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Zombie Halloween Cupcakes

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A couple of weeks ago I was leisurely browsing through Bake It Pretty, in particular the Halloween decorations.  

When I saw the zombie hand cupcake toppers, I knew I had to order them and make a batch of Halloween cupcakes. 

I have never made a Halloween cupcake before.

The closest I’ve come were these pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, but they weren’t exactly scary!

But these are!  

This is what I created with Martha Stewart’s awesome Halloween cupcake liners, Bake It Pretty’s zombie hand toppers, and a couple of Oreo cookies.

I’ll break it down for you.  

First of all, if you’re making Halloween cupcakes, you’ll need these cupcake liners from Martha Stewart.  

You can find them at Michael’s craft stores for about $4.

Next, I baked a batch of chocolate pumpkin cupcakes.  

I’ve used this recipe before and liked the result.  

Then, I whipped up some pumpkin buttercream to fill these cupcakes with.

The cupcakes are frosted with a plain chocolate buttercream.

There was a bit too much frosting for my own liking, but I wanted a nice big round top on these.

I finely crushed 10 Oreo sandwich cookies, which ended up being way too many for 12 cupcakes; 6 probably would have been enough.  

I dipped each cupcake top into the crushed Oreos to completely coat them.

For the “tombstones”, I found Oreo Fudgees made perfect-shaped tombstones.  

I took the Fudgee sandwich cookies apart, scraped off the filling, and stuck one side of the Fudgee into each cupcake.

Then stuck a zombie hand in front of the tombstones.

They’re quite spicy.

I can taste a hint of ginger over all the other spices in the cupcake and filling (the filling had the most ginger).  

And like I said, there’s a bit too much chocolate frosting, which made it a bit too sweet for me.

The kids love them though!  

The decorations make a perfect Halloween cupcake – remember, you can find the zombie hands at Bake It Pretty’s Halloween shop!

This is my entry into Iron Cupcake: Earth for October’s theme ingredient “music” – these cupcakes are perfect for one of my favorite songs by the late Michael Jackson, “Thriller”!

Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:

  • The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
  • Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
  • Bella Cupcake Couture
  • Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
  • The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne

I’m also entering these cupcakes into Cupcake Hero for October’s theme ingredient of pumpkin and/or Halloween.  

This will be my first ever entry into Cupcake Hero!

Zombie Halloween Cupcakes

Spooky zombie hand Halloween chocolate pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin filling and chocolate frosting.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Servings: 6 cupcakes
Author: Country Living | Veggie by Season | Cupcakes Take the Cake

Ingredients

  • Cupcakes:
  • 1 cup + 2 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup + 3 3/4 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup + 2 1/2 teaspoons buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 3/4 teaspoons pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2.25 ounces unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 3/4 teaspoons dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 3/4 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • Oreo decorations:
  • 7 finely crushed Oreo sandwich cookies
  • 6 Oreo Fudgees sandwich cookies pulled apart and filling removed
  • 12 zombie hand cupcake toppers from Bake It Pretty
  • Pumpkin buttercream:
  • 1/2 cup + 2 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons + 1 1/8 teaspoons pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces confectioners’ sugar
  • Chocolate buttercream:
  • 1 stick unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk plus a few tablespoons to adjust consistency
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350F; line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
  • Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl; set aside.
  • Combine buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla in a bowl; set aside.
  • Beat butter and sugars together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, blending well after each addition.
  • Divide batter evenly among cupcake liners. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Cool cupcakes completely, then using the cone method, fill cupcakes with pumpkin buttercream (recipe follows).
  • Frost each cupcake with chocolate frosting (recipe follows), then dip the frosted tops into the finely crushed Oreos to evenly coat. Stick an Oreo Fudgee “tombstone” into the top of each cupcake, and place a zombie hand in front of it.
  • For the pumpkin buttercream: With electric mixer, cream butter and pumpkin (mixture will look grainy). Turn mixer to low and add cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla. Slowly add 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar at a time until the buttercream is creamy and no longer separating (the mixture will look grainy if there isn’t enough sugar mixed in).
  • For the chocolate buttercream: Beat butter and cocoa until smooth, then add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth with each addition . Add milk and vanilla and beat for about 3 minutes.

