Fun Halloween Cupcake Decorating Ideas

Creative Cupcake Designs

When it comes to fun, Halloween cupcake decorating ideas, you'll find there are plenty of creative designs to choose from. Cupcakes are a wonderful treat any time of year, but they are always a big hit at Halloween. Designed to be eaten by one person, cupcakes are fun because you can decorate them in multiple styles. The ability to use different colored frosting, icings, fondants and candies ensures that one is only limited by their imagination when it comes to designing the perfect cupcake. Here are some simple, easy and fun Halloween cupcake decorating ideas to help you plan the perfect holiday event.

Halloween Themes

Cupcakes based upon Halloween themes are always a good choice and there are many to select. Here are some popular holiday themes and ideas to consider when creating Halloween cupcakes.

• Ghosts
• witches
• black cats
• bats
• pumpkins
• vampires
• monsters
• bugs
• worms
• mummies
• Dracula
• Frankenstein
• candy corn
• squash
• apples
• cemetery
• tombstones
• RIP
• words like BOO, Trick-or-Treat or Happy Halloween
• brains
• eyeballs
• skulls
• skeletons
• pumpkin flavored
• haunted houses
• spiders and spider webs
• goblins
• ghouls
• devils
• demons
• zombies
• pumpkin patch
• cauldron
• witch's brew
• Witch's broomsticks
• Spooky creatures

One of the advantages of making cupcakes is that you can use frosting, icing and candy to create a character or use Halloween cupcake toppers for the decoration. With this list of Halloween themes, you can easily get ideas to use for your cupcakes. Though some might feel intimidated by creating

Have a Happy and Batty Halloween

their own cupcake toppers, it isn't as difficult as some might think. There are plenty of free Halloween cupcake ideas, recipes and tutorials that will help get you thinking creatively. Remember, you aren't limited to follow a tutorial exactly either. Feel free to take some of what you like from one idea and expand upon it to create your own, unique Halloween cupcakes.

Halloween Cupcakes: How Much Time Do you Have?

Before deciding the best Halloween cupcake designs for your event, determine how much time and money you want to invest in your cupcakes. Those who like to cook and enjoy decorating cupcakes may choose to bake their cupcakes from scratch. Some will want to decorate pre made cupcakes with store bought frosting and icing. Others may choose to make their icing from scratch and color it themselves.

Because it does take a while to bake and decorate Halloween cupcakes, they are often reserved for special occasions. Do you want to take the time to bake 2, 3, or 4 dozen cupcakes from scratch? If so, plan ahead and ensure that you have enough time to bake, cool, and decorate your cupcakes before the special event. Also, consider if you will need to store cupcakes before a party and if so, how you will do that. One popular and effective method for storing cupcakes is to put the finished cupcakes in a pastry box, then wrap the entire box in saran wrap. This way you can either leave them out at room temperature or refrigerate them depending on your time frame and preferences. Keeping them in a box that has been secured with saran wrap or cling wrap will add a double layer of protection and will keep them fresh.

Halloween Cupcakes: The Sugar-Free Kind

If you have sworn off sugar for yourself or your kids, don't worry. You can make healthier, edible cupcakes with all natural frosting. Halloween is known for sugar, but with the amount of food allergies and many kids' unhealthy reaction to large amounts of sugar, many parents opt out of sugar treats entirely. This can be daunting when feeding cupcakes to children or just celebrating Halloween at all. Many parents who don't want their children to eat sugar can become anxious about the copious amounts of sugar inherent to the holiday.

Making sugar-free, Halloween cupcakes can provide a wonderful solution to a growing problem.

Zombie Stand

Sugar-free cupcakes can be made with all organic ingredients as well. Additionally, diabetics will appreciate participating in the holiday events with sugar-free, alternatives such as cupcakes. You can find pre-made sugar-free cupcakes at stores like Wal-Mart, or you can bake your own from scratch. There are also sugar-free frosting and icing recipes you can make, as well as purchase from the store.

Halloween Cupcakes Decorating Ideas: Choose your Audience

Halloween cupcakes make a wonderful item for any party you are going to. They are also a great choice for those looking for a nice project to do with the kids. Because of the strong monster theme and wide selection of Muppet characters, Halloween cupcakes are a great idea for those baking for preschoolers or early elementary students. If you are baking goods for a school or class party, you might find that monster or muppet-type themed cupcakes are an excellent choice. Sometimes monsters with dangling eyeballs or blood oozing out of their mouths is a bit too scary for young children. You can tone down the scare factor and create monster cupcakes that are in line with the characters they are familiar with such as Oscar the Grouch, Grover or Elmo. When coming up with fun, Halloween cupcake decorating ideas, begin by choosing your audience. Ask yourself who will be eating the cupcakes and where? If it is a school setting, it's better to select a theme that is age appropriate and kid-friendly. If you are baking Halloween cupcakes for a party for adults, then by all means, bring on the gore factor!

