Halloween Spider Cupcakes
These spider cupcakes are made with yellow cake and chocolate frosting, decorated to look like spiders with chocolate sprinkles, googly eyes and licorice legs. They’re really easy to make and they’re perfect for a not-so-spooky Halloween celebration.
Why you’ll love these Halloween cupcakes
- They’re cute. Everything is cuter with googly eyes, but these little spider cupcakes are extra adorable because spiders aren’t supposed to be cute.
- They’re easy to make. – These cupcakes are adapted from my one layer cake recipe and they make 1 dozen cupcakes and just enough frosting to decorate them.
- Kids love them. Not only do kids love a creature cupcake, they also love help assembling them.
How to make spider cupcakes
Preheat and prepare your pan. Set your oven to 350˚F (180˚C), and fill a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Mix your wet ingredients. Whisk the oil, dairy free milk, sugar, vanilla and eggs together in a large mixing bowl until smooth. You can also use an electric mixer.
Whisk in the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl, and continue beating until everything is smooth and combined.
When the batter is ready, divide it between your prepared paper liners (about 1/3 cup in each).
Bake your cupcakes. Put them into the oven for 18 – 20 minutes. They’re done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Make sure they’re cooled completely before frosting.
Make the frosting. Use an electric mixer to beat the frosting ingredients together. Don’t put all of the powdered sugar in at once, though, or you’ll end up with a huge mess. I usually do about 1/2 – 3/4 cup at a time.
Decorate the cupcakes. Spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes and immediately dip them into a bowl of chocolate sprinkles. Then stick small pieces of black licorice into the sides of the frosting to create legs.
Finally, add some googly eyes. I like to use a little bit of black decorating gel as glue, but you can also just press them into the frosting.
More Halloween recipes
More dairy free desserts
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup dairy free milk we used cashew
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening or dairy free butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 – 4 tablespoons dairy free milk
- Chocolate sprinkles
- Candy eyes
- Black licorice strings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ and line a muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs until smooth. Slowly whisk in the flour and baking powder until fully incorporated and smooth.
- Divide the batter between cupcake liners (about 1/3 cup in each) and bake for 18 – 20 minutes (an inserted toothpick should come out clean). Remove from oven and allow the cupcakes to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cupcakes are baking, beat shortening, cocoa powder and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add salt and powdered sugar in about 1/2 cup increments until fully incorporated. Add milk until desired consistency has been reached.
- To decorate: pipe or spread frosting on top of the cupcakes and immediately dip into a bowl of chocolate sprinkles to coat. Add pieces of licorice strings on each side for legs and top with googly eyes.
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