Easy Cupcakes

Bloody eyeball cupcake

Nothing says Halloween like a bloody eyeball. This version uses Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups Stackerz, but you could substitute Necco wafers or pretty much any disk-like colored candy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; Stackerz or other round candy; red hots (cinnamon imperials); red gel icing in tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use red gel icing to draw bloodshot squiggles outward from center of cupcake. Use dab of icing to adhere red hot to center of disk-shaped candy. Place in center of cupcake.

Skull cupcake

Nothing says “Halloween” and “appetizing” like the dried-up skull of the undead. But seriously, folks: With just frosting and black icing you can make your own skeleton or skull cupcakes.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or off-white (cream cheese) frosting; black gel or writing icing in a tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Try to smooth the frosting down so you have a nice, flat base on which to draw your evil skull face. (You may note that I did not, thus my skull is sloppy.) Use gel or writing icing to draw blobby eyes, 2 dots for a creepy nose and a line with little lines crossing over it for a mouth.

Pumpkin by fence cupcake

I got the idea for this cupcake from a Halloween flier at Joann’s craft and fabric store. My husband said, “What is this–a pumpkin by a goalpost? I think it’s cute: a pretzel fence and that ever-popular Halloween candy, the mellocreme pumpkin.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; a bit of white frosting; 5 stick pretzels; 1 mellowcreme pumpkin.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake green. Use dabs of white frosting to stick pretzels together like a fence. Stick into cupcake. Add mellocreme pumpkin.

Bat cupcake

These Halloween bat cupcakes are so easy, they’ll fly out of your kitchen. Just like that bad pun should have.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or cream cheese frosting; 1 chocolate-covered thin mint candies (these are by Necco); 1 mini Oreo cookie; two red hot candies (cinnamon imperials).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use dabs of icing to secure red hots to Oreo for bat eyes. Place in center of cupcake. Cut mint in half using knife. Add, at an angle with cut sides facing up, to left and right of Oreo for wings.

Halloween Peep cupcake

What could be simpler than popping a marshmallow Peep on a cupcake?

What You Need: 1 cupcake; orange frosting; Halloween sprinkles (I just used Pillsbury’s Halloween frosting and the sprinkles that came with it); orange jack ‘o lantern Peep.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake, making a small mound of frosting in the center. Place Peep in center. Sprinkle sprinkles around edge of cupcake.

Nonpareil spotted spider cupcake

Make an easy spotted spider cupcake for Halloween using nonpareil candies. (They’re chocolate wafers coated in little white ball thingies.)

What You Need: 1 cupcake; orange icing (we just used Pillsbury’s Halloween icing); 2 red hot cinnamon imperials; black writing icing or gel in tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use dab of icing to stick red candy eyes to nonpareil wafer. Place in center of cupcake. Use black gel or icing to draw eight legs.

Jack O' Lantern cupcake

Gel or writing icing already in the tubes make it easy for everyone to decorate jack o’ lantern cupcakes with their own creative twist.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; orange frosting; green and black gel or writing icing in tubes (We use CakeMate and Wilton). (You could also use a pastry bag with a round tip attached.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake orange, like a pumpkin. Let set for a few minutes. Use tubes to “draw” jack o’ lantern face.