Spiderweb Halloween Cupcakes
This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure.
Spiderweb Halloween cupcakes are a beautiful, stunning, unexpected treat! They’re perfect for Halloween parties, October movie nights, and classroom celebrations. Make this Halloween extra special with homemade chocolate cupcakes topped with delicious vanilla frosting and white cotton candy.
HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES
It’s super easy to make these spooky, stylish Halloween cupcakes! These are the simple ingredients you’ll need to make decadent chocolate cupcakes:
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Sea salt
- Large eggs, room temperature
- Whole milk
- Vegetable oil
- Pure vanilla extract
- Boiling Water
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
This chocolate cupcake recipe produces beautiful tender cupcakes. Here’s how to make delicious chocolate cupcakes with a good crumb:
- Adjust oven rack to the center position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line muffin cups with cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients. Mix briefly.
- Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Beat for two minutes.
- Pour in the boiling water. Mix until incorporated.
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE RECIPE
The homemade batter for these yummy Halloween cupcakes is thin, not thick. Prepare your USA cupcake pans with decorative Halloween liners.
- Using a 1/4 measuring cup, ladle the the batter into 27 cupcake liners.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted inserted into the center of two separate cupcakes comes out clean.
- Allow the chocolate cupcakes to cool for 15 minutes while in the pans.
- Remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
BEST VANILLA FROSTING
This recipe produces the best vanilla frosting you’ve ever tasted! These are the ingredients you’ll need to make a batch of scrumptious vanilla frosting:
- Cold butter
- Powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
- Mexican Vanilla extract
- Heavy whipping cream
HOW TO FROST CUPCAKES
For frosting these chocolate cupcakes I used my favorite decorating tip: an open star ATECO #828 TIP. It gives frosted cupcakes a beautiful bakery-style look.
- With scissors, snip off one corner of a quart-size kitchen bag.
- Push a decorating tip through the small opening in the bag.
- Spoon frosting into the bag. Press out all the air. Close the seal.
PERFECTLY FROSTED CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Here’s how to frost a batch of chocolate cupcakes quickly and easily:
- Use even pressure when squeezing out the vanilla frosting.
- Start piping at the outer edge of the chocolate cupcakes.
- Spiral toward the middle.
- At the desired height, lift up to create a peak of vanilla frosting.
HALLOWEEN SPIDERWEB CUPCAKES
These spiderweb cupcakes for Halloween require white cotton candy (sweet spun candy or fairy floss). Look for it at an old-fashioned candy store in your area. Here’s how to make spiderwebs for your Halloween cupcakes:
- Make sure your hands are clean and very dry.
- With a decorating scriber needle, separate thin wispy layers of cotton candy.
- Gently lift and place a few pieces on top of the vanilla frosting.
- Top off your Halloween spiderweb cupcakes with licorice spiders.
- If using plastic spiders, remove the spiders before serving!
BEST HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES
Keep these important tips in mind when making spiderweb Halloween cupcakes:
- Spun sugar is fragile and does not hold up well in heat.
- Add the spiderwebs to your chocolate cupcakes just before serving.
- Do not place spiderweb cupcakes in a drafty area.
- Do not place plastic spiders on cupcakes served to children.
- Enjoy Halloween cupcakes the same day they’re made!
MORE HALLOWEEN RECIPES
- GRAVE DIGGER HALLOWEEN COCKTAILS
- HALLOWEEN BROWNIE BITES
- MONSTER MASH HALLOWEEN BROWNIES
- HALLOWEEN SNACK MIX
RATE THIS RECIPE! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Did you enjoy this Halloween recipe? Rate it in the comments below!
Spiderweb Halloween Cupcakes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 27 cupcakes 1x
Description
Beautiful spiderweb Halloween cupcakes are the perfect treat for your upcoming Halloween party!
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 +3/4 all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa (natural, unsweetened)
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (use the clear type)
- 1 cup boiling water
VANILLA FROSTING
- 4 + 1/2 sticks butter, cold (2.25 cups)
- 7 + 1/2 cups powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 1 +1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
SPIDERWEBS
- 1 two-ounce container of cotton candy
Instructions
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
- Adjust oven rack to the center. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line muffin pans with 27 cupcake wrappers.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder, and salt. Add in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. With an electric mixer beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water.
- Fill the cupcake liners with batter using a 1/4 measuring cup.
- Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes within the pans. Remove to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.
VANILLA FROSTING
- Chop the cold butter into tiny pieces. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, whip the butter for 6-7 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, as needed.
- Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Beat for one minute.
- Add in 2 more cups of powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until sugar is well incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high. Beat the frosting for 3 minutes.
- Add the final cup of powdered sugar and the heavy whipping cream. Beat on low speed, gradually increasing the speed to medium-high. Beat for 4-5 minutes so the frosting is light and airy.
