Halloween is almost upon us, and that means creative costumes, horror movies, and . . . sweets!  Anyone can  decorate these simple and delicious cupcakes, whether it be for some extra special PAWS treats or a party with friends.  To make any of these recipes, you’ll need twelve cupcakes, baked and cooled according to directions (we used a chocolate cake mix).  You’ll also need a batch of vanilla buttercream frosting (see link below for recipe).  Each recipe makes twelve servings.  Let’s get started!

Louis Klausner
1) Ghoulish Ghost

• Additional Ingredients:
  • Chocolate chips
• Directions:
  • Using a piping bag with a large round tip, pipe a thick swirl of buttercream frosting on each cupcake to form the body of the ghost.
  • Place chocolate chips on frosting to create the ghost’s face.  We used two mini chocolate chips for the eyes, and one normal sized one for a howling mouth.  

Louis Klausner
2) Wacky Witch Hat

• Additional Ingredients:
  • 6 Oreo cookies
  • 12 Hershey’s kisses
  • Orange food coloring
• Directions:
  • Add desired amount of orange food coloring into buttercream frosting and mix until smooth.
  • Spread cupcakes evenly with the orange frosting.
  • Split each cookie and top each cupcake with half of one, cream side down.  Pipe a small amount of orange frosting on top of each Oreo half.  This will be the band of the witch hat.
  • Gently press a Hershey’s kiss on top of each Oreo.  Add sprinkles if desired.

3) Spooky Spider

• Additional Ingredients:
  • 6 Oreo Cookies
  • Mini chocolate chips
  • Ready made black or brown cake icing
• Directions:
  • Frost each cupcake evenly with buttercream frosting.
  • Split each cookie and top each cupcake with half of one, cream side down.
  • Pipe two dots on each Oreo for the spider’s eyes, and gently press mini chocolate chips into the frosting for pupils.
  • Using the tube of cake icing, pipe four legs on each side of the spider’s body, eight in total, and your spider is complete!

Buttercream Recipe from Two Sisters 

Special thanks to Kendra Held for helping with decorating, and to (in order) Sarah Bakes Gluten Free, Homemade Hooplah, and Texanerin Baking for cupcake inspiration!

And that’s it!  Simple, right?  Tweet us @ehsindependent and let us know if you try any of our recipes!  Have a spooky and delicious Halloween!