In a hurry, but want something fun and festive to serve as a Halloween dessert? Cupcakes of any flavor can be made quickly from a mix, or from a favorite recipe from scratch; some bakeries even sell plain unfrosted cupcakes ready made. Halloween cupcake liners and black sanding sugar are both readily available in grocery, craft stores, and restaurant supplies; check the inventory on your pantry shelf to make sure they are available. What follows are three easy, quick decorating ideas for Halloween cupcakes. A quick trip to the grocery store for canned frosting, assorted cookies and candies, and writing icing (in the cake aisle) is probably necessary, but that can be done a week or so ahead so they’re on hand when needed. If there are kids, round them up; they’ll want to help because these are really fun.
Spiders:
Canned Vanilla Frosting
Canned chocolate Frosting
Black Licorice Strings
Devil’s Food cookie cakes
Black Sanding Sugar
Red Writing Icing (in tube)
- Frost cupcakes with white frosting.
- Press four 3” licorice strings on each side of the cupcake.
- Spread a little chocolate frosting over a Devil’s Food Chocolate Cookie Cake and sprinkle with black sanding sugar; press into the frosting to make the spider’s body.
- Spread a little chocolate frosting over a chocolate covered peanut; sprinkle with sanding sugar and press into the frosting to make the spider’s head.
- Make two eyes using the tube of frosting.
Eyeballs:
Canned Vanilla Frosting
Red Writing Icing (in tube)
Green Gummy Lifesavers
M&M’s or Reese’s Pieces
- Frost cupcakes with white frosting.
- Make squiggly lines from the center to the outside of cupcake to look like bloodshot eyes.
- Press a green gummy lifesaver in the center.
- Put a little frosting on the M&M and place in the middle of the lifesaver.
Owls:
Canned Chocolate Frosting
Chocolate or Vanilla Sandwich Cookies
Candy Corns
Whole Cashews
Reese’s Pieces
- Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
- Split the cookies and place two cookies with frosting on each side of the cupcake (eat the other sides or frost with some canned white frosting).
- Press a Reese’s Piece in the frosting on the cookie to make the eyeball.
- Press a whole cashew under the eyes for the beak with the pointed end facing down.
- Press two candy corns for the eyebrows (Do Owls have eyebrows? I don’t really know, but the candy corns look cute anyway).