Because you can display your cupcakes on a cupcake stand or tower, you might find that choosing a theme that complements the stand is a good choice. While some cupcake stands are available in solid colors, you can find those that feature bold, Halloween designs. A stand that has a witch design can result in you choosing to make cupcakes that complement the theme. Don't think that means you have to bake 2 or 3 dozen witch cupcakes that are identical. Go for the theme and then decide. You might find that a mixture of different cupcakes is the better choice.

Likewise, instead of making one similar or one type of monster cupcake, make a batch of different monster faces. Nothing needs to be identical. You have full freedom to create what you want with your confectioner's canvas and sugared details. If you want to make Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, and witch for good measure, then do it. Or if you want to make a graveyard theme, you can make some cupcakes that have a tombstone topper, one with a hand coming out of the ground, and another with a skeleton. Don't limit your ideas to one type of cupcake, but think in terms of themes.

When choosing fun, Halloween cupcake decorating ideas, think about movies and popular culture. For instance, zombie shows and films are very popular. Consider making cupcakes that are in the

same theme of one of your favorite shows. “The Walking Dead” is a popular show and with a little ingenuity, you can create a number of different cupcakes that complement the show and feature the plot and cast characters.

Meri Meri Halloween Cupcake Kit

Are you planning to watch a Halloween movie and want to serve appropriately themed cupcakes? Jason (Friday the 13^th) and Freddy Krueger) are popular choices for Halloween cupcakes, so are any of the Michael Myers Halloween movies. Pick your movie then start targeting your “audience” with your Halloween cupcake themes. If you are feeling creative, you might venture into decorating the cupcakes yourself such as drawing Freddy Krueger's face. You can use a round tip on your piping bag for drawing straight lines. You can also purchase cupcake toppers in your selected theme. Either way works and is entirely up to you. But first begin by determining your audience, then select your Halloween cupcake theme.

Decorating Cupcakes with Kids

One of the nice aspects of creating Halloween cupcakes is that everyone can participate. You don't have to be an expert to make dazzling or creepy cupcakes. Everyone from classrooms, church groups, girl scouts and brownie troops can decorate store bought cupcakes simply for fun or for planned events. Decorating cupcakes is a great activity that everyone can participate in and enjoy, regardless of age or skill level. It doesn't take much practice to master using a piping bag and kids love to get their hands in sugared frosting (as well as get the sugared frosting in their mouth). Because kids are creating sweet, edible treats they usually jump at the chance to decorate cupcakes.

If decorating cupcakes with toddlers or preschool age children, make sure to give them a rubber

Something Wicked Cupcake Kit

spatula instead of a knife. Always provide adult supervision when working with young children and let them use decorating items that don't pose a choking hazard. It might be best to skip candy accents entirely and just let young children decorate their cupcakes with different colored icing. This can actually turn into a fun and educational activity for young children. Let them explore the different textures and color properties of various icing and they will learn as well as have fun.

Because cupcake decorating is easy, many people find it less intimidating than decorating a cake. A spatula is a good tool for all to use. You'll find that when making perfectly spooky cupcakes you'll use a combination of spatulas and piping tools. Most cupcake recipes will require you to begin by using a spatula to ice or frost the cupcake before adding details with a piping tip. Choose a color icing for your base or surface of the cupcake. You might find that black,white, orange or green icing is a good choice. Knowing the different effects you can get from using different piping tips will help unleash your creativity and give you the results you want.

Buttercream Icing Recipe (Makes 3 Cups of Buttercream Icing)

Wilton Buttercream Frosting

Icing is a very important ingredient used to create Halloween cupcakes, and you'll find that buttercream icing is a popular choice. It isn't hard to make buttercream icing and you can tint it any color you choose.

Here is a simple recipe you can use to make your own buttercream icing, but of course, you can always buy it at the store.

Buttercream Icing Recipe (3 Cups)

2 tbsp Milk

4 cups confectioner's sugar (equivalent of 1 pound)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup of margarine or butter

½ cup vegetable shortening (solid, like crisco)

Begin by creaming together the butter or margarine with the shortening. This is best accomplished with an electric mixer, but if you prefer you can do it by hand.

Add vanilla and blend thoroughly.

Next, gradually add the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time and blending thoroughly. If using an electric mixer, mix the sugar into the shortening on medium speed.