SPIDERWEB HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES
- With a decorating scriber needle or toothpick, lift and separate spun candy into thin airy pieces.
- Artfully arrange the cotton candy on top of the vanilla frosting.
- Add candy spiders to the “spiderwebs” on top of each cupcake.*
Notes
- If using plastic spiders, be sure to remove before serving!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Halloween Cupcakes, dessert, kid-friendly
SPIDERWEB HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES > YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you hosting a Halloween party this year? Would you love to include spiderweb Halloween cupcakes on your dessert table? Join the conversation in the comments below.
Thank you so much. I try to make them all so pretty!
Those Spider Halloween cupcakes look decadent. And I love the way you present it. Very creative indeed.
Girl, you have some serious skills! These are absolutely adorable! My son would LOVE to make these!
★★★★★
I really hope he likes them! They are so yummy!
These are so cute and clever! I love that you’ve used cotton candy as the spiderweb topping. You’ve made these look really spectacular!
★★★★★
These spiderweb Halloween cupcakes look really cute. This is a kid’s dream. A chocolate cupcake, frosting, and cotton candy. My kids will love it.
★★★★★
These look so good! I’m gonna have to try that frosting recipe. I have a thing for vanilla frosting lol
That is such a fun idea for Halloween! I love those green glasses you made too!
I love the cake to frosting ratio here. It’s ALL about the frosting!!! I love it! These are so cute
OMG, my kids will LOVE this. They love spiders and when Halloween comes they love talking about spiders. These look like the perfect cupcakes for a kids Halloween party.
★★★★★
These look soooo good, and I LOVE the cotton candy.
These look awesome! The cotton candy is such a great addition :) Can’t wait to make these.
Wow, these look amazing! Love the spun sugar. Your other Halloween treats look amazing, too!
Ohh, this is so nice. I am so glad I stumble upon your website. This is a perfect addition for the Halloween treats on our upcoming family gathering/ Halloween party.
Wow, these cupcakes are very beautiful! I want to eat them every day. Ideal for Halloween. Thank you for this great recipe! So YUMMY!
★★★★★
These are so cute! I love completely-from-scratch cupcakes so much! These would be perfect for a Halloween party or October birthday.
These are all so creative and sooo pretty! My desserts would not come out looking like that haha!
Kasey Ma
These are so dang cute. I love the cotton candy ‘spider web’. Perfect for Halloween treats.
These cupcakes would be perfect for my office halloween party, they are just too cute!
★★★★★
Those look so cute! I love the cotton candy on top. That’s such a nice touch that I never thought to use as spiderweb material.
wow! these are SOOO cute! they would be so fun for a party-or just as a fun treat for my kids. I absolutely LOVE them!
These look pretty cool! The cotton candy is a nice touch. At first I thought it was the spiderweb stuff you buy for decorations but with these you can actually eat it!
Oh my! I love all that icing and then the cotton candy?!?! My kids will love these!
★★★★★
Wow! These look incredible. I love how they look and I bet they’d be great for my kids Halloween parties!
I can tell you had a lot of fun with this post. I am getting ready to make cake balls for Halloween and I am so excited about it! Loving the “eyes” peeking out at you!
★★★★★
These cupcakes look pretty impressive. Perfect for Halloween. The brownie bites look good too!
★★★★★
So spooky and fun! I really liked the part about the vanilla frosting – it does look magnificent! I am ready to make a big batch of this frosting! :)
★★★★★
So creative and super cute!!! If I were having a Halloween party, I would totallyyyyyy enlist your help to make it SPOOKTACULAR!
Awww, thank you so much. It would be the best party. lol.
I need to make cupcakes like this for Halloween! These are fun. My daughter loves spiders, so she’d be all about these.
I think this looks so cool! My kiddo and I like to celebrate the holidays by making themed stuff. These cupcakes are perfect for Halloween and I can’t wait to make them with him!
Halloween is the best holiday of them all!
These are so clever! I’d love to make those for Halloween :D And looks like you’ve got a lot of other delicious and fun Halloween recipes too
I have so many different halloween recipes. They are all so fun.
very clever and what a great spooky treat to serve the kids they will love this idea
yay! I really hope they like them.
Your Halloween cupcakes look so delicious with just the right amount of spooky. Love the spiderwebs on top and all that frosting! Yum!
★★★★★
Cupcakes are my favorite and I love to spice them up.
This is such a cool idea. Your vanilla frosting looks so yummy. Looking forward to trying this recipe with my kiddos.
It is! It is beyond yummy.
Those are beautiful. I know they’d be a welcome addition to any of our fall celebrations. We adore homemade chocolate cupcakes.
They are so good too! Good looking and good tasting.
It is always fun to make and decorate cupcakes. These spider ones are adorable. Would be first to disappear
They usually are. I love making cupcakes into fun creations.