34 Cute Halloween Cupcakes with Deliciously Spooky Decorations

Owl Cupcakes

Owls are cute, but baby owls are a hoot! When it comes to Halloween cupcakes these adorable owl desserts are sure to charm. Give them high-flying flair with sliced almond "feathers" and help the owls listen up with chocolate chip "ears."

Ghostly Cupcakes

Supernatural forces can't chain these ghosts to your festive Halloween tablescape. They'll vanish as soon as your guests glimpse the billowing forms of these Halloween cupcakes and taste the white chocolate cake hidden beneath the ghostly Halloween cupcake toppers. The trick to give these fondant ghosts their shape: donut holes stacked on top of cupcakes.

Yummy Mummy Cupcakes

Need quick Halloween treats for a party? These mummy cupcakes come together in a snap. For these quick and haunting Halloween-themed treats, start with frosted store-bought or homemade cupcakes.

To make:

1. Use a pastry bag with a basket-weave tip to pipe white frosting on cupcakes.
2. Pipe on red frosting for the mummy's eyes and make two dots using black frosting for the pupils.

Graveyard Cupcakes

No horror stories here. Here lies a special treat for all of your tricksters! The whispers that haunt these creepy plots speak of delightful cookies-and-cream cupcakes using chocolate sandwich cookies with white filling, which also come in handy to make the tombstones. If making the trees from chocolate-flavor candy coating sounds challenging, don't worry, they are not supposed to look perfect but rather gnarly and contorted.

Eyeball Cupcakes

These Halloween cupcakes are keeping an eye out for you. A red velvet cupcake becomes a fun Halloween treat for a party.

To make:

1. Use purchased red icing to pipe red zigzags atop white-frosted cupcakes.
2. Place circle gummy candies on top of each Halloween cupcake, using white frosting to secure.
3. Dip small doughnut holes in melted white chocolate or icing and place on top of gummy candies for eyes.
4. Use icing to attach small chocolate candies to the tops of doughnut holes for the pupils.

Spiky Monster Cupcakes

Cupcakes for Halloween don't have to be scary. With bright orange and radiant red frosting, these cute, spiky monster cupcakes are more endearing than menacing.

To make:

1. Use a piping bag to pipe red or orange frosting on top of your cupcakes.
2. Add a mini chocolate chip to a dollop of white icing to make monster eyes.

Monster-Eyes Cupcakes

Swirling eyes and sharp white teeth are sure to spook your party guests! With just a few easy ingredients like candy and snack cakes, you can serve up sweet but spooky Halloween cupcakes perfect for every holiday party.

To make:

1. Pipe frosting high onto prepared cupcakes.
2. Carefully cut chocolate-swirl snack cakes into 1/4-inch-thick slices for the swirly monster eyes. The chocolate coating on the cakes will crack off easily, so be careful during this step. Or remove the outer chocolate layer altogether.
3. Press the eyes onto the frosting atop the cupcakes, cut round gummy candies in half, and press them into the sides of the frosting as ears.
4. Cut black licorice into small pieces, attach them as noses, and press gum or mints into the frosting to create teeth.

Black Cat Cupcakes

Black cat cupcakes are anything but bad luck! Instead, these treats will charm guests when served at a Halloween party. And these yellow-eyed sweets are easy to create.

To make:

1. Frost each cupcake with chocolate frosting and cover with chocolate sprinkles.
2. Cut a yellow gumdrop in half to use as eyes, then cut short pieces of black shoestring licorice to use as pupils, and press onto the cut side of each gumdrop half. Lightly press each gumdrop half into cupcakes to form eyes.
3. Cut chocolate candy coating disks into triangles to serve as ears and press two triangles into the frosting from the side before using more black shoestring licorice to create the cats' whiskers.

Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes

With such a simple design, these pumpkin cupcakes come together quickly. While fitting for Halloween, they're also a perfect fall cupcake for any autumn occasion. You can populate your pumpkin patch with regular pumpkin cupcakes or mini Halloween cupcakes—for guests who want a bite-size dessert.

