food
Halloween Pumpkin Spider Cupcakes
A great treat to serve at a Halloween party, these pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, decorated with a spooky, but cute spider on its' web are sure to make people smile!
I found the recipe for the cupcakes at Taste of Home and was checking our different spiders on Pinterest before I came up with these. I originally put the politically correct eight legs on the spider, but the peppermint patty wasn't happy with all of the poking and prodding and the spider looked like it needed some extensive plastic surgery. So, I decided on fewer legs and we can pretend it's "really" a spider. And I'm sure there will be at least one child out there that will say, "but spiders have eight legs..." as mine would have, but this is where we tell them imagination is a wonderful thing!
This recipe uses pumpkin pie spice which you can buy at the store, but I've found it's easiest to make my own. That way I have enough of it on hand for all of these great pumpkin recipes around the web!
Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes
Ingredients for Pumpkin Cupcakes
Cupcakes
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 ounce can pumpkin puree - not pumpkin pie filling
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar and allowed to sit for 15 minutes
Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter ( 1 stick), room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Ingredients for the Spiders
- 24 small York Peppermint Patties
- 48 1-inch pieces black licorice rope
- 48 black or brown M&M's
- 1 large tube black piping gel
- toothpicks
Directions for Making Your Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cupcake liners into a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to incorporate completely after adding each.
- Mix in the pumpkin.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and ginger.
- Add one third of the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and incorporate.
- Add one third of the milk mixed with vinegar and blend. Continue to alternately add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture followed by the milk until neither remains and beat well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Fill the cupcake liners with the batter to about three-fourths full.
- Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or when a toothpick placed into the middle comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Directions for Making the Cream Cheese Frosting and Creating the Spider Webs
- In a clean bowl of mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
- Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and blend well.
- Add the vanilla extract.
- Frost the cupcakes.
- With the tube of black piping gel, create a spiral on the frosting beginning at the center.
- Using a toothpick and starting in the middle, drag the toothpick to the edge of the cupcake. Do the same from the center to the opposite side of the cupcake. Continue making lines in the frosting with the toothpick 6 more times at even angles.
Directions for Making the Spiders
- With a toothpick, make 4 holes in the sides of the peppermint patty, two on each side.
- Place two dots of black piping gel on top of the patty and place one M&M on top of each.
- Into the four holes, insert a piece of the licorice rope for the legs.
- Place the spider gently on top of the cupcake.
I think party goers and little goblins will both enjoy these Halloween Pumpkin cupcakes. They're moist, flavorful, delicious and kind of creepy, but in a cute way.
What are some desserts you're planning on having at your Halloween party?
Lynne Feifer
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