6 Spooky Halloween Cupcake Ideas

There’s nothing more fun than brewing up a spell in October. Bake some ghoulish delights this witching season with these 6 spooky Halloween cupcake ideas!

I don’t bake pretty things. When I first started Wallflour Girl in 2011, I was the queen of droopy frosting, uneven cakes, and splat-on-your-plate meals that looked like they’d be severely shaken inside a Mcdonald’s Happy Meal box by an overexcited toddler. Eight years later, not much has changed–although I’ve gotten slightly better in the presentation department, most days I’d rather channel my energy into discovering the best new recipes out there than spend an extra 5 minutes waiting for my cupcakes to cool before frosting them. (That’s where “baking in the background” comes in handy–I’ve learned that nobody cares how ugly your desserts are if they’re mind-blowingly good!)

Nonetheless, you can imagine how EXCITED I got when my former coworkers invited me for a girls’ weekend out at Duff’s Cakemix, a bright, colorful cake decorating studio nestled into a corner in West Hollywood. For a girl who always struggles with “baking bomb-ass delicious stuff” versus “baking really pretty Instagram-worthy stuff,” this place opened up to me like a mecca of dessert decoration. Shelves lined with cookie cutters, fondant in every color imaginable, frosting cups, and single-function decorating supplies that I would never dream of spending money on–this place had everything I needed to paint my cupcake canvas to my heart’s content. All of us ended up having a blast that afternoon decorating our own Halloween-themed cupcakes…and as it turns out, I can bake some pretty cute (or adorably spooky) stuff, given the right resources!

I ended up making six cupcakes, all of which are pictured here for your Halloween spook-spiration: an owl, a candy corn pumpkin, a graveyard ghost, a spider (my favorite!), a bat, and a giraffe…which I totally realize doesn’t fit in with the “Halloween spooks” aesthetic here, but it was my last cupcake and Wallflour Boy happens to love giraffes so bah humbug! It’s a Were-Giraffe, obviously.

These were made from pre-colored fondant and a modest amount of pre-colored frosting, both of which I love because I’m too impatient to color anything properly myself. If you’re going to bake this Halloween, I suggest grabbing individually-wrapped fondant packages like these because they’re so easy to work with (even for an amateur like me) and don’t dry out as quickly as traditional tubs of fondant. The shop provided pre-baked (and cooled) chocolate & funfetti cupcakes, which made decorating even more hassle-free–no clean-up to worry about! One of our group members also brought her own stash of edible googly eyes, gummy bats, gummy ghosts, and pumpkin candies, which I’d definitely recommend for your own decorating party.

All of the designs were based on some combination of personal improvisation and Pinterest, but most of these are easy enough to replicate with just a visual reference–just remember to have fun and not worry about how your spooky treats turn out! Either way, they’ll be a ghoulish delight.

Now it’s your turn! Which cupcake decorating idea will you try for your next ghoulish Halloween gathering?

 

Want more spooky Halloween cupcake inspiration? Check out some of my favorites from these other bloggers and sites!

• Candy Corn Ghost Cupcakes by Delish
• Dirt Pudding Cupcakes by My Baking Addiction
• Easy Ghost Cupcakes by Inspired by Charm
• Glow-in-the-Dark Ghoul Cupcakes by Food Snots
• Halloween Spider Cupcakes by Damn Delicious
• Harry Potter Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Butterbeer Frosting by Aberdeen’s Kitchen
• Mummy Cupcakes by Sugar and Charm