oreos as dirt.
How to make Treasure Cupcakes: Use Jolly Ranchers crushed and whole to give a gem like appearance then add Gold and Silver Sprinkles as coins. I also added some crushed Oreo for a dirt effect.
Where did I get the Reese’s ghosts and pumpkins, Chocolate Tombstone, and square Jolly Rancher candy?
I found all the candy at Sam’s Club. The special Reese’s ghost and pumpkins and the tombstones all come in the same bag- called the Hershey’s Shaped Variety Bag. I believe they can be purchased at Walmart too- just maybe in a smaller quantity.
The square Jolly Ranchers come in the Hershey Treasure Chest along with Rolos and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The box looks like a treasure chest which is pretty cool. Not sure if they are found anywhere other than Sam’s club.
Using candy to make Halloween cupcakes is easy and fun. Whether it’s to DIY with kids or for a fun Halloween party- these are frightfully delicious!
For more Halloween treats check out:
Video
Easy Halloween Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Frosted Cupcakes
- Candy Eyes
- KitKat Miniatures
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures
- Twizzlers Pull’n’Peel
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Ghosts
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins
- Hershey’s Chocolate Tombstones
- Jolly Ranchers square if possible
- Green Buttercream
- Black Buttercream
- Orange Buttercream
- Crushed Oreos
- Gold and Silver Sprinkles
Other items used:
- Wilton Tips: #104 petal tip #3 writing tip, Wilton #223 grass tip (and Wilton #4B Open Star Tip and a Wilton #2A Round Tip for frosting the cupcakes- optional)
- Piping Bags
- Toothpicks
Instructions
Cupcakes and Frosting
- Cupcakes were yellow cake but you can make whatever cupcakes you like. I have a great chocolate cake recipe (just make cupcakes with it instead), and even great chocolate and yellow doctored cake mix recipes.
- Black Buttercream: I made a batch of dark chocolate buttercream then added black food coloring gel. I frosted some of the cupcakes using a Wilton #4B tip and then used the remaining frosting for adding faces to some of the cupcakes.
- Orange Buttercream: I made a batch of my vanilla buttercream then added neon orange food coloring gel. I frosted some of the cupcakes using a Wilton #2A tip and then used the remaining frosting for decorating the pumpkins.
- Green Buttercream: I made a half batch of my vanilla buttercream then added green food coloring gel. I used the frosting for the Frankenstein faces and for grass.
How to make Frankenstein KitKat Cupcakes:
- Press Kit Kats upside down into a frosted cupcake. Using a Wilton #104 petal tip for the green buttercream cover the Kit Kat in a thin layer of frosting. Gently press on candy eyes, then with a Wilton #3 writing tip and black buttercream, add hair and scars.
How to make Reese’s Bat Cupcakes:
- Press a Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup onto a frosted cupcake. Slice a Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup in half and place a half on either side of the whole one to create wings. Add a little bit of frosting to the back of the candy eyes and place on the uncut Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup.
How to make Reese’s Spider Cupcakes:
- Press a Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup onto a frosted cupcake. Pull apart eight strands from a Twizzler Pull’n’Peel and add around the Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup as legs.
How to make Ghost, Pumpkin, and Tombstone Cupcakes:
- Using a Wilton #3 writing tip and black or orange frosting, pipe on faces for the ghosts (using black frosting), and faces or lines for the pumpkins (using orange frosting). Allow faces to set up (sticking in the refrigerator for 5 minutes works great).
- Using a Wilton Tip #223, pipe green grass onto a cupcake then add a mound of crushed Oreos on top.
- Press in the Tombstone at the top of the crushed Oreo.
- Stick a toothpick halfway into the bottom of the decorated Reese’s Ghosts and Pumpkins.
- Then press the other half of the toothpick with the candy affixed into the cupcake.
How to make Treasure Cupcakes:
- Add crushed Jolly Ranchers or gold and silver sprinkles to the center of the frosted cupcake top. I also added some crushed Oreo on some of these treasure cupcakes for a dirt effect.
- Then place a few unwrapped Jolly Ranchers in a small pile (use 3-4 candies) on one side of a cupcake.
Notes
- Adding black food gel to chocolate frosting will initially turn it to dark grey. It will darken to black as it sits.
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