Ghostly Halloween Cupcakes

Halloween is officially my favorite holiday and every year, my husband and I go all out decorating our haunted house and having a big Halloween bash. Of course, this party entails making lots of great food including Halloween themed desserts. One of our favorite things to make are Halloween cupcakes because they are usually pretty easy and everyone likes cupcakes....well most everyone anyway. In this hub, I share some of my favorite easy Halloween cupcakes that have a ghost and graveyard theme.

If you'd like some more scary good party food and creative beverages, check out my Halloween Party Food Recipe lens at Squidoo. You'll find everything from deviled egg eyeballs to a jello brain shooter to a graveyard cake.

As you can see from the Halloween cupcake collage below, there are tons of fun ways to create ghost, tombstone, and graveyard cupcakes. One of the easiest ways to make ghosts for atop your cupcakes is to roll out a 1/4" thick layer of white fondant and then use a bowl to make 6" round circle shapes out of the fondant. Simply drape the fondant over a pile of icing and you get lovely little ghosts that seem to float on top of the cupcakes. Use chocolate or black decorator gel to make the ghost eyes.

Personally, I use either Pepperidge farm Milano or Nutter Butter cookies dipped in white chocolate to make tombstones for the cupcakes. I crush up chocolate Oreo cookies to press into the frosting to create the look of dirt. Then I add a tombstone cookie that I've written RIP in black gel or chocolate. Add a gummy worm and you have a scary little graveyard cupcake.

I've also seen some clever cupcakes made with those fun Peeps that are shaped like ghosts. When it comes to Halloween cupcakes, there are lots of easy options!

Boo-tiful Ghost Cupcakes

I love these Halloween cupcakes because they are so easy to make and they look like you spent days making them so adorable. Simply buy a packet of 24 Halloween themed baking cups to hold your cupcake batter. Buy your favorite cake mix and bake the cupcakes according to the package directions. Cool

Decorating Instructions:

1 tub (16 oz.) vanilla ready-to-spread frosting
- orange food coloring
- Halloween themed sprinkles or jimmies
1 cup premier white morsels
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- chocolate sprinkles

Use the orange food coloring to tint the tub of vanilla frosting a fun Halloween orange color. Then frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle them with the Halloween sprinkles. Personally, I like using white ghosts or black bats or a combination of jimmies that are black, white, and orange.

To make the ghost shapes, melt the white morsels along with the 2 teaspoons of oil according to the package directions. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and spoon the melted morsel and oil mixture onto the wax paper creating ghose shapes (be sure to leave a extra long piece at the bottom of the ghost that can be pushed into the cupcake to stand it up). While the chocolate is still wet, place chocolate or black sprinkles to create the two ghost eyes (or use black gel icing after the chocolate hardens). Refrigerate until firm. Stand one ghost in center of each cupcake. Makes 24 cupcakes per box of cake mix.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Cutco. And don't forget to buy some cupcake favor boxes so you can send your guests home with one or two of these tasty treats. They'll appreciate the thought!

This adorable Halloween cupcake stand features a fun skeleton design. It holds 24 cupcakes perfectly and looks splendid on the table as a centerpiece.

If I don't have time to bake cupcakes, I will visit my local bakery to buy either cupcakes or Halloween cookies that you can creatively display as a centerpiece. Alternatively, you can buy cupcakes online for delivery right to your door!