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recipe for Ghost Cupcakes
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Ghost Cupcakes

Ghost Cupcakes will make your guests scream with delight. They’re super simple to make starting with a homemade vanilla cupcake recipe and topped with a deliciously sweet frosting for Halloween!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword candy corn, cupcakes, ghost, halloween
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Cool 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg white at room temperature
  • 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup skim milk

Frosting

  • 1 cup unsalted butter - softened
  • 4 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 4 tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp heavy cream
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt
  • 1-3 drops yellow food coloring
  • 1-3 drops orange food coloring

Decorating

  • Candy eyes for garnish
  • Pastry bags and tips

Instructions

Cupcakes

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and add the cupcake liners to the pan, set aside.
  • Add flour, baking powder and salt to a large bowl, mix well.
  • In a separate large bowl, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until
  • it becomes light and fluffy.
  • Beat the egg into the mixture until well combined, then beat in the egg white and add the vanilla.
  • Mix well.
  • Alternating, add the flour and milk as you continue to blend ingredients until fully combined.
  • Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake liners, each cup should be ¾ full.
  • Bake until the tops are golden, about 20 minutes. They are done when they spring back when gently pressed on the tops.
  • Remove from oven and transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack for cooling.

Frosting

  • Beat the butter in a large bowl using hand or stand mixer until slightly whipped.
  • Add 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar at a time and mix on low until blended.
  • Increase speed to high and continue beating.
  • Reduce speed with each addition of confectioner's sugar - increasing after it has been mostly combined so that each cup is well blended before adding the next one.
  • Beat in 2 tbsp of the heavy cream and the vanilla extract until combined. You can add in more heavy cream if needed for desired consistency.
  • Add salt and mix to combine.
  • Evenly divide the frosting into 3 separate bowls, color one bowl with the yellow food coloring drops and the other with the orange drops. Just drop and then stir well until you reach the desired shade - keeping in mind that the color will intensify over time.

Decorate

  • Fill 3 pastry bags - one with each color. Use a closed star tip for the yellow and orange, use a round tip for the white pastry bag.
  • Pipe 3 layers (one of each color) with each pastry bag of frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, swirling the white taller to form the ghost shape.
  • Finish by adding the candy eyes to each cupcake.