Halloween Cupcakes

If you made your own cupcakes, make sure they are fully cooled.

To prepare the buttercream, beat butter for a few minutes in the bowl a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add powdered sugar and turn the mixer on low. Beat until the sugar incorporates with the butter. Add vanilla and heavy cream and beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes or until buttercream becomes light and fluffy. Set aside.

Use a black candy decorating pen to draw a black dot on each of the marshmallows.

For your 3 monster cupcakes, tint half a cup each of the frosting with yellow, purple and blue food coloring respectively. Starting with one color, fill a piping bag with frosting and add either a star tip, hair tip or round tip. Squeeze the bag, pull up and away when frosting strand is long enough, stop pressure and pull tip away. You are creating the monster hair. Continue until the frosting covers the top of the cupcake. Place marshmallow eyes on each cupcake.

For the 3 mummy cupcakes, attach a piping bag with a ribbon decorating tip and fill it with half cup of white frosting. Pipe overlapping lines across the cupcake leaving a small opening for the mummy eyes. Cut a marshmallow in half horizontally, put a dab of frosting on the back of the half (this will help it adhere to the cupcake) and add a black dot on the front. Place the two eyes on the opening area, between two “bandage strips”.

For the 3 pumpkin cupcakes, tint 1/4 cup of frosting with orange. Smear the orange frosting over the top of the cupcake. Place melted chocolate in a piping bag with a tiny round tip, and pipe a face onto the frosting. Tint a small amount of frosting with green, and transfer the green frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip. Pipe the green frosting on the pumpkin top as leaves.

For the 3 Jack Skeleton cupcakes, smear white frosting over the top of the cupcake. Pipe face with melted chocolate.