Halloween Cupcakes

For at least 10 years, my family has been enjoying a form of spiderweb cupcakes every Halloween. These cupcakes are super easy to make and you can vary the icing color making some white, some purple, and some orange with black or white "webs". For the spiders, I usually use gummy spiders as the kids don't seem to love gumdrops quite as much.

Instructions:
To keep things nice and easy, I suggest purchasing some Halloween themed cupcake baking liners along with your favorite boxed cake mix and a tub or two of white frosting (e.g. vanilla or cream cheese). To create the cupcakes as shown in the photograph, you'll also need (per cake mix which yields 24 cupcakes):
*orange food coloring
*1 tube black decorating gel or melted chocolate
*black string licorice
*25 large gumdrops

1) Simply bake the cupcakes in the Halloween liners following the instructions on the cake box.

2) To make the orange frosting base, mix the tub of white frosting with some yellow and red food coloring drops to create the orange frosting color you desire. Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them with the orange frosting.

3) Using the black decorating gel or melted chocolate inside a plastic bag (cut-off the corner to make it like a piping bag), make 3 or 4 concentric circles radiating out from the center of the cupcake. Then use a toothpick starting at the center of the cupcake and pulling to the edge of the cupcake about 8 times around the entire circumference to create the web-like appearance.

4) Take a large gumdrop and attach 3 or 4 pieces of black string licorice to each side to make the spider legs (if you poke a hole in the gumdrop using a toothpick where you want to insert the licorice, you'll have an easier time doing this step). Use the black decorating gel to put a couple eyes on each gumdrop and place the completed spider on top the cupcake web.

Making these witch cupcakes tends to be a little more involved and time-consuming than making spiderweb cupcakes. That said, you will be rewarded with some adorable witches that will get rave reviews from all the kids and Halloween party-goers. As with the spiderweb cupcakes, I suggest that you simply bake your favorite boxed cake mix in fun Halloween themed cupcake liners. Cool them and you are ready to decorate as follows.

1) Using green food coloring, tint a tub or vanilla or cream cheese (any white flavor) icing a witch green color. Frost the 24 cooled cupcakes and set aside.

2) The most difficult thing in the entire decorating process is creating the witch's hat and brim. Take 12 chocolate covered Oreo cookies and separate them into 24 cookie halves (remove the cream filling) or you could use 24 flat, round, chocolate wafer cookies. Set the 24 cookie halves on a cookie sheet that has been covered with wax paper. Then take 24 chocolate ice cream waffle cones and trim the edges so that they will set flat on top of the cookie halves. Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave on 50% power so the chocolate doesn't burn. Then, drizzle the cookie halves with the melted chocolate and press the cones down into the melted chocolate. Let the cones set on the cookies to cool. When fully cooled, the cones and cookies should form a pointed witch hat.

3) After the hat chocolate is set. Place a pointed hat on toward the edge (off-center) of each cupcake. Decorate the cupcakes using licorice for the eyes and mouth, and either black gel frosting or melted chocolate for the hair and eyebrows. I suggest using a small green gumdrop, M&M or other small candy for the witch's nose.

Photo Credit: Gourmet Cookie Bouquet Witch Cupcake Recipe

Check out all the fun Holiday Gifts & Gift Baskets at this online shop. They have popcorn tins, gift baskets, cookie bouquets and more that are all brimming with witches, monsters, ghosts, and goblins along with some sweet treats.

If you need a door prize or a costume contest prize, you can go wrong with an edible gift!

The Cupcake Club on Squidoo is an ever-growing collection of the best cupcake recipes ever. It's also home for cute and unique decorating ideas, debates about chocolate vs. vanilla frosting, recommendations for the best kitchen gadgets, cupcake sightings at hot bakeries around town, colorful cupcake photography... If you've got a sweet tooth for cupcakes, you're in the right place. You can make pages for your favorite cupcakes (and even earn money from them).



Click the big cupcake you see at the right to learn more and get started.