Easy Cupcakes

Make a whole tray of these tombstone cupcakes to get the full graveyard impact. Any oval or rectangle cookie will work: Milanos, Nutter Butters, etc.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); Milano or other oval or rectangular cookie; white, off-white or chocolate icing; black writing icing or gel; coconut flakes; chocolate syrup (or brown food coloring to tint coconut); candy “rocks.”
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Tint coconut brown (it doesn’t have to be perfect; a “muddy” look is realistic). Write “RIP” or your guest’s name or whatever you’d like on cookie. Use a butter knife to make a slice in the cupcake to insert the cookie. Sprinkle tinted coconut on cupcake. Add “rocks.”

Fruit roll-ups are the edible wings on this creepy-yet-cute vampire bat. Make a whole colony of these cupcakes for your Halloween party!

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); frosting tinted purple (you can mix red and blue food coloring); 2 purple or black gumdrops; 2 red M&Ms; 2 white candies such as Good & Plenty or Tic Tacs; red fruit rolls.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake and before it gets too firm, stick about a 4-inch length of fruit roll (we used Fruit by the Foot) on left and right side for wings. You could cut it into a more-authentic wing shape if you’d like. Add gumdrops for ears, M&Ms for blood-red eyes and white candies for fangs and you’re ready to scare your guests!

Bone up for Halloween with these scary skull cupcakes. They’re quick, easy and you can use what you have on hand: Jellybeans, Tic Tacs or similar white candies would work for the “mouth.”

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white or off-white (such as buttercream) frosting, from a can or homemade; small amount black icing and bag/writing tip set or purchased writing icing or gel; two brown M&Ms, four white jellybeans.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake with white frosting. Add M&M eyes. “Draw” two thin lines for nostrils. Add four jellybeans to bottom edge. A whole bunch of these skull cupcakes makes for an eerie effect.

Here’s a quick and easy cupcake that will make for a deadly fun Halloween treat. It’s a black widow spider, complete with the telltale hourglass. That plump spider body is actually a Junior Mint and an M & M candy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white frosting (from a can or homemade); small amount black and red frostings plus piping bag and writing tip, or purchased writing icing or gel; Junior Mint; dark brown M&M.
How to Make It: Spread cupcake with white frosting. Place M & M directly above Junior Mint. Using writing tip to make eight black legs on spider. To make red hourglass, “draw” an X with icing, connect top and bottom and fill in. Super creepy!