How to Decorate Halloween Cupcakes

Guide Note

If you need information on how to decorate cupcakes for Halloween, then this page will help you out. Before long you will have cupcakes that look like witches, ghosts, spiders and more.

Introduction
Stenciling Cupcakes
Halloween Faces
Witch Cupcakes
Spider Cupcakes
Eyeball Cupcakes
Ghost Cupcakes
Tombstone Cupcakes
Other Cupcakes
Conclusion
References

Decorating Tips

Using stencils is a quick and easy way to decorate cupcakes.
Candy can be used to create most aspects of a face.
Spiders are a popular shape for cupcakes.
White frosted cupcakes can be used to make ghosts and eyeballs.
Use cookies to create miniature tombstones.

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Introduction

Decorating cupcakes for Halloween can be as simple as tossing on a few pieces of candy corn or orange and black candy. However, it can be more fun to create some of the many creatures that are synonymous with Halloween such as witches, spiders and ghosts.

Before you get started, you will need cupcakes and frosting. For more information check out Mahalo's pages on How to Make Buttercream Icing and How to Make Royal Icing.

Stenciling Cupcakes

A quick and easy way to decorate cupcakes is to stencil a design over the top of them. To do this, all you need is frosted cupcakes, a topping and a stencil. You can also use this technique to decorate cakes, cookies and brownies.

There are a variety of toppings you can use including:
1. (Creative Commons photo by Rachel Kramer Bussel)
  Colored sugar.¹
2. Colored powdered sugar.²
3. Colored coconut.²
4. Sanding sugar.³
5. Ground ginger and confectioners' sugar.³
6. Cocoa powder and cinnamon.⁴

You can make your own stencils very easily. If you are interested, check out Mahalo's page on How to Make Printable Halloween Stencils. However, cupcake and cookie stencils are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased online at any of the following locations:
1. Wilton: Halloween Cupcake and Cookie Stencils
2. Crate and Barrel: Halloween Cupcake Stencils
3. Martha Stewart Crafts: Cupcake Stencils
4. HSN.com: Cupcake and Cookie Stencils 8-pack

Faces for Vampires, Monsters and Aliens

Making creepy faces can be a great way to decorate cupcakes for Halloween. Depending on how you make it, the faces can become vampires, monsters or aliens. Here are a few techniques you can use to give your cupcakes a spooky--but still sweet--twist.

Eyes can be created using M&Ms, mini marshmallows or jellybeans painting with melted chocolate.⁵
Cut up marshmallows for teeth.⁵
Use a Jordan almond for the nose.⁶
Make a tongue out of strawberry fruit leather.⁶
Use black rope licorice to create hair, eyebrows and any other desired facial features.⁷

Witch Cupcakes

(Creative Commons photo by Sara Atkins)
One of the easiest way to make a witch cupcake is to use a chocolate sugar cones on top of chocolate cupcakes. Here is how you create it:

Frost the cupcakes with green frosting.
Invert one chocolate sugar cone onto the top of each cupcake. You can make a brim for the hat using melted milk chocolate.⁷
1. Pipe the chocolate in a circle on waxed paper and place the cone on top.⁷
2. Seal the cone by adding more chocolate.⁷
3. Then place the hats into the freezer until they firm up.⁷
Eyes can be made using M&Ms or chocolate chips.⁸ ⁷
Use black rope licorice to add hair, eyebrows, and any other desired facial features.⁸
Use candy corn to form a nose.⁷

Spider Cupcakes

Spider cupcakes are one of the most popular variety around Halloween. There are two methods you can use create them.

The first method is to use the cupcake to make one large spider. Here's how you can create the various parts of the spider:
1. To make the body, you can coat the cupcake with chocolate frosting or vanilla frosting tinted black. Then top it with black sanding sugar, large black gumdrops that were squeezed through a garlic press to create hair, chocolate sprinkles or leave it plain.⁵ ⁹ ⁷
2. Eyes can be made using cinnamon candy, jelly beans or candy eyes.⁵ ¹⁰ ⁹
3. Create fangs by cutting tiny cone shapes from a marshmallow or using candy corn.⁵ ¹¹
4. Use pieces of black rope licorice to create the legs. You might opt to insert one end of each licorice piece into a spice drop to make feet.¹²

The second method is to create a spiderweb design on the cupcake and add a smaller spider. To make the spider web design, frost the cupcakes and then either:
1. Draw a design using icing.¹³
2. Use melted chocolate chips or colored frosting to make concentric circles.¹⁴ ¹⁵ Then, drag a toothpick through them starting at the center to create the design.

To create the spider, you can purchase plastic ones or make one using frosting, gumdrops or tootsie rolls.¹⁶ ¹⁷ ¹⁸

Expert Village: How to Decorate Halloween Cupcakes (Time: 1:48)

Eyeball Cupcakes

Making an eyeball out of a cupcake is simple. Start with cupcakes frosted with white frosting.
1. Use red decorating gel or white frosting tinted with red food coloring to create veins on the top of the cupcake.¹⁹ ²⁰
2. Top each cupcake with some type of disk-shaped candy such as Lifesavers or fruit snacks.²⁰ ²¹
3. Add a black jelly bean or candy-coated chocolate pieces to the center for the iris.²⁰ ²¹

Ghost Cupcakes

Making a ghost cupcake can be as simple as frosting a cupcake white and adding a couple of candy eyes or by adding candy ghosts onto the top of each cupcake.²² ²³ However, if you want a more unique look, try this:

You will need cupcakes, chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting, decorator's icing, and Nutter Butter cookies (one for each cupcake).²⁴
Frost the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting.²⁵
Insert a cookie into each cupcake so it is upright.²⁴
Frost the visible portion of the cookie with vanilla frosting.²⁵ (It may be easier if you frost the front of the cookie and draw the face before you insert it into the cupcake.)
Use the decorator's icing to draw a face on each ghost.²⁵

Expert Village: How to Make Ghost Cupcakes for Halloween (Time: 2:06)

Tombstone Cupcakes

Tombstone cupcakes are great for Halloween. Make several and they not only serve as desert but as decoration (your own graveyard!) for your home. Here's how to do it:

To make the cupcakes with tombstones you will need:
1. Chocolate-frosted cupcakes.
2. Crumbs from chocolate cookies or chocolate wafers.²⁶ ²⁷
3. Nutter Butter cookies, shortbread cookies, or chocolate covered graham cracker cookies to make the tombstones.²⁸ ²⁷ ²⁶
Dip or sprinkle the cookie crumbs onto each cupcake (to make it look like dirt).²⁸
Write epitaphs (such as R.I.P.) on the end of each cookie using decorating gel or frosting.²⁶
Stick one cookie into each cupcake.
Add a candy corn pumpkin or half of a gummi worm next to the tombstone if desired.²⁸ ²⁷