Halloween Zombie Cupcakes
Skip the store-bought decorations. These homemade Halloween Cupcakes use strawberry cake, rich buttercream, and a smart piping trick to create creepy, crawly brains with minimal effort. A drizzle of strawberry syrup makes them look like fresloweh-from-the-zombie-apocalypse treats.
Zombie Halloween Cupcakes Are A Spooky Classic
If your idea of a perfect Halloween includes treats with just the right amount of creepy charm, these cupcakes are right up your alley. They’re simple to make, spooky enough for any costume party, and (most importantly) delicious.
These Zombie Brain Cupcakes start with a trusty box of strawberry cake mix and get dressed up with a few clever (but easy!) decorating tricks. You won’t need any fancy fondant or sculpting skills here. If you can pipe a squiggle, you’re more than qualified.
Why You Will Love These Easy Halloween Cupcakes
- Our Zombie Cupcakes use boxed cake mix, so the base is foolproof and quick.
- The frosting is homemade, but super approachable for all skill levels.
- The decorating technique looks impressive without being complicated.
- They’re a hit at school parties, Halloween potlucks, or even a horror movie night.
Ingredients for Zombie Halloween-Themed Cupcakes
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- cupcakes – it’s funny to say you need cupcakes to make cupcakes, but you do. This Halloween cupcake idea is really all about the frosting decoration, so we start by baking a box of strawberry cake mix batter to make 24 cupcakes.
- butter – you will need 2 sticks of unsalted butter for the base of your strawberry buttercream frosting for these spooky cupcakes.
- powdered sugar – the traditional sweetener for buttercream frosting.
- strawberry jam – this adds strawberry flavor and a brain-like pink hue to the frosting for these Halloween cupcakes.
- vanilla extract – enhances the sweetness of the frosting for these zombie cupcakes.
- salt – our frostings always include a pinch of salt for balance.
- strawberry syrup – you’ll be using this as the “blood” to drizzle over these Halloween decorated cupcakes. We used Hershey’s brand strawberry syrup, which is found with the chocolate syrup at the store, usually near the ice cream.
How to Make Zombie Halloween Cupcakes
- BAKE. Use the box mix to prepare 24 cupcakes in cupcake liners in a muffin pan according to package instructions. Let them cool completely on a wire rack before even attempting to decorate them.
- BEAT. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer with the beater attachments, cream the butter until fluffy and smooth. Add the strawberry jam and mix until incorporated.
- ADD. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until all the sugar is incorporated, then add the vanilla and salt and beat until the mixture is smooth.
- FROST. Using an offset spatula or knife, frost the top of each cupcake thinly with the prepared strawberry buttercream. This doesn’t have to be perfect, as it’s just the base for the zombie brain frosting work you will do next.
- PIPE. Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a small round frosting tip. Pipe a line with a curve on the end (almost like an L shape) down the center of each cupcake. Then, pipe swirls and squiggles connecting from the end of that curve until you have covered the entire cupcake half. Repeat on the other side.
- DRIZZLE. Place the cupcakes on a rimmed serving tray and drizzle with strawberry syrup right before serving.
Home Chef Tips For Zombie Cupcakes
- You will need a trusty piping bag for decorating. We HATE washing piping bags, so we use disposable piping bags [affiliate link], but this is up to you.
- When preparing your piping bag, trim about 1/2 inch of the tip of the piping bag off, then place your small round piping tip into the bag. It will fall into the hole you trimmed.
- To make filling the piping bag easier, place your piping bag into a tall cup, with the edges folded over. Then scoop your buttercream in with a spatula.
- Once all the buttercream is in the piping bag, remove the bag from the cup, fold up the sides, and twist until the frosting comes out of the piping tip. This reduces the mess and makes it easier for you!
Can These Easy Halloween Cupcakes Be Made in Advance?
The frosted Halloween cupcakes will keep for 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. We recommend drizzling the strawberry syrup “blood” on the zombie cupcakes just before serving.
Can You Make Homemade Cupcakes Instead Of Boxed?
Yes! Make homemade strawberry cupcakes, or use any other flavor of cupcake you want. Chocolate cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes are also welcome.
You could even make these using pumpkin cupcakes if you want. In that case, we recommend tinting the buttercream with red gel food coloring rather than using the strawberry preserves, because pumpkin + strawberry sound a bit weird, no?
How To Serve Halloween Themed Cupcakes
Our favorite way to serve these Halloween Cupcakes is on a white platter, allowing you to drizzle lots of extra strawberry syrup around the cupcakes to look like blood.
Feel free to add more creepy decorations like plastic spiders, tombstones, or skeleton bones!
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Spooky Cupcakes Recipe Storage
Any leftover cupcakes should be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Make sure your storage container is airtight, and bring the cupcakes to room temperature before serving for the best flavor and texture.
FAQs For Halloween Brain Cupcakes
While we’ve used a strawberry buttercream frosting here, you can also use cream cheese frosting if you prefer.
If you don’t have a piping bag and frosting tip, simply use a Ziploc bag with a tiny bit of the corner cut off as a makeshift piping bag. You can also spread the cupcakes with frosting using a knife, and then use a toothpick to create brain designs.
Be sure to transfer your baked Halloween cupcakes to an airtight container as soon as they are cooled to keep them moist. If you can tightly wrap them in plastic wrap, that’s even better!
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Halloween Cupcakes Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 box strawberry cake mix (15.25 ounces) plus oil, water and eggs necessary to prepare the cupcakes
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)
- ½ cup strawberry jam
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch kosher salt
- ¼ cup strawberry syrup for drizzling
Instructions
- Use cake mix to prepare 24 cupcakes according to package instructions. Let cool completely before decorating.
- Meanwhile, in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed until fluffy and smooth. Add strawberry jam and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated.
- While beating on medium-low speed, add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until all powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Add vanilla and salt and mix on medium speed until incorporated and smooth.
- Using offset spatula, frost top of each cupcake thinly with prepared strawberry buttercream. This does not have to be perfect since this is just the base for the zombie brain frosting work you will do next.
- Place remaining buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a small round frosting tip.
- Pipe a line with a curve on the end (almost like an L shape) down the center of each cupcake. Then, pipe swirls and squiggles connecting from the end of that curve until you have covered the entire cupcake half. Repeat on the other side.
- Place cupcakes on rimmed serving tray and drizzle lightly with strawberry syrup.
- The frosted cupcakes will keep for 3 days in an airtight container. I recommend drizzling the strawberry syrup "blood" on just before serving.
