Halloween Cupcake Ideas
A cupcake is the right size for a costume. These wear spiderwebs, ghost sheets, mummy wraps, candy eyes, pumpkin faces, and tiny graveyards - and the darkest get their color from black cocoa, with little to no food coloring. Every recipe was checked to make sure it delivers, and most start with a cake you already know how to make.
Six to Bake First
One from every category - if you only make one batch, make it one of these.
Our RecipeBlack Cocoa Spider Cupcakes
Our own, and the darkest spider here. Black Cocoa in the cake and the buttercream, a body of crushed chocolate sandwich cookies and cream cheese, piped legs, candy eyes.
Black Velvet Ghost Cupcakes
Black velvet cupcake, white cream cheese ghost. Black cocoa gives the cake its near-black color, so the contrast does the spooking and the candy eyes just finish it.
Frankenstein Cupcakes
Green buttercream, a fringe of black sprinkle hair, candy eyes, piped stitches, and pretzel bolts on a from-scratch chocolate cupcake. It reads as Frankenstein from across the room.
Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Cupcakes
Real pumpkin in the cake, cream cheese frosting tinted orange and piped flat, a black-icing face, and a green jelly bean for the stem. The jack-o'-lantern that also tastes like fall.
Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes
From-scratch chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, a cookie tombstone, and a layer of crushed chocolate sandwich cookies for dirt. Kids can plant the tombstones themselves.
Black Cupcakes
The color is the cocoa's doing, a Dutch-process and black cocoa pairing, with little to no food coloring. Tastes like cookies-and-cream, and there is a gluten-free option.
Spider & Web Cupcakes
Piped webs and candy spiders - the design that looks harder than it is.
Our RecipeBlack Cocoa Spider Cupcakes
Our own, and the darkest spider here. Black Cocoa in the cake and the buttercream, a body of crushed chocolate sandwich cookies and cream cheese, piped legs, candy eyes.
Creepy Halloween Spider Cupcakes
Pumpkin spice under a black cocoa shell, so the spider tastes like fall and looks like midnight with little to no food coloring. Every leg is hand-piped, which is the part kids remember.
Chocolate Halloween Spider Cupcakes
A fudge cupcake filled with orange cream cheese buttercream, dipped in ganache, then a white-chocolate spiral dragged into a web. The candy spider on top is the easy part.
Halloween Spider Cupcakes (Dairy-Free)
Dairy-free and nobody will guess: yellow cupcakes, chocolate frosting, a coat of chocolate sprinkles, licorice legs, and candy eyes. The one to bring when you don't know everyone's allergies.
Chocolate Spider Halloween Cupcakes
Double-chocolate cupcakes under a sprinkle-coated frosting dome, with piped legs and candy eyes. Swap black cocoa into the batter and the whole spider goes a shade darker.
Easy Halloween Cupcakes (Ghosts, Skeletons, Spiderwebs)
Three designs from one batch of chocolate cupcakes: melted chocolate piped into spiderwebs, ghosts, or skeletons over vanilla buttercream. A teaspoon of espresso powder deepens the cake underneath.
Ghost & Mummy Cupcakes
A swirl of white frosting and two candy eyes. Or a hundred tiny bandages, if you have the evening.
Black Velvet Ghost Cupcakes
Black velvet cupcake, white cream cheese ghost. Black cocoa gives the cake its near-black color, so the contrast does the spooking and the candy eyes just finish it.
Halloween Ghost Cupcakes
Spiced apple cupcakes under dairy-free buttercream ghosts, smoothed with a warm spatula so they look like sheets. The faces are piped in royal icing, which is what our Royal Icing Mix is for.
Halloween Mummy Cupcakes
Bandages piped in stiff royal icing over a chocolate cupcake with coffee and chocolate chips baked in. Royal Icing Mix sets firm enough that the wraps survive a lunchbox.
Halloween Mummy Cupcakes
Espresso chocolate cupcakes wrapped in vanilla buttercream bandages, with a drip of red simple syrup for the blood. Candy eyes peek out between the strips.
Ghost Cupcakes with Meringue
Fresh meringue piped into ghosts on a vanilla cupcake, then baked until it holds. Chocolate eyes go on before the oven. Lighter than a buttercream ghost and a little crisp.
Mummy Cupcakes
Twelve mummies from a small-batch baker: chocolate cupcakes made with almond milk, vanilla buttercream piped in bandages, two candy eyes each. The wraps hide any frosting mistakes.
Monster & Eyeball Cupcakes
Bright frosting and candy eyes. There are no other rules.
Frankenstein Cupcakes
Green buttercream, a fringe of black sprinkle hair, candy eyes, piped stitches, and pretzel bolts on a from-scratch chocolate cupcake. It reads as Frankenstein from across the room.
Eyeball Cupcakes
Red velvet cupcakes with fondant irises painted in gel color and raspberry jam veins running through the vanilla buttercream. Unsettling in the best way, and the jam is doing real work.
Blue Fuzzy Monster Cupcakes
Royal-blue buttercream fur piped with a grass tip, googly candy eyes, and a mini cookie stuffed in the mouth. Fur this tall needs a buttercream that holds, and a spoon of Meringue Powder does it.