To make:

1. Frost your cupcakes with orange frosting and dust with orange sugar sprinkles.
2. Use a wooden skewer to draw pumpkin veins radiating from the center to the outer edge of the cupcakes.
3. Break large pretzel rods into small pieces and stick them into the top of the pumpkin cupcakes for stems.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

These Halloween cupcakes are decked out in a costume that looks just like the most controversial of all Halloween candies! If spooky Halloween cupcakes with ghosts and monsters aren't for you, turn this classic Halloween candy into a cute cupcake to boost the color of your party dessert buffet. Pipe frosting in yellow, orange, and white onto cupcakes of your choice. For a fitting finish, top each frosted cupcake with a candy corn.

Red Velvet Eyeball Cupcake

Our deliciously haunting eyeball cupcake may be spooky to look at, but it is sure to become a focal Halloween dessert at your party.

To make:

1. Bake red velvet cake mix in individual fluted tube pans.
2. Once cooled, pipe each cupcake with white icing in a zigzag pattern around an eyeball candy.

Owl Cupcakes

Owls usually come out at night, but in cupcake form, they can make an appearance anytime. Featuring cookies, candies, and cake, this Halloween cupcake recipe ensures that your party spreadwill be a real looker. Prefer white eyes to red? Simply trade in chocolate or vanilla sandwich cookies with vanilla filling.

Marshmallow Frankenstein Cupcake

With iconic neck bolts made from pretzels and a monster green hue from spray icing, these marshmallow Frankenstein cupcake toppers are alive with yummy sweetness in the form of spooky Halloween cupcakes.

To make:

1. Use edible green food spray to color large marshmallows and decorate them with black gel icing.
2. Break a pretzel stick in half; press pieces into each side of the marshmallow to make neck bolts.
3. Press the marshmallow into the icing of the cupcake to complete the look.

Skeleton Bones Cupcake

No bones about it: This cupcake is Halloween treat table-approved and tasty to boot. White candies form skeletons, and the embellishment comes together easily.

To make:

1. Place a large white candy mint on top of a chocolate-frosted cupcake and decorate the face with brown icing.
2. Arrange licorice pastels to make arms and legs, then place small mints at the bottom of the legs for the skeleton's feet.
3. Use white sprinkles to make the skeleton's ribs.

Creepy Medusa Cupcake

Gummy worms cleverly morph ordinary cupcakes into legendary treats. Writhing serpents encircle Medusa's face, but the mythical creatures on these spooky cupcakes will turn guests gleeful, not stony.

To make:

1. Frost a cupcake with chocolate frosting.
2. Cut gummy worms into long, thin strips. Curl and pile strips on top of cupcakes.
3. For eyes, use chocolate frosting to attach two round white candies to the cupcake. Partially bury the eyes in the pile of worms.
4. Place chocolate frosting in a decorating bag fitted with a small round tip to pipe center dots on candy eyes.

Dotty Halloween Cupcakes

The polka-dot patterns on these Halloween-themed cupcakes are easy to re-create, and the impact on your buffet is impressive.

To make:

1. Frost half your cupcakes with chocolate and half with orange frosting.
2. Arrange candy-coated milk chocolate pieces, such as M&Ms, on top of the frosted cupcakes in contrasting colors to create a polka-dot look.

Halloween Spider Cupcake

Proof that spiders don't have to be scary, these eight-legged cupcake cuties turn up the charm with a friendly grin and big eyes.

To make:

1. Use long pieces of black licorice to make spindly legs and a red licorice for the smile.
2. Add round candies like mints, M&Ms, and gumdrops to create colorful eyes and a nose.
3. To stack candies on top of each other, use a bit of frosting between each one.

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Take a trip to the pumpkin patch with these easy fall cupcakes, which make for a fun—not scary—Halloween treat.

To make:

1. Start with your seasonally flavored cupcake recipe of choice or store-bought sweets.
2. Pipe on green frosting "grass" and plant the pumpkins for a gourd-geous cake topper.