After all of the sugar and shortening have been mixed together, you might notice the buttercream frosting has a dry consistency.

Add milk while continuing to mix on medium speed.

You can refrigerate your buttercream icing in an airtight, seal-proof container for up to two weeks. Add different food coloring or icing colors to tint the amount of buttercream icing that you need to use.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing Recipe (Makes 3 Cups)

3 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate

3 Tbsp Milk

4 cups confectioner's sugar (equivalent of 1 pound)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup of margarine or butter

½ cup vegetable shortening (solid, like crisco)

Begin by creaming together the butter or margarine with the shortening. This is best accomplished with an electric mixer, but if you prefer you can do it by hand.

Add vanilla and blend thoroughly.

Add melted, unsweetened chocolate and blend thoroughly.

Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time and blending thoroughly. If using an electric mixer, mix the sugar into the shortening on medium speed.

After all of the sugar and shortening have been mixed together, you might notice the buttercream frosting has a dry consistency.

Add milk while continuing to mix on medium speed until icing becomes light and frosting. Cover and refrigerate icing in seal-proof, airtight container for up to two weeks.

Keep in mind that there are flavorings such as vanilla, almond, and butter that you can add to your icing for different flavors. You can substitute flavorings for the 1 tsp vanilla called for in the recipe. For instance, you could make chocolate almond buttercream icing by substituting 1 tsp almond extract with 1 tsp vanilla. You can also mix flavorings by the ½ tsp or 1/3 tsp. Such as use ½ tsp vanilla and ½ tsp almond for almond-vanilla buttercream frosting.
You can add 1/3 tsp vanilla, 1/3 tsp almond and 1/3 tsp orange for vanilla-almond-orange buttercream frosting.

Your choice of combination is limitless.

Once you have settled on the type of icing or frosting you will use, you'll want to ensure that your icing bag is filled correctly and that you have the right tip. We prefer Wilton icing tips as we trust the company and it has a long history in the cake decorating industry. You can use common ziplock bags for your icing or choose name brand bags. Wilton makes a line of piping bags that are reusable and come in different weights. The choice of bag to use is yours.

Be careful not to overfill your piping bags. This can cause icing to come out too quickly or seep through the other end and can cause a big mess. Fill your bag to the halfway mark and refill as needed.

Wilton Piping Tips: Key to Successful Halloween Cupcakes

Wilton is a great brand that is known for their high quality cake decorating tools. They have a full line of piping tips that will help you create all the styles and designs for Halloween that you can imagine.

In order to really make the best Halloween cupcakes, you'll need to know a bit about different tips. Here is a general outline regarding the tips and what they are used for.

Wilton Decorating Tips

Round Tips

Round tips are great for those who are going to perform writing. For Halloween cupcakes, you might want to decorate the top of a cupcake with a word like “Boo,” or “Trick-or-Treat” (write small). If you are going to write on the cupcake's surface, choose round tips. These are also good if you are going to make any type of dots or outline on a cupcake's image. Round tips are also useful if you are creating vines, something that is common in Halloween themes. If you want to make a pumpkin vine, or maybe a vine of ivy on a haunted house, a small, round tip is perfect.

Petal Tips

Petal tips are used for making a variety of images that really make cupcakes stand out. If you are decorating a cupcake and want to add flowers or petals, you'll need a petal tip. Petal tips do more than create flowers and you can use them for creating ruffle shapes and bows.

Drop Flower Tips

Drop flower tips are used to create lovely flowers with one simple movement. You hold the piping bag and tip vertically straight and essentially “drop the flower” on to the cupcake. These tend to harden into a very nice, icing flower and make a wonderful addition to pretty cupcakes. You can make the flower then use a different colored icing and a small, round tip to make the flower's center. You can use the drop flower tip in a vertical direction, then swirl or twist your hand to create a swirly flower. You might be surprised how easily black and orange flowers can add pizzazz to your decorative Halloween cupcakes.

Star Tips

Star tips are great for making zigzags, shells and stars. Stars are a popular theme for Halloween nights and you might want to add some stars to your cupcakes. They also make great borders for cupcakes.

Leaf Tips

Leaf tips are perfect for those who are making leaves. You can create a variety of leaf styles including those with ruffles, smooth or plain edges and stand up leaves. You'll find that leaves are an item that will play heavily in your Halloween cupcakes decorating themes.

By familiarizing yourself with different piping tips, you can develop many skills and techniques that will help ensure your cupcakes are a success. Finally, we hope these fun, Halloween cupcake decorating ideas have helped spark your creativity and have inspired you to create your own spooktacular cupcakes.