Halloween cupcakes are a tasty treat usually enjoyed during the month of October. They can be fun creations that resemble the season's popular symbols such as spiders, witches, pumpkins and ghosts. Simpler cupcakes may be frosted with orange or black icing and decorated with candy corn or Halloween sprinkles. Flavors of the season, such as pumpkin or apple cider, can be used to give the cakes an autumn-inspired flavor. Usually, however, design is more important than flavor for Halloween cupcakes.
Many times, Halloween cupcakes display faces of Halloween characters like witches, vampires, mummies, and skeletons. These images can be created on the tops of the cupcakes using colored frosting, fondant, and small candies. Halloween-themed cupcake toppers or picks can also be used for decorating cupcakes. Tombstones, zombies, scarecrows, and bats are other common Halloween elements that are often used to decorate cupcakes.
Intricate 3-D designs can be created using plain store-bought or homemade cupcakes as the base and embellishments for the features. For instance, chocolate-iced cupcakes can be transformed into spiders by using black licorice for protruding legs and small candy pieces for the face. Ghosts, black cats, and witch's hats are other types of specialty cupcakes that can be made from a simple cupcake.
Halloween also has a gory and spooky side in addition to its fun aspect, and Halloween cupcakes can be decorated to represent the ghoulish side of the holiday. Cupcakes that resemble eyeballs or brains are popular, as are those that have protruding fingers or worms crawling out of them. Creepy cupcakes are meant to be gross but still fun.
Simpler cupcakes can be baked in Halloween-themed cupcake wrappers and iced using the traditional Halloween colors of black, orange, purple, and green. Sprinkles, edible glitter, or candy corn can be used as decorations. Food coloring can be used to change the color of the batter for both simple and elaborate cupcakes.
Stores and bakeries generally have a wide selection of specialty cupcakes available during the Halloween season for those looking to purchase a ready-made treat. Homemade Halloween cupcakes can be a lot of fun to make and can be as simple or elaborate as the baker wishes them to be. One thing both types of cupcakes have in common is that they are specially decorated for Halloween and they are as much fun to look at as they are to eat.
