Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

I made these Halloween Cupcakes for my Aunt to share with her co-workers. I used my go-to chocolate cupcake as a base, then topped it with a vanilla buttercream frosting colored orange that I got from the Cupcake Project. Then I topped them with assorted piped chocolate decorations.

My Go-To Chocolate Cupcakes are posted here. They are delicious with any kind of frosting!

Orange Vanilla Bean Buttercream (from the Cupcake Project)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon milk

1/4 teaspoon red gel food coloring (add more or less to color)

1/2 teaspoon yellow gel food coloring (add more or less to color)

Directions

1. Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy. 
2. Add vanilla bean paste, milk, and food coloring and continue to beat for another minute. 
3. Pipe on cooled cupcakes, I used tip #1A

Pre-Decoration

Chocolate Decorations

1. Draw designs on paper and place beneath a sheet of wax paper as an outline. 
2. Melt 4 oz of milk chocolate and 4 oz of white chocolate (separately) over double-boiler. 
3. Fill piping bag fitted with a small circle tip 
4. Trace outlines with the chocolate
5. Place in Freezer to set.
6. Add to cupcakes as garnish
7. 
   

They ended up really cute! I did have quite a few mess-ups before I got some usable decorations, but in the end they turned out really good!

The Finished Product

Halloween Funfetti Cupcakes

I have always loved funfetti cake mixes, especially when its the holiday versions! But I just had to doctor it up a bit this year.

I got this recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor forums, the cake turned out very light and fluffy! I got 28 out of this recipe.

Erin's Not so Plain Vanilla Cake
1 box Halloween funfetti cake mix
1 box vanilla instant pudding
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together, then beat on medium for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-19 minutes.

I got these really cute decorations at Micheal's:

Ice with Funfetti Icing. Add about 3/4 cup of powdered sugar and whip up in the mixer. I piped on with tip 2D. Then add the sprinkles.

NOTE: You need 2 containers of Funfetti icing per batch of cupcakes. I didn't realize this until I iced about 3/4 of the cupcakes. A quick run to Dierbergs, just to find out the don't have the Halloween Funfetti! I got a regular Funfetti and colored it orange, a big hassle, but I was able to match the color almost perfectly!

This was extremely simple, but delicious!