Go dark
Black Cocoa turns cake and frosting nearly black with little to no food coloring, and it tastes like the sandwich cookie everyone already loves. One pouch covers the batter and the buttercream.
Pumpkin & Jack-o'-Lantern Cupcakes
Orange swirls with a green stem, or a full jack-o'-lantern face if you're feeling bold.
Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Cupcakes
Real pumpkin in the cake, cream cheese frosting tinted orange and piped flat, a black-icing face, and a green jelly bean for the stem. The jack-o'-lantern that also tastes like fall.
Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
Stir-together chocolate-pumpkin cupcakes on Dutch-process cocoa, with buttercream piped in orange ridges, a brown stem, and a green vine. Add a black frosting face and it's a jack-o'-lantern.
Jack o'Lantern Cupcakes
Pumpkin cupcakes with orange frosting piped in curved ridges, so each one looks like a small pumpkin before anyone carves a face. Bake them in black liners and the orange pops harder.
Graveyard & Dirt Cupcakes
Crushed-cookie dirt, a cookie tombstone, maybe a gummy worm. The cupcake that lets kids make a mess on purpose.
Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes
From-scratch chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting, a cookie tombstone, and a layer of crushed chocolate sandwich cookies for dirt. Kids can plant the tombstones themselves.
Graveyard Cupcakes
Dark chocolate cupcakes and chocolate buttercream under an oval cookie tombstone with RIP piped in black royal icing. Royal Icing Mix gets you lettering that sets sharp.
Graveyard Cupcakes
Served in clear cups so you see the layers: chocolate-coffee cupcake, a pudding-and-whipped-topping frosting, cookie-crumb dirt, a gummy worm, and an RIP tombstone. Built for a class party.
Halloween Dirt Cupcakes
Pudding-poke chocolate cupcakes stay moist for days, then get homemade fudge frosting, crumb dirt, and gummy worms. The dirt half of this category, and the messiest in a good way.
Graveyard Cupcakes
Homemade chocolate buttercream, crumb dirt, an RIP tombstone, and a scatter of candy pumpkins, bones, and cats. Use any chocolate cupcake you trust underneath.
Easy Graveyard Halloween Cupcakes
Oval cookies dipped in a gray mix of melting wafers for headstones, wafer ghosts, crumb dirt, and gummy worms on chocolate cupcakes. The assembly is the recipe, so it's a good one to hand kids.
Black-and-Orange Cupcakes
The Halloween palette from the cocoa itself. Black cocoa cake and frosting, nearly black with little to no food coloring, next to orange that pops.
Black Cupcakes
The color is the cocoa's doing, a Dutch-process and black cocoa pairing, with little to no food coloring. Tastes like cookies-and-cream, and there is a gluten-free option.
Black Velvet Cupcakes
From a cake decorator, so the swirl is as tidy as the color is deep. Eats like a cookies-and-cream cupcake, and the frosting is where the black cocoa shows off most.
Black Velvet Cupcakes
From a cake decorator, so the swirl is as tidy as the color is deep. Eats like a cookies-and-cream cupcake, and the frosting is where the black cocoa shows off most.
Halloween Funfetti Cupcakes
Orange-and-black sprinkles folded into a vanilla cupcake, then a tall swirl of black cocoa buttercream on top. The truest black-and-orange card here, with little to no food coloring in the frosting.
High Altitude Black Velvet Cupcakes
Written for high altitude, which fits us. Molded chocolate skulls sit on a black velvet swirl, and a spoon of Meringue Powder in the frosting keeps that swirl standing through a party.
Ultra-Moist Black Velvet Cupcakes
Hot coffee and sour cream in a Dutch-plus-black cocoa batter make these the softest black velvet in the group. Black cocoa buttercream, sprinkles around the sides, eyeball candies on top.
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Ultra-Dutched to a near-black darkness for that jet-black crumb and smooth, cookies-and-cream flavor. Non-GMO sourced and batch-tested so your color and taste land the same, every time.
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We've Got Answers
How do I make black frosting without a bottle of black dye?
Start with a chocolate buttercream made with black cocoa - it comes out very dark on its own, with little to no food coloring. If you want a true black, a small amount of black gel takes it the rest of the way, far less than you would need starting from vanilla.
Can I make Halloween cupcakes ahead?
Bake the cupcakes up to two days ahead and keep them airtight at room temperature, or freeze them plain for a month. Frost and decorate the day of, or the day before if the frosting is a stable buttercream. Candy eyes and sprinkles go on last.
How do I pipe Halloween designs without special tips?
A zip-top bag with the corner snipped handles webs and drips. For grass or fur, drag a fork through a smooth frosting layer. Most of the designs in this list need a round tip and a star tip at most, and several need neither.
Can I make these from a box mix?
Yes - most of these ideas are about the decorating, so the cake underneath can be whatever you trust. Swap a few tablespoons of black cocoa into a chocolate mix if you want the dark version.
How do I transport decorated cupcakes?
A cupcake carrier or a box with a cardboard insert, and chill the frosted cupcakes for 20 minutes first so the frosting firms. Keep candy eyes and toppers in a separate bag and add them on arrival if the drive is long.
