These Easy Halloween Cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes with frosting and crushed Oreos, decorated to look like bats, ghosts, gravestones, spiders, and spiderwebs.
author’s note
I Wanted Cute Halloween Cupcakes Without the Fuss!
I wanted these cupcakes to be the kind of Halloween treat that looks like you spent forever making them, without actually requiring an entire afternoon of complicated decorating.
So I started with my chocolate cupcakes, which are ridiculously easy thanks to a doctored cake mix. I add sour cream, pudding mix, vanilla, & mini chocolate chips to make them much richer & softer than your average boxed cupcake.
Then came my favorite part: the Oreo crumbs.
Once the cupcakes are frosted & dipped in Oreos, they instantly look like little piles of dirt. From there, I realized I could use the exact same cupcake base for gravestones, ghosts, bats, spiders, & spiderwebs.
I love setting out a tray with a mix of all five. They look impressive together, but each individual design is surprisingly simple.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Tip/Swap |
|---|---|
| Cake Mix | I like Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil’s Food mix also works for a darker, richer chocolate flavor. |
| Sour Cream | Swap with plain Greek yogurt if needed. |
| Pudding Mix | Skip if you don’t have it, but texture won’t be quite as rich. |
| Vegetable Oil | Helps the cupcakes stay soft. Canola oil or even melted butter works as a swap. |
| Mini Chocolate Chips | You can also use chopped chocolate bars for bigger chunks. |
| Frosting | Use homemade buttercream or store-bought for convenience. Dye it orange, green, or purple for a festive look. |
| Oreos | Chocolate graham crackers can work in a pinch. |
How To Make Halloween Cupcakes
- Prepare: Preheat the oven and line a cupcake pan with liners.
- Mix Batter: In a big bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Stir in cake mix and pudding mix, then add hot water and mix in chocolate chips.
- Bake: Fill liners 3/4 full and bake, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.
- Frost Cupcakes: Once cool, frost using a piping bag with a round tip.
- Add Oreo Crumbs: Dip frosted cupcakes into crushed Oreos.
- Decorate: Add bat, ghost, gravestone, spider, or spiderweb decorations.
chelsea’s recipe tips
Ideas For More Easy Halloween Cupcakes
- Mummy Cupcakes: Pipe white frosting strips like bandages, then add candy eyes.
- Pumpkin: Frost with orange icing and draw jack-o’-lantern faces with gel.
- Witch Hats: Use sugar cones dipped in chocolate and place on top of green-frosted cupcakes.
- Monster Cupcakes: Have fun with colorful frosting and multiple candy eyes.
- Candy Corn: Pipe yellow, orange, then white frosting for a candy corn look.
- Bloody Cupcakes: Drizzle strawberry jam or red gel over white frosting and top with a mini knife candy.
Storage
Store these decorated easy Halloween cupcakes in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days.
If you need to prep ahead, bake and freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for up to 2 months.
More Halloween Fun:
Desserts
Halloween Bat Treats
Quick And Easy
Halloween Donuts
Desserts
Monster Munch
Desserts
Halloween Popcorn
Halloween Cupcakes
Equipment
- Muffin pan and muffin liners
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 13.25 ounces Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- 3.9 ounces instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 batch cream cheese frosting or 1 batch chocolate frosting
- 10 Oreos
- Decoration toppings as desired see note 1
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Add cake mix and pudding mix. Stir with a wooden spoon until moistened. Add hot water and mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake 18–23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5–10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- Prepare the frosting (see links in ingredients).
- Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Frost the cooled cupcakes.
- Blend Oreos into fine crumbs and place them in a shallow bowl. Press the frosted cupcakes into the crumbs to coat the tops.
Decorating
- See note 1.
Recipe Notes
- Bat Cupcakes: Make these Halloween Bat Treats and place on frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
- Gravestone: Write “RIP” on Milano cookies with black decorating gel. Insert into the frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
- Ghost: Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate. Spoon melted chocolate onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon to form ghost shapes. Add 2 mini chocolate chips for eyes. Freeze until set, then press into frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
- Spider: Place an unwrapped Lindt candy and a Whopper candy on frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes. Add chocolate-covered pretzel pieces as legs.
- Spiderweb: Dye cream cheese frosting in your preferred color. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate and pipe spiderweb designs onto parchment paper. Freeze and add to cupcakes with small plastic spiders.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Any reason for using melted white chocolate instead of normal (semisweet or milk) chocolate as the ‘glue’? Thanks.
Any chocolate will work to use as the glue!
want to make theses
You’re going to love!
SO GOOD!!!