Halloween Cupcakes are easy chocolate cupcakes with frosting and crushed Oreos, decorated to look like bats, ghosts, gravestones, spiders, and spiderwebs.

Halloween cupcakes displayed on a cupcake holder feature a ghost, spider, bat, and tombstone cupcakes.

Halloween Cupcakes

These chocolate cupcakes are topped with Oreo crumbs and can be decorated with fun Halloween items like gravestones or spiders.

Theyโ€™re easy to make, perfect for a party, or just a fun treat for the family!

Ingredients

IngredientTip/Swap
Cake MixI like Betty Crocker Super Moist. Devilโ€™s Food mix also works for a darker, richer chocolate flavor.
Sour CreamSwap with plain Greek yogurt if needed.
Pudding MixSkip if you donโ€™t have it, but texture wonโ€™t be quite as rich.
Vegetable OilHelps the cupcakes stay soft. Canola oil or even melted butter works as a swap.
Mini Chocolate ChipsYou can also use chopped chocolate bars for bigger chunks.
FrostingUse homemade buttercream or store-bought for convenience. Dye it orange, green, or purple for a festive look.
OreosChocolate graham crackers can work in a pinch.
Spider web with fake spiders on colored frosting.
Ghost Halloween cupcakes with white chocolate ghosts and mini chocolate chip eyes.

How To Make Halloween Cupcakes

  1. Prepare: Preheat the oven and line a cupcake pan with liners.
  2. Mix Batter: In a big bowl, whisk eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla. Stir in cake mix and pudding mix, then add hot water and mix in chocolate chips.
  3. Bake Cupcakes: Fill liners 3/4 full and bake for 18-23 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.
  4. Frost Cupcakes: Once cool, frost using a piping bag with a round tip.
  5. Add Oreo Crumbs: Dip frosted cupcakes into crushed Oreos.
  6. Decorate: Add bat, ghost, gravestone, spider, or spiderweb decorations.
Tombstone treat with Milano cookies and black frosting.

Ideas For More Halloween Cupcakes

  • Mummy Cupcakes: Pipe white frosting strips like bandages, then add candy eyes.
  • Pumpkin Faces: Frost with orange icing and draw jack-oโ€™-lantern faces with black gel.
  • Witch Hats: Use sugar cones dipped in chocolate and place on top of green-frosted cupcakes.
  • Monster Cupcakes: Have fun with colorful frosting and multiple candy eyes.
  • Candy Corn: Pipe yellow, then orange, then white frosting for a candy corn look.
  • Bloody Cupcakes: Drizzle strawberry jam or red gel over white frosting and top with a mini knife candy.

Storage

Store decorated Halloween cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

If you need to prep ahead, bake and freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for up to 2 months.

More Halloween Fun:

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5 from 1 vote

Halloween Cupcakes

These Halloween Cupcakes are filled with spooky goodness! Topped with frosting and crushed Oreos, theyโ€™re decked out as bats, ghosts, gravestones, spiders, and spiderwebs!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes
Servings: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes
Frosting

Instructionsย 

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350ยฐF. Line a muffin pan with liners. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Add cake mix and pudding mix. Stir with a wooden spoon until moistened. Add hot water and mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
  • Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake 18โ€“23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5โ€“10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting

  • Prepare the frosting (see links in ingredients).
  • Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Frost the cooled cupcakes.
  • Blend Oreos into fine crumbs and place them in a shallow bowl. Press the frosted cupcakes into the crumbs to coat the tops.

Decorating

  • See note 1.
Final step! Please let us know how it was by leaving a review.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Decorating:
  • Bat Cupcakes: Make these Halloween Bat Treats and place on frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
  • Gravestone: Write โ€œRIPโ€ on Milano cookies with black decorating gel. Insert into the frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
  • Ghost: Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate. Spoon melted chocolate onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon to form ghost shapes. Add 2 mini chocolate chips for eyes. Freeze until set, then press into frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes.
  • Spider: Place an unwrapped Lindt candy and a Whopper candy on frosted, Oreo-dipped cupcakes. Add chocolate-covered pretzel pieces as legs.
  • Spiderweb: Dye cream cheese frosting in your preferred color. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate and pipe spiderweb designs onto parchment paper. Freeze and add to cupcakes with small plastic spiders.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 462kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 246mg | Potassium: 208mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 46g | Vitamin A: 447IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hello, and welcome to Chelseaโ€™s Messy Apron! Iโ€™m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. Iโ€™m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping byโ€”I hope you find something delicious to make!

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5 Comments

  1. Cathy says:

    Any reason for using melted white chocolate instead of normal (semisweet or milk) chocolate as the โ€˜glueโ€™? Thanks.

    1. Chelsea says:

      Any chocolate will work to use as the glue!

  2. Annettte Mary Vaughan says:

    want to make theses

    1. Chelsea says:

      Youโ€™re going to love!

  3. Christian says:

    5 stars
    SO GOOD!!!