Cool Halloween Cupcakes

Image via Martha Stewart

Cupcakes are fun to make year round, but Halloween is the perfect excuse to indulge your sweet tooth. Lay your guilty misgivings aside and bake a batch of boo-tiful Halloween cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. Orange and black frosting is standard but a bit over-done; take your cupcakes up a notch by decorating them as mini-Halloween monsters. Inspired by Martha Stewart's brilliant cupcake pictures, read on for our take on creating your own little monsterpieces. Adults and kids alike will get a kick out of them!

Check out great Halloween party supplies, candy, decorations and more from Birthday in a Box!

Mummy Cupcake

Since this cupcake can be decorated with Cream Cheese Frosting, use a red velvet cake batter for the cupcake bottom.

How To:

• Using a cream cheese frosting, cover the top of the cupcake with a thin layer of frosting.

• Using a flat ribbon tip attachment on a piping bag, pipe a few layers back and forth to create the mummy’s “wrapped” look.

• Use two black jelly beans to create eyes and create a mouth with a thin string of red licorice.

• Pipe another few strands of mummy wrap around the eyes so they jelly beans don’t stand out too much.

WitchCakes

WitchCakes are fun and simple to create. We recommend using a chocolate cupcake batter paired with a white topping like cream cheese or buttercream dyed green or light purple.

How To:

• Frost the cupcake with a thick layer of dyed Buttercream Frosting to create a smooth “domed” effect.

• Using black or brown M&Ms (or chocolate chips inserted with the pointed side in), create eyes for the witch on one side of the cupcake (not the top - that is where her hat and hair will go).

• Use a candy corn or triangle-shaped gummi slice to create a pointy nose.

• Using cut-up pieces of black rope licorice, create a frown or scowl, eyebrows and hair. The hair can simply be laid across the top of the cupcake mound since you’ll cover it with the cone.

• Place the chocolate ice cream cone on top of the hair and press into the buttercream so it stays in place. You can top off her hat by sliding a spider ring on the cone for extra decoration.

Graveyard Cupcakes

These cupcakes create a spectacularly spooky scene when all laid out together in a batch or two. They can be used as décor at a Halloween dinner table and eaten as dessert at the end of the night! You can even send guests home with them as favors. For these, use a chocolate base and a chocolate frosting.

How To:

• Frost the cupcakes fairly thickly, since you’ll need the frosting to hold up the cookie tombstone.
• Top the frosting with finely crushed chocolate cookie crumbs, such as Oreos or devil’s food cake cookies to create the “dirt.”
• Decorate the top two-thirds of a Milano cookie (or other oval or rectangular-shaped cookie) with piped icing to make them look like tombstones. Write words like “RIP”, “Boo” and “Ahhh!” on them.
• Cut off the bottom third of the decorated cookie and insert it into the frosting, rounded side up.
• Finally, cut gummy worms in half and insert into random parts of the frosting to complete the graveyard look.

WitchCakes via Martha Stewart

Creepy Crawlercakes

Nothing sends shivers down the spine like a nest full of venomous spiders! These cupcakes are also great for decorating a table.

How To:

Spiderweb Display:

Before you bake them, pipe white fondant icing onto a large, flat surface (cardboard, black foam core board, large black cutting board, etc) in the shape of an oversized spider web.

Allow the fondant to completely dry and harden before placing the spider cupcakes on top in various positions, as if they are crawling across the web.

Cupcakes:

Since the spiders should be black, we suggest using a chocolate base cake and dark chocolate frosting on top; or a buttercream frosting dyed brown or black.

• For the cupcake baking paper, use black paper to keep the spider all dark.
• To create legs, cut licorice string into four-inch long pieces. Insert four legs into each side of the cupcake to create eight legs.
• Using red cinnamon pieces or M&Ms with the logo side down, create creepy red eyes for your spider.
• Complete the venomous look by inserting two little marshmallow fangs below the eyes where the mouth would be. Make the marshmallows the correct shape by using scissors to cut them into pointy little pieces.