Easy Cupcakes

Want to make friendly spider cupcakes for Halloween or another occasion? How about mean ones with evil fangs? Well, you can make both!


What You Need: 2 cupcakes (baked and cooled); chocolate frosting; red and black licorice strings; mini Oreo cookie; 4 cinnamon imperial (“red hot”) candies; 2 Tic Tac mints.
Make Those Cupcakes!: Frost both cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Cut licorice into 8 lengths for each cupcake and stick into cupcake to form legs. For friendly spider, place mini Oreo near front of cupcake for head. Use dab of icing to adhere 2 red hot eyes and a bit of licorice for smiling mouth. For mean spider, use 2 red hots for eyes and cut small stands of black licorice for frowning eyebrows. Add 2 Tic Tacs for fangs. These would also be great for a kids’ bug-themed party.

The trick to these Halloween werewolf cupcakes is to make sure the frosting looks nice and “furry” by pulling upward with your knife or spatula several times to form peaks.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); chocolate frosting; 4 candy corn pieces; 1 red jellybean; 2 yellow M&Ms; candy eyes (or use candy dots or just a dab of black writing icing).
Make That Cupcake!: Frost cupcake generously, and pull upward with knife or spatula to form fur-like peaks. Add 4 candy corns for teeth, a red jellybean nose, 2 upside-down yellow M&Ms for eyes and then use a tiny dab of icing to attach a candy eye or candy dots (the kind that come on a strip of paper) or just a little dot of writing icing. It’s howling good fun!

This Jack o’ lantern cupcake comes with his own handle! But don’t try to pick him up; it’s just licorice.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white or off-white frosting; orange food coloring (paste or mix red and yellow liquid food coloring); 2 candy corns; 1 orange M&M; candy orange slice; length of black licorice.
Make That Cupcake!: Tint icing orange and frost cupcake. Add candy corn eyes, M&M nose and candy orange mouth. Poke ends of licorice string into cupcake for “handle.”

These snowy owls would work just as well for a Halloween party as a Harry Potter party. They’re a real “hoot”–ugh, sorry!

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white frosting; coconut flakes; two red Lifesavers candies; small green “dot” candies (the kind sold on a paper strip) or similar candy; Junior Mint candy.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake and immediately sprinkle with coconut. Using butter knife, make small slit a little below the center of cupcake and insert Junior Mint, sideways, for beak. Add two red Lifesavers for eyes and put small green candies in the center. (Tip: You might want to wait until just before serving to put the eyes on, as the red might “bleed” onto the white background.)

These long-legged spider cookies are quick to make and fun to eat, thanks to a chocolate sandwich cookie perched on top.

What You Need: 1 cupcake, baked and cooled; white or off-white icing; orange paste or red and yellow liquid food coloring; chocolate sandwich cookie (such as Oreo; we used Joe Joe’s from Trader Joe’s); black licorice whips; cinnamon imperials (red hots).
How to Make It: Tint icing orange and frost cupcake orange. Cut licorice into eight equal lengths and press four into each side of the cookie. Use dab of icing to attach red hot eyes to cookie. Place cookie on cupcake. Couldn’t be easier!

These cupcakes have the best of both worlds: cake and ice cream cones. Use your imagination on the scarecrow’s face as well as the cone “hat.” Shredded wheat cereal is the hay!

What You Need: 1 cupcake, baked and cooled; cream-colored icing; ice cream cone (“cake” style, with or without chocolate dip); red fruit roll; shredded wheat cereal; candy corn; red and blue M&Ms; red writing icing or gel.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake and immediately sprinkle crunched-up shredded wheat on top one-third for scarecrow hay. Wrap fruit roll (we used “Fruit by the Foot”) around ice cream cone and tie in knot. Position hat toward top of cupcake, shoving it in a bit so it stays put. Make face as shown with blue M&Ms for eyes, red mouth with red M&M cheeks and candy corn nose.

There’s a little trick with this treat: a fun spider web pattern that may look hard to make but is really quite simple.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled), white frosting, black writing icing or gel, plastic spider or toy spider ring, toothpick.

Make That Cupcake!: Frost cupcake white. Squeeze a small (about 1/2″) blob of black icing on the top of the cupcake (or off-center, depending on how you’d like your web to look). Use writing tip with icing or gel tube to draw two circles, one inside of the other, around the center blob. Place toothpick in center icing blob and draw toothpick in one smooth motion from the center to the edge of the cupcake. Wiping off toothpick in between, continue around the cupcake, nine or 10 times equally spaced until you have a nice web shape. Place spider in center of cupcake. Make sure no one eats the spider!