Description
Celebrate Halloween with these easy decorated cupcakes featuring fun monster, jack-o’-lantern, and spider designs. This recipe uses a creamy, colorful buttercream frosting that’s perfect for piping detailed decorations on your favorite cupcakes, such as pumpkin cupcakes. With simple ingredients and straightforward steps, you can create festive treats to impress friends and family for the spooky season.
Ingredients
Scale
Cupcakes
- 12 pumpkin cupcakes or your favorite cupcake recipe
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 6 cups (720g) confectioners’ sugar (see note)
- 6 Tablespoons (60ml) heavy cream, half-and-half, or whole milk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Salt, to taste
Food Coloring and Decorating Tools
- Gel food coloring: Leaf Green, Fuchsia + Violet, Super Black, Orange
- 2 piping bags, 3 piping bags, 1 piping bag
- 2 couplers
- Piping tips: small open star tip (e.g., Wilton #21), large petal tip (e.g., Wilton #125), small round tip (e.g., Wilton #4)
- Small candy eyeballs
- Large candy eyeballs
- Optional: sprinkles
- Oreo Mini cookies
- Mini candy eyeballs
Instructions
- Make the buttercream. Using a handheld or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat unsalted butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 5 and 1/2 cups (660g) confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste and add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet, about 1/8 teaspoon.
- Remove air bubbles. If there are air bubbles in the buttercream, stir by hand with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, pressing the frosting against the bowl sides until most bubbles pop, about 1–2 minutes.
- Adjust frosting consistency. Add up to 1/2 cup (60g) more confectioners’ sugar if too thin, or add heavy cream 1 Tablespoon (15ml) at a time if too thick; beat and taste after each addition until desired consistency is reached.
- Divide and color the frosting. Divide the frosting into bowls for each color needed (for all 4 designs, use 5 bowls – less black needed). Tint each bowl with gel food coloring to desired shades, using mixes such as Fuchsia + Violet for pinkish purple. To tone down brightness, add a tiny dot of black gel food coloring.
- Monster cupcakes. Fit a piping bag with a small open star tip (Wilton #21) and coupler. Fill with green frosting. Pipe a spiral starting from the outside moving to the center on each cupcake. Place a large candy eyeball in the center, gently tapping to stick.
- Purple monster cupcakes. With a piping bag fitted with the same star tip and coupler, fill with purple frosting. Pipe stars all over the cupcake surface. Press small candy eyeballs into the frosting. Add sprinkles if desired.
- Jack-o’-lantern cupcakes. Fit piping bags with a large petal tip (#125) for orange frosting, a small open star tip (#21) for green frosting, and a small round tip (#4) for black frosting. Pipe rounded vertical lines with the orange frosting, alternating sides to create the pumpkin’s curved segments. Use green for the pumpkin stem on top. Use black frosting to pipe eyes, nose, and mouth to form a jack-o’-lantern face as spooky or goofy as you like.
- Spider web cupcakes. Use white and black frosting only. Spread white frosting smoothly over the cupcake with a small offset spatula or knife. With black frosting in a piping bag fitted with small round tip (#4), pipe three crisscrossing straight lines across the top to create 6 triangle sections. Connect them with slightly curved lines to make the web pattern. Place half a mini Oreo cookie on the web to serve as the spider’s body, pressing gently to stick. Pipe two tiny dots of black frosting for eyes and stick two mini candy eyeballs on top. Pipe 4 black lines on each side of the Oreo to make 8 spider legs.
- Storage and serving. Store decorated cupcakes at room temperature uncovered for a few hours before serving. For leftovers, cover and refrigerate up to 5 days; using a cupcake carrier is recommended for storing and transportation.
Notes
- Learn to decorate Halloween cupcakes with fun but not-too-scary monster, jack-o’-lantern, and spider designs.
- Use your favorite cupcake recipe; pumpkin cupcakes pictured.
- Watch the video tutorial (if available) for a visual guide to decorating.
- If making fewer designs, scale down the buttercream recipe accordingly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 320
- Sugar: 30g
- Sodium: 120mg
- Fat: 18g
- Saturated Fat: 11g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 55mg
