30 Cute and Creepy Halloween Cupcake Ideas

You don't have to stay up super late in your lab kitchen to concoct these cupcakes. Like any monstrously good creation, they practically make themselves!

Get the recipe for Frankenstein Cupcakes.

The chocolate and pumpkin cupcake in this festive recipe is enhanced by the creamy hazelnut frosting and cute gingham cupcake wrappers.

Get the recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Witch Cupcakes.

Believe it or not, these silhouettes were created with rubber stamps!

Instructions: Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut fondant into circles and leave out overnight to stiffen. Paint a clean rubber stamp with black food coloring and press the image onto the circles. If needed, fill in bare spots with a small paintbrush dipped in food coloring.

Just before serving, place the circles on top of cupcakes with buttercream frosting. Note: Fondant is available, in various colors, at craft stores. For these cupcakes, microwave it for 8 to 10 seconds, then roll out to 1/4-inch thickness.

Get our basic cupcake recipe.

Hidden candies inside these chocolatey cupcakes make for a deliciously tricky treat.

Get the recipe for Something-to-Hide Devil's Food Cupcakes.

Super-easy white-chocolate toppers appear to float, Houdini-like, over chocolate cupcakes.

Get the recipe for Itsy Bitsy Spiderwebs Cupcakes.

Treat guests to their very own cakes with these bite-size, licorice-eared mice.

Get the recipe for Licorice-Eared Mice Cakes.

These tasty fall cupcakes are all treat, no trick.

Get the recipe for Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Swirled Frosting.

Summon this nocturnal scene by first rolling out black and white fondant separately. Use cookie cutters to create bat and moon shapes, then let fondant dry overnight to stiffen. Just before serving, perch atop buttercream-frosted cupcakes. Take cupcakes one step further with paper spider web wrappers.

Get our basic cupcake recipe.

To make this luscious dessert, use our simple Classic Chocolate Cake recipe. You can also try substituting your favorite cake recipe, or if you're short on time, a boxed mix — one box yields 12 Mini Pumpkin Cakes, or two 8-inch-round layers.

To get the look of these single-serving pumpkin treats, trim the bottoms of cakes baked in mini Bundt pans to create a flat surface. Join two cakes so that the fluted tops are at either end, then drizzle with chocolate or vanilla glaze and sprinkle with coarse colored sugar or nonpareils before the glaze sets. Top with a marzipan stem.

Get the recipe for Classic Chocolate Cake.

Get the recipe for vanilla glaze and marzipan pumpkin stems.

Orange food coloring, added one drop at a time, gives the cream that tops (and fills) these bite-size snacks its brilliant hue.

Get the recipe for Classic Chocolate Cake.

Get the recipe for Vanilla Cream Filling.

Put a sugar-coated spell on your guests with these bewitching treats, which elevate homemade vanilla cupcakes with a clever combination of chocolaty store-bought goods, frosting, and candy.

Get the recipe for Witch Cupcakes.

Who could resist a cute cupcake with a skeletal frame comprised of a marshmallow skull and yogurt mini pretzel ribs supported by a lollipop stick? Whip up a batch of these bony characters with your favorite cake mix and canned frosting.

Get the recipe for Skeleton Frame Cupcakes.

After assembling these fun cupcakes, it's traditional to then cackle "They're alive" at the top of your lungs while lightning flashes.

Get the recipe for Frankenstein Cupcakes.

Get the recipe for Bride of Frankenstein Cupcakes.

With some marshmallows and a little black frosting, you make make a surprisingly faithful rendition of a certain king of Halloween Town.

Get the recipe for Skeleton Cupcakes.

The trick to making this ethereal apparition floating above your cupcake? A donut hole and some fondant. Easy!

Get the recipe for Friendly Ghost Cupcake.

With licorice hair and a gumdrop nose, these witches are scarily fun.

Get the recipe for Witch Cupcakes.

A magical harvest emerges with just a few tasty tricks: green-tinted vanilla frosting for grass, a glazed doughnut hole dipped in orange frosting for the pumpkin and strips of candy for the vines and leaves.

Get the recipe for Great Pumpkin Cupcake.

A fondant Wicked Witch of the East-like figure dangles deliciously from her perch: a cupcake topped with chocolate frosting and a dusting of crushed chocolate wafer cookies.

Get the recipe for Wicked Witch Cupcake.

If one of these cuties crosses your path, you can consider it good luck!

Get the recipe for Kitten Cupcakes.

This floating ghost is surprisingly easy to make!

Get the recipe for Ghost Cupcakes.