These mini Halloween cupcakes are as adorable as they are delicious. Soft and tender, with colorful Halloween-themed frosting and edible candy eyes, these monstrous cupcakes feature big flavor in a bite-sized package!
Halloween is getting close, and we’re so excited! We don’t go in for the bloody, gore, and jump scares, though. Oh, no. We’d much rather lean into the cute side of things, which is why we love making cute, delicious treats for the season.
When we host a party for All Hallows’ Eve, you’ll find treats like these pumpkin sugar cookies or Cookie Monster cookies on the table. They’re colorful, tasty, and fit the season perfectly!
To that end, we’ve added these delicious mini Halloween cupcakes to our spook-tacular dessert rotation. With rich, chocolatey cake and colorful buttercream frosting, these little cupcakes are the only Halloween treats you’ll be glad are fun-sized.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: This recipe uses basic baking ingredients found in any kitchen or grocery store. Even the edible eyes are in almost any baking aisle.
- Simple Recipe: The cupcakes and frosting are both basic recipes that even beginners can easily prepare, making them enjoyable for all.
- So Cute: The blue, green, and purple frosting and edible eyes with the chocolate cupcakes make a super-cute Halloween treat for any party.
- Customizable: You can change the colors to suit your party, event, or Halloween style.
- The Perfect Size: These are the perfect size for little hands to hold or adults to enjoy in a couple of bites.
- A Great Make-Ahead Treat: These are freezer-friendly, so you can make them in advance.
Ingredients
We’ve included a list of the ingredients you’ll need to make these cupcakes here, but you’ll find their exact amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Cupcakes
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla
- Boiling Water
Buttercream Frosting
- Cream cheese – room temperature
- Butter – room temperature
- Vanilla
- Powdered sugar
- Light blue, green, and purple food coloring
- Edible cany eyes
Variations
- Food Coloring: You can change the color of your frosting to suit your particular Halloween style. Make your cupcakes bloody red, neon, or whatever you prefer.
- Holidays: Change the food coloring in your cupcakes to match other holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, or the Fourth.
- Gluten-Free: Use a high-quality 1:1 gluten-free flour to make a gluten-free version of these cupcakes, perfect for large gatherings, so everyone can enjoy them.
- Cupcakes: We love the look of chocolate cupcakes with the frosting, but you can use any of your favorite cupcake batters.
How to Make Mini Halloween Cupcakes
We’ve included an overview of how to make these cupcakes here, but you’ll find the exact instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Cupcakes
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Whisk all the wet ingredients except the water in another bowl. Then, pour in the boiling water.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients on medium speed until fully combined.
- Add the batter to a lined muffin pan and bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting
- Beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy.
- Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until combined.
- Divide the frosting into three bowls and color each one with different food coloring.
- Frost the fully cooled cupcakes and top with the edible eyes.
Tips
- You can grease or line your muffin pan with liners. Both methods work well.
- Be sure your water has come to a full boil before adding it to your batter for the best cupcake texture.
- Check your leaveners for freshness. Old baking powder and soda won’t give your cupcakes the proper rise, if they rise at all.
- Mix your batter until it’s combined, but don’t overmix it. Too much mixing leads to tough cupcakes.
- Be sure your cupcakes are fully cooled before adding the buttercream frosting. Otherwise, the warmth will cause the frosting to thin and slide off.
Mini Halloween Cupcakes FAQ
The most common mistakes when making mini cupcakes are using outdated leaveners, using too much flour, and not completely cooling the cupcakes before frosting.
Yes, you do. We like to add cream cheese to our buttercream frosting for more flavor. Because of that addition, these cupcakes must be refrigerated at all times.
You can frost mini Halloween cupcakes as simply or fancily as you like. Simply spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a knife, or pipe it on with a small tip of your choice to create a textured effect.
More Tasty Cupcake Recipes
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Mini Halloween Cupcakes
Ingredients
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1¾ cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
- 1½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup boiling water
Buttercream Frosting
- 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- Food coloring: light blue, green, purple
- Edible candy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a muffin pan or line with baking liners.
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla until smooth.
- Add boiling water, stir until combined
- Pour the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until fully combined.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Buttercream Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until well combined.
- Divide frosting into three bowls and add a different color food coloring into each bowl. Stir.
- Frost cupcakes once they are completely cooled.
- Add edible candy eyes to each cupcake.
Notes
- Refrigerate for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
- Wrap individual cupcakes in plastic wrap and freeze for up to a month in an airtight, freezer-safe container.
- Bring to room temperature before serving.
- You can grease or line your muffin pan with liners. Both methods work well.
- Be sure your water has come to a full boil before adding it to your batter for the best cupcake texture.
- Check your leaveners for freshness. Old baking powder and soda won’t give your cupcakes the proper rise, if they rise at all.
- Mix your batter until it’s combined, but don’t overmix it. Too much mixing leads to tough cupcakes.
- Be sure your cupcakes are fully cooled before adding the buttercream frosting. Otherwise, the warmth will cause the frosting to thin and slide off.
