It’s HALLOWEEN TIME! Which means candy, sweets and scary things to eat! Well, not toooooo scary. I want the kids to enjoy it after all!
Today’s little activity involved cupcake making and decorating. Can you guess which ones my girls made? Hint – the ones with lots of sprinkles and candy. 🙂
These are a fun vanilla cupcake dyed orange with a yellow/orange/white frosting swirled on top to resemble candy corn. They’re each decorated differently with candyy pumpkins and vines, candy corn monsters, jack-o-lanterns and more! You can honestly decorate them however you like. We like the simple, kid-like rustic approach over here. 🙂
I love Halloween and have lots of Halloween recipes here. So take a look and let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below! Happy almost Halloween!
Spooky Halloween Cupcakes
Ingredients
For The Cupcakes
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups cake flour
- 2 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- Orange (or red + yellow) food coloring
For The Frosting
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
- 5 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons heavy cream, room temperature
- Orange (or red + yellow) and yellow food coloring
- Candy to decorate
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cupcake/muffin tin and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir with a whisk and add it to the butter mixture followed by the milk. Beat on medium-low speed just until combined.
- If you want to color your cupcakes, mix orange (or a mix of red and yellow) food coloring (about 5-10 drops) into the batter and mix until combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake/muffin tins. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with few moist crumbs attached. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
- To make the frosting: using a mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy and pale in color, about 5 minutes.
- Add half the confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed just until the sugar has fully moistened, then turn the speed up to medium-high and beat until well incorporated, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the remaining confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed just until the sugar has fully moistened, then turn the speed up to medium-high and beat until well incorporated, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and salt. Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly add 3 tablespoons of the heavy cream. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and beat until the cream is well incorporated, about 3-5 minutes.
- Check the consistency of the frosting and add more cream, ½ tablespoon at a time, if needed. The frosting should be soft and spreadable but not so loose that it doesn’t hold its shape.
- In 3 separate small bowls, divide the frosting. One will not have food coloring (the white), one will be yellow and one will be orange. Add a couple of yellow and red/yellow (to make orange) drops to the bowls and mix until combined and you reach your desired color intensity.
- To assemble, pipe each frosting color into one bag by the spoonful (when you pipe it out, it’ll swirl). Pipe frosting onto each cupcake, and decorate as desired. Enjoy immediately!
Season Generously 