Marshmallow Mummy Cupcake

Slices of marshmallow create a cute mummy cupcake you won't want to keep under wraps. You can make a big batch of these Halloween toppers and place them on various cupcake and frosting flavors.

To make:

1. Dust a frosted cupcake with granulated sugar.
2. Cut a marshmallow into three slices, cutting to but not through the opposite side. Place marshmallow on top of the cupcake for the mummy's head.
3. Place two small mint candies between the top two marshmallow slices for eyes, using frosting to attach.
4. Place a candy-coated chocolate between the bottom two marshmallow slices for the mouth, using frosting to attach.

Cauldron Cupcakes

Bubble, bubble, toil, and...you'll have no trouble making these fun and easy Halloween cupcakes. Stir up a little fright in sweet style with pretzel "cauldron stirrers." Licorice handles, a pudding filling, and green decorating gel round out the recipe and make the cauldron cupcakes quite the sight.

To make:

1. Prepare or purchase 12 chocolate cupcakes. Prepare a 4-serving-size package vanilla pudding mix, except stir in several drops of green food coloring with the milk until desired color is reached. Chill as directed.
2. Meanwhile, finely crush about 10 chocolate sandwich cookies with white filling (1 cup). Place crushed cookies in a shallow dish. If necessary, remove paper bake cups from cupcakes. 
3. Using a spoon or sharp knife, hollow out centers of the tops of the cupcakes to form cauldron shapes, leaving 1/2 inch around the edges and about 1 inch on the bottom of each.
4. Spread chocolate frosting on the sides of cupcakes. Holding cupcakes by the top over the dish, sprinkle cookie crumbs around the base to coat each. Spread remaining chocolate frosting around the top rims of cupcakes. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs; shake off excess.
5.  Spoon a generous tablespoon of the green vanilla pudding into the center of each cupcake. Decorate pudding with decorating gel and sprinkle with small green candies.
6. Cut twenty-four 3-inch lengths of licorice. Using two licorice pieces for each cupcake, push the ends of licorice pieces into opposite sides of each cupcake rim to make a handle. Press one chocolate-dipped pretzel stick at an angle into each cupcake.

Witch Legs Cupcake

This coconut-topped Halloween witch cupcake may look more than a little wicked, but we promise it will be sweet. Vanilla-bean coconut cupcakes make the perfect base for this treat.

To make:

1. Mold black marzipan boots around two peppermint sticks to create the legs.
2. Stick mini yellow candy-coated chocolates on each boot for the buckles, using frosting to secure.
3. Dye coconut green with food coloring; top a frosted cupcake with the coconut.
4. Insert peppermint sticks into the cupcake.

Orange-and-Blue Monster Cupcake

No scary cupcakes here! With his blue spiked 'do—created with a closed-star icing tip—this cute Halloween cupcake has both style and personality.

To make:

1. Frost them with orange icing and use a piping tip to add teal spikes.
2. Cut eyes from white fondant and pipe on black pupils and a mouth with a small round decorating tip.
3. Cut teeth and nails from fondant, and attach the fondant features with a small damp brush.

Green Monster Cupcake

Fondant, icing, and round decorating tips are the basics you'll need to turn ordinary cupcakes into Halloween treats for a party.

To make:

1. Tint frosting green and ice the cupcake.
2. Tint fondant green; shape into six curved and tapered arms.
3. Use white icing and a small round decorating tip to pipe on suckers.
4. For the bows, tint fondant pink and roll 1/16 inch thick. Cut two 1-1/2x1/4-inch strips. Fold ends toward the center and pinch together. Cut a 1/4-inch strip and wrap the center, flattening the ends on the back.
5. Use green fondant to shape the features for whatever kind of monster you can dream up. When you're ready, attach the fondant features with a damp brush.

Halloween Ghost Cupcake

You can pick from various Halloween cupcake recipes for the base of this dessert—the real magic comes from the ghostly design on top. Marshmallow creme is the secret behind this spooky Halloween treat, and the orange frosting on the cupcake helps make the ghoul pop.

Peeking Monster Cupcake

This creepy cupcake will surely be a monster hit as a Halloween treat for a party. Big eyes and spiky hair (made from rainbow candy corn) transform a plain cupcake into a special Halloween dessert.

Green Goblin Cupcake

Take extra candy and turn it into Halloween cupcake toppers! Use chocolate-frosted chocolate cupcakes and decorate them with sour candy and jelly beans, They will be gobbled up in a flash at your next Halloween party.

Sweet Scarecrow Cupcake

With an ice cream cone hat and a candy corn nose, this tasty scarecrow Halloween cupcake is better suited for eating than for protecting fields from scary birds.

To make:

1. Snip green fruit leather into thin, short strips, and place on top of the cupcake for hair.
2. Place a piece of candy corn in the center of the cupcake for the nose.
3. Place a jelly bean on each side of the nose and attach a mini candy-coated chocolate to each jelly bean using a dab of frosting to secure.
4. Curve a piece of black string licorice into a smile below the nose and place small pieces of licorice across the smile for teeth.
5. Attach a wafer ice cream cone to the cupcake for a hat.

Icing-Wrapped Mummy Cupcakes

Transform an ordinary cupcake, such as vanilla cupcakes, into a scary peekaboo creation with candy pieces and eerie green frosting. You won't be able to keep these Halloween-themed cupcakes under wraps for long.

To make:

1. Place two candy-coated chocolate pieces on top of a frosted cupcake for eyes.
2. Decorate the eyes using white frosting and mini chocolate chips. Crisscross the cupcake with green icing.

Flying Bat Cupcakes

Everyone will go batty for this chocolaty Halloween cupcake recipe. A cookie, a candy, and some creativity are all it takes to make these swooping Halloween cupcake toppers. To make the wings, break a chocolate cookie wafer in half and use purchased green icing to create wing designs on each piece of the cookie wafer.

Spooky Eyes Cupcake

For an easy Halloween cupcake recipe, try this spooky idea. Basic cupcakes embellished with eyes become a Halloween-themed treat in almost an instant.

To make:

1. Place two white candy-coated almonds on chocolate-frosted cupcakes for the eyes.
2. Use frosting to attach two pieces of puffed cocoa cereal on top of the candy-coated almonds for pupils.

Graham Cracker Frankenstein Cupcake

Freak out the crowd with this spooky Halloween cupcake decorated to look like Frankenstein. A graham cracker face and marshmallow accents turn it into a tasty experiment gone right!

To make:

1. Ice a chocolate graham cracker square with green-tinted frosting, leaving room at the top for hair. Place cracker on top of a frosted cupcake.
2. Use chocolate frosting to make spiky hair and mouth, then cut a small marshmallow in half for the eyes.
3. Dot chocolate frosting onto each marshmallow for pupils and place a dyed marshmallow on both sides of the cupcake for bolts.

Chocolate Spidey Cupcakes

Inspire guests to bug out. Chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies make goofy (and great-tasting) spider "bodies. Licorice "legs" tucked into the chocolate frosting will help these crawl off the Halloween dessert tray crazy-fast.

Zombie Brain Cupcakes

Seeking a semi-homemade solution to round out your Halloween menu? You won't have any second thoughts about serving these scary Halloween cupcakes for adults and older kiddos at any holiday party. Boxed cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, and jam make these a cinch to create. Get the step-by-step directions in the recipe to make these spooky sweets.

Monster Mash Macaroon Cupcakes

Twice the sweet in one monster treat, thanks to a macaron and a cupcake.

To make:

1. Purchase or make royal icing eyeballs (you'll find edible eyeball decorations at hobby stores and some grocery stores).
   
2. Create the eyelashes by piping black cookie icing onto waxed paper. Wait until the eyelashes are fully dried and hardened.
3. Place an eyeball and set of eyelashes onto a macaron cookie. Attach the cookie to a lollipop stick.
4. Frost cupcakes with bright orange frosting using a multi-opening tip. Place a lollipop stick into each cupcake.