These ‘spooky’ Easy Halloween Cupcakes are the chocolatey, fudgy treat everyone will be reaching for this Halloween season.
If you’re looking for some impressive yet easy Halloween cupcake ideas, these werewolf treats are made in under 20 minutes, taste incredible, and look like they came straight out of a bakery!
Reasons You’ll Love These Cupcakes
Party Treats – These are perfect to serve at a Halloween party!
Homemade Batter – This easy and chocolatey homemade cake batter is simple to mix together and tastes frighteningly delicious!
Scary Easy – It’s absolutely “spine-chilling” thinking about how easy these are to make!
Easy Decorating – So, you’re not a big decorator, don’t fret! These cupcakes are surprisingly easy to frost. If you love decorating, feel free to get as crazy as you want with the piping and the toppings.
Pantry Friendly – If it’s October 30th and you’re in a rush to find something easy to make, you likely have most of these ingredients in your pantry and fridge already.
Trick or treat? How about both! Trick your friends and family into thinking you spent hours on these adorable werewolves, but treat them with the delicious devil’s food cake cupcakes, and homemade chocolate buttercream frosting.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Recipe Discussion
Let’s discuss how to make this recipe, as well as the ingredients that are needed. Please take note that below you will find discussion, expert tips, and answers to frequently asked questions about this recipe to help you recreate it in your kitchen. If you *just* want the recipe itself, scroll down. The full printable recipe itself, with exact measurements and instructions, is found at the bottom of this page.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Make sure to grab unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe since there is already sugar in both the frosting and cake batter.
- Unsalted Butter – Make sure the butter is partially melted for this recipe. If your butter is cold in the fridge, pop it in the microwave for about 40 seconds to get the perfect consistency.
- Light Brown Sugar – The light brown sugar will add the perfect amount of moisture to this cake batter without making it too heavy.
- Granulated Sugar – You’ll want both brown, and granulated sugar for this recipe.
- Confectioner’s Sugar – Also known as powdered sugar, this will be the base for your homemade frosting.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk gives a rich flavor and texture to the cake batter. It also helps the cupcakes rise!
- Mini Oreos – These are for the cute little werewolf ears. Unless you want the werewolf to have giant ears, I recommend grabbing the mini ones.
- Marshmallows – Mini marshmallows might be better, but larger ones will work as well. You will be cutting them up anyway. I also find that wetting the knife before dicing up the marshmallows helps the stickiness.
- Candy Eyeballs – You might be able to find these at your local grocery store, but you may have better luck at a craft store for these. You can also pipe your own with some frosting.
How To Make Halloween Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a regular sized muffin pan with 16 cupcake liners. Grab a large bowl, and use a hand or stand mixer to beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on high until mixed well. Don’t mix any longer than 2 minutes. Next, add in eggs one at a time, beating after each egg. Put the mixer away, and fold in the vanilla extract. Be careful not to overmix.
- In a separate medium sized bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until combined. Add half of the flour mixture into the wet mixture, and gently fold it together. Pour the buttermilk into the batter and gently stir it together. Pour in the remaining dry mixture and gently fold it in until there are no more white streaks.
- Now, pour your batter into the cupcake liners until they are about halfway full. Put them in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting and Decorating: - Grab a large bowl and stir together confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, butter and vanilla.
- Grab a hand or stand mixer and begin beating the frosting on a low speed until combined, and then on high for about two minutes until you reach a light and fluffy frosting consistency.
- Frost your cupcakes using a piping bag and any large or small star tip to make the frosting look like fur. Add the candy eyeballs to the werewolf fur. Grab your mini Oreos and remove the frosting from the middle. Cut the mini cookies in half and add each half to the tops of the cupcake for ears. Dice up the marshmallows to make them look like fangs and add them to the cupcake as teeth. Add a circle of extra frosting for the nose and repeat!
Recipe Tips and Advice
Storage – Seal these cupcakes in a container, and let them sit at room temperature for about 3 days, otherwise they will last up to a week in the fridge. They can also be frozen (unfrosted) in the freezer for about 2 months. To defrost just leave them out to thaw at room temperature.
Materials – For this recipe you will need a few things. You’ll need some measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, a hand or stand electric mixer, a spatula, a normal sized cupcake tin and liners, piping bags and star shaped icing tips.
Cupcake Consistency – The cupcake batter is meant to be very light and airy. Throughout the entire process, be sure not to overmix the batter to prevent the cupcakes from sinking in the middle.
Don’t Dry Out – It is also important to take the cupcakes out of the tin right after taking it out of the oven otherwise the cupcakes will continue baking and will dry out.
Recipe FAQs
This could’ve happened for a couple of reasons. First, you may have filled the cupcake liners more than halfway full. If there’s too much batter, When the cakes eventually rise in the oven, the batter will spill over and sink into itself. It could also be because you are over-mixing the batter. It could also be because your cupcakes aren’t fully cooked in the middle, or it could be that your baking powder and baking soda are expired.
They might be dried out if you’re taking the cupcakes out of the oven too late, or you didn’t take them out of the cupcake tin right away after baking. It could also be because you’re storing them in the fridge, this tends to dry out cakes faster.
More Recipes To Try
Looking for some more spooky treats to serve this October? Here’s some great recipes to put on the Halloween dessert table!
- Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes
- Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispie Treats
- Halloween Chocolate Cookies
- Easy Candy Corn Bark
- Pumpkin Dip
- Easy Halloween Cookie Pops
- Orange Velvet Halloween Cupcakes
- Easy Strawberry Ghosts
- Mummy Hot Dogs
- Easy Halloween Cookies
Easy Halloween Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter slightly melted*
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk room temperature
Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter slightly melted*
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorating
- candy eyeballs
- mini oreos
- mini marshmallows
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line muffin pans with 16 cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well mixed. Set aside for now.
- In a separate large bowl, beat together (on high) butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until mixed well, but no longer than 2 minutes.
- Beat eggs into butter mixture one at a time, beating just until mixed after each addition. Do not overmix. Stir in vanilla extract until fully combined.
- Pour half the flour mixture into the wet mixture and stir (not beat) in just until combined, do not overmix. Pour all the buttermilk into the batter and stir (not beat) just until combined.
- Pour in the remaining flour mixture and stir just until mixed. This is a very light and airy cupcake so if the batter is overmixed the cupcakes will sink in the middle. To prevent this, do not overmix the batter during any stage of the mixing.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners. Each liner should be about ½ filled. This will give you 16 cupcakes. If the liners are too full, the baked cupcakes will spill over and the middlescould sink in.
- Place cupcakes into the oven and bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from hot muffin pan and place on wire rack to cool completely before frosting. It’s important to remove the cupcakes from the hot muffin pan as soon as they come out of the oven so they don’t continue baking and dry out.
Frosting and Decorating
- In a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, butter, cocoa powder and vanilla. Start beating on low until combined then beat on high for about two minutes until light and fluffy.
- Ice cupcakes with any star-shaped decorating tip (large or small) to create the icing “fur” look.
- Place candy eyeballs on the werewolf cupcakes. Take cream middle out of the mini Oreos then cut mini Oreo cookies in half to create the ears.
- Cut marshmallows into tiny triangle shapes for the teeth. Slightly wetting the knife between slices helps to prevent the marshmallows from sticking to the knife. Add an extra circle of icing above the teeth for his nose.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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