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51 thoughts on “Zombie Halloween Cupcakes”

  1. These are SO cute! Beautiful, in a ghoulish sort of way. 🙂 I can’t believe how perfect that cookie works for the tombstone! I am definitely making some of these. Well done!

    Reply

  2. I’ve seen a lot of Halloween Cupcakes out there over the past week or so. These are my absolute favorite!! You will definitely get my vote for both ICE and Cupcake Hero. Definitely a great entree for the music theme as Thriller was the very first thing I thought of when I saw your pics.

    Reply

  4. What a brilliant idea – and they look absolutely delicious! Have been searching the web for ides for Halloween but need search no more!

    Reply

  6. […] The Sweetest Kitchen creates chocolate pumpkin buttercream zombie hand cupcakes. […]

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  11. […] The Sweetest Kitchen-Zombie Halloween Cupcakes There are a lot of sites and web pages out there with Halloween themed cupcakes. Many of them have some cute ideas but most of them just use the standard, old white cake or chocolate cake for the cupcakes themselves. Not only do I like the look of these cupcakes, but the recipe sounds awesome. […]

    Reply

    • Thanks, Jessy! I do like these cupcakes, but my favorite of my two Halloween cupcakes are the dulce de leche pumpkin ones with the spiders. 🙂

      Reply

  15. You need to re read your recipe…I just wasted a whole can of cocoa before I realized that it couldn’t be right….1/4 cup and 3 3/4 cups of cocoa powder with only a cup of flour..I feel completely stupid..I was so excited about making these and I kept saying can’t be right can’t be right..but I said no maybe I’m wrong give it a try….well it wasn’t it looks more like cookie dough..I could roll it out and cut them..complete waste of all that time and ingredients…please change this before somebody else waste that money and time..I am so disappointed with myself no thinking that it was a typo on somebodys doings…looks great though..wish I could say they tasted good…bummed

    Reply

    • Tina, you are absolutely right and I’m so sorry! I honestly do reread every post and recipe before publishing, but this one obviously got past me. It was meant to be “tablespoons”, not “cups”. I know exactly how you feel as this has happened to me in the past as well. I encourage readers of my blog to leave a comment and ask questions if they are unsure of a recipe. It is however entirely my fault and I accept all the blame! Once again, I am sincerely sorry.

      Reply

      • I understand..more upset with myself because I kept telling myself that has to be an error..but I still did it..I will try again though..let you know how it goes, Tina

        Reply

        • I have to apologize again, and you’re going to hate me now for sure, but the absolute correct measurement is

          1/4 cup + 3 3/4 tablespoons cocoa powder

          I wrote my above comment at 4AM as soon as I saw your comment, but as I was so quick to apologize I didn’t write what I meant to write, which was tablespoons!

          Please don’t let this deter you from trying anything else on my blog! 😳

          Reply

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  20. […] And maybe a pitchfork.  Or a regular fork.  These cupcakes were originally done by the Sweetest Kitchen and after I saw them, I figured—hey!  That’s a cute cupcake trick that I can actually […]

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  22. Awesome! Cupake ideas! I’ve just linked to this in my article. So creative. I love the filling in the middle makes for a great surprise once you’ve finished eating the yummy topping.

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  25. […] Must feed my never-ceasing cupcake addiction. How about these zombie Halloween cupcakes from Sweetest Kitchen? Quirky, […]

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  27. […] doesn’t love the zombie theme during Halloween Time. The Sweetest Kitchen blog has this awesome how to and where to buy the toppers at for this Zombie Halloween […]

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  34. […] Recipe from Sweetest Kitchen […]

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