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Chocolate cupcakes in black cupcake liners, decorated with black frosting, white fondant cut out and black buttercream spiders.
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5 from 2 votes

Creepy Halloween Spider Cupcakes

These creepy Halloween spider cupcakes recipe makes rich, black chocolate cupcakes topped with velvety black buttercream and decorated with creepy black spiders piped in buttercream. They are soft and fluffy, and easy to make!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Decorating time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 35 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 14 cupcakes
Calories: 46.4kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Equipment

  • Star tip #1M (Wilton)
  • Round tip #2 (Wilton)
  • Disposable piping bags
  • Round scalloped cutter (2 inches in diameter)
  • Small rolling pin

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 180 g self raising flour
  • 20 g cocoa powder
  • 100 g butter salted
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 200 g pumpkin puree
  • 100 ml milk
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream

  • 450 g powdered sugar
  • 225 g butter salted
  • 2 tablespoon black cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Black food coloring

Decoration:

  • 175 g white fondant
  • Tiny green sprinkles (for the spiders' eyes)
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Bake the cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 175°C and prepare a cupcake pan with muffin liners (or cupcake liners).
  • Whisk together self-raising flour, cocoa powder, pumpkin spice powder, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Sift the mixture and set it aside.
  • In another bowl, combine sugar and butter. Cream until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes on medium speed). Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through.
  • Beat in the eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Scrape the bowl's sides and bottom halfway through to ensure thorough mixing (see Note 1).
  • Add the pumpkin puree and beat until well combined. The mixture will curdle and that is fine.
  • Gradually fold half of the flour mixture (dry ingredients) into the creamed wet ingredients. Do not overmix.
  • Add the milk and fold again, followed by the remaining flour mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
  • Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
  • Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake liners (see Note 2). Fill each liner about three quarters full.
  • Bake the cupcakes for 15 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean without any wet batter (see note 3).
  • Remove the cupcakes from oven and let them rest in the tin for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature before decorating. Keep the cupcakes covered in a kitchen towel (see Note 4).

Make the black buttercream frosting

  • Add butter into a large mixing bowl. Beat it until smooth and creamy.
  • Sift in the powdered sugar followed by the black cocoa powder.
  • Mix lightly with a spatula (see Note 5) before using the mixer. User the mixer on medium speed until the sugar, cocoa powder and butter are well incorporated and the frosting is smooth and creamy.
  • Scrape the sides of the bowl and the beaters to make sure there is no butter or sugar or cocoa powder left unmixed at the bottom and sides of the bowl as well as the beaters.
  • Add the vanilla extract and beat again until well combined. At this stage, the buttercream might not appear black (will be a grey tone). Set it aside for approximately 10 to 20 minutes for the black color from the cocoa powder to intensify.
  • If the color is not sufficiently black after resting, add a few drops of black food coloring or a combination of red, green and brown food colors (see Note 6) to give the buttercream a black shade. Mix well and let the frosting rest again for another 10 to 15 minutes to allow the colors to intensify.
  • Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag. Fit another 2 piping bags with a star tip (tip #1M) and a small round tip (tip #3) each (see Note 7).

Decorate the cupcakes

  • Insert the buttercream icing bag into the star-tipped piping bag.
  • Pipe a row of reverse stars on top of each cupcake in a circle pattern. Complete the piping for all the cupcakes.
  • Next, pinch some white fondant and roll it thin to about ⅛ of an inch. Cut out small circles with a 2-inches diameter round cutter. Cut out sufficient circles to cover all the cupcakes (see Notes 8 & 9).
  • Place each cut out onto the buttercream frosted cupcakes. Position them right in the center of each cupcake.
  • Transfer the black buttercream bag from the star tipped bag into the round tipped bag to pipe the spiders.
  • Start with the spider’s body. Pipe a small circle and fill it with buttercream.
  • Pipe a smaller circle in front of it and fill it with buttercream to make the spider’s head.
  • Next, pipe 4 legs on each side of the spider.
  • Finally, use a tweezer and attach 2 tiny green sprinkles for the eyes.

Notes

  1. Scraping the bowl guarantees that all the ingredients are properly blended, leaving no unmixed portions.
  2. Using a cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop with a spring release can help maintain consistent cupcake sizes.
  3. These cupcakes are baked in cupcake liners measuring approximately 5 cm in diameter (at the bottom) and 3.5cm high (at the sides). If you use large or smaller liners, adjust the baking time accordingly.
  4. To keep the cupcakes moist, cover the cupcakes with a kitchen towel during cooling to prevent them from drying out.
  5. Mixing with spatula first before using the mixer will moisten the sugar and prevent it from flying all over as you turn on your mixer.
  6. Gel based food colors are prefer as they are concentrated and you only need to use small amounts, which in turn will not alter the consistency of the frosting, unlike liquid food coloring which has a tendency to impact the texture of the buttercream if used much. Also, a combination of red, green and brown is alternative option to using black food coloring. It will produce similar results as using black coloring.
  7. If the buttercream is too much to be filled into a single piping bag, fill it into two. Once you have finished using the first one, simple remove it from the piping bag that has one of the tips attached and replace with the new icing bag.
  8. Knead the fondant well to make it smooth and pliable before rolling. Also, dust your workspace with some icing sugar or cornstarch to prevent the fondant from sticking.
  9. The size of the cutter can vary, depending on the size of your cupcakes.
  10. Fondant might turn soggy in humid environment. Keep the cupcakes in an airconditioned room, but not the fridge as the fondant will condensate.

Nutrition

Calories: 46.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 9.3g | Protein: 1.5g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 0.3mg | Potassium: 12.9mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 0.04g | Vitamin A: 0.3IU | Calcium: 1.9mg | Iron: 0.1mg