I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite, if not my favorite holidays all year. Growing up I looked forward to it every year, the costumes, the food, and of course the candy. As an adult I still love it! It is so fun to dress up and hang out with friends and attend Halloween parties. Impress your friends and fellow party-goers with this Halloween cupcake toppers recipe.
Cupcakes are a classic dessert to make for social gatherings, and one way to spruce them up and make them Halloween-Esque is with Halloween cupcake toppers. The toppers are incredibly easy to make and you can make all kinds of designs.
They also don’t have to be only for Halloween. Having a superhero party? Make superhero cupcake toppers! Love Harry Potter? Make Harry Potter cupcake toppers, you get the idea. In this blog/recipe you will learn how to make amazing Halloween cupcake toppers which you can apply to any topic. They are so easy to make if I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Gather the Ingredients
In order to make Halloween cupcake toppers or they can go on cakes or other treats as well, you need just a few basic ingredients:
- Cupcakes – I have several cupcake recipes here on my website. These chocolate cupcakes are great!
- Frosting – If you need a frosting recipe try this one.
- Chocolate – Candy melts work the best for this, you can find them at stores like Walmart, Target, Hobby stores, and online.
Tools
- Cupcake Pan
- Paper cups
- Parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
- Scissors
- Tape
- Printer
- Paper (stencil with Halloween images)
- Brush or toothpick
- Piping bags or sandwich bags
Step 2: How to make Halloween cupcake toppers
Begin by going online and searching for Halloween images. What I normally do is I will take several of them and then paste them onto a word document that I can print out.
Some ideas include pumpkins, bats, skulls, etc. You can make pretty much anything you want. Then print that paper off which will be your Halloween cupcake toppers stencil.
Put the paper/stencil on a plastic lid, sheet pan, or cookie sheet and then lay a piece of parchment paper over it or use a silicone baking mat. This will make sure the chocolate doesn’t stick to it.
If you are using parchment paper, make sure to tape it in place. It is also a good idea to tape the stencil in place as well.
Time to melt the chocolate. Add the candy melts or chocolate into a decorating/pastry bag or you can certainly just use a sandwich bag. I like the disposable decorating bags from Wilton, they can go right in the microwave with the candy melts so it makes it super easy.
Melt the chocolate/candy melts in the microwave using bursts of 30 seconds, then massage the bag, then heat again, until melted. Or you can melt the chocolate using the double-boiler method on the stovetop burner if you don’t want to use the microwave.
Step 3: Fill in the Halloween stencil with melted chocolate
Snip off the end of the bag and now you can start filling in the stencil. The process is similar to coloring with crayons, you want to stay in the lines!
I like to go along the outside first, then come back in and fill in the middle. This process is similar to a process called “flooding” which is popular with sugar cookies. Only instead of using icing, we are using candy melts or chocolate.
Pick a color of chocolate that you can use for all the Halloween cupcake toppers. Once you are done with that color or flavor of chocolate place the whole thing in the fridge for about 15 minutes so it can set. Then repeat the process and move on to the next color.
Use a small brand new paintbrush or a toothpick to smooth out and fill in the gaps.
It is important to create a little “tail” on the bottom of the Halloween cupcake topper. This is what will stick into the cupcake, although it isn’t absolutely necessary to do that.
I usually just design a little triangle at the bottom and fill it in. The Batman logo that I used already had a tail, so I didn’t really need to design one, I just filled it in.
Step 4: Allow the Halloween cupcake toppers to set
Once you are done “painting” or filling in the stencils with the melted chocolate, place it in the fridge for about 20 minutes and that should do the trick. It all depends on what chocolate or candy melts you are using.
While they are setting up you can bake your cupcakes and frost them. Or you can do that beforehand, it is up to you.
And these cupcake toppers don’t only have to be for cupcakes, they can go on a normal-sized cake, or other desserts as well.
Once the Halloween cupcake toppers have had a chance to set, you can remove them from the parchment paper or silicone mat. You may need to use a dough scraper or cake spatula to pry them loose, just be careful, you don’t want to break them.
Then all you need to do is stick them into the cupcakes. And there you go!
Now it is your turn. Let your imagination run wild and create your own awesome cupcake toppers for your next gathering, birthday, party, or social event.
Maybe you want to make little footballs for a game day party? So many ideas that you can do. Enjoy!
You can even make a super large cake topper which can rest on the whole top of your cake if you like.
How long do chocolate cupcake toppers last?
These will last quite a while, a few weeks at least. If it is really warm in your house, you will want to store them in the fridge. The toppers themselves will outlast the cupcakes or cake.
Here are some other recipes you make enjoy:
Halloween Cupcake Toppers
Equipment
- Cupcake pan
- parchment paper or silicone baking mat
- Decorating/piping bags or sandwich bags
- Toothpics or small clean paint brushes
- Scissors
- Tape
- Stencils (paper with Halloween shapes on it)
Ingredients
- 3 cups of candy melts or chocolate this doesn’t have to be exact
- Cupcakes
- Frosting
Instructions
- Bake the cupcakes and frost them.
- Search online for Halloween images and then copy and paste them onto a document that you can print out. This will be your stencil or guide.
- Tape the stencil onto a sheet pan or cookie sheet. Then place a piece of parchment paper or silicone mat over it. Tape down the parchment paper as well.
- Melt the chocolate either in a bowl or in the pastry bag itself as long as it is microwave-safe. Then melt on high using bursts of 30 seconds then stirring or massaging the bag. You can also melt it in a metal bowl over a pot with hot steaming water on the stovetop (double boiler method).
- Place the melted chocolate in a bag and twist. Then snip off the corner. Fill in the lines with the chocolate. If you only want to use one color for the whole thing, like a bat or something, fill in around the outside and then fill in the middle. Use a brush or toothpick for finer details. Once done with the first color refrigerate the toppers for 15 minutes.
- Use other colors of candy melts as desired and repeat the process. Make sure to create little spurs at the bottom which will stick in the cupcakes and hold the topper upright.
- Once the stencils are filled in, allow the chocolate to set up. It should set fine at room temp. Or you can place them in the fridge to set.
- Add them on top of your cupcakes or cake and you are done! Enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Do you like the recipe? Please give it a rating and comment down below, I really appreciate it. If you make it tag me on Instagram @inthekitchenwithmatt. Also, sign up for the newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of my new posts and recipes.
Check out my other website 101 Creative Dates for fun date ideas. Food and dating go hand in hand!
Such a cute idea! I am loving all these fun halloween ideas!
Thank you!! 🙂
This is indeed a creative way to make these cupcake toppers perfect for Halloween. Thank you so much for the very detailed step-by-step guide. It would be very helpful!
You are welcome, and thank you!
These are so cute and perfect for Halloween. I just pinned your recipe to make with my kids for their school party. Thank you.
Awesome! You are welcome!
Although I admit I am not into Halloween, decoration and prepping for any event is something I’m interested in. Plus the kids do celebrate Halloween parties at school, and this cupcake topper will be a very useful idea.
Thanks! Yeah it is a great idea for kids and parties.
I love cupcakes. And, these are such fab recipes. Would love to try.
Definitely try it sometime 🙂
Nice! I need to perfect these Halloween cupcake toppers. It looks so spooky!
Thank you!
These are such cute cupcake toppers, and I love that they’re edible! I’m going to try these for my Halloween baking.
Thank you, Anna!
This looks awesome, It would be perfect for weekend snacks next month. Thank you for sharing!
Fransic – https://www.querianson.com
Thank you and you are welcome!
Super fun and creative, Matt, as always. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! 🙂 You are welcome!
These cupcake toppers are so cute! I’m going to make some Halloween themed cupcakes soon, so I’ll have to make these to put on top.
Thank you! 🙂 🙂
Well done on this one, Matt! I have missed you, your recipes and your cooking lately. Hope everything has been well.
Thank you!!! Everything is going well, just really busy for quite awhile.
What a fun idea! I’m going to pin this for later as we are already getting exciting about prep for Halloween here.
Thank you, Talya!
I like the idea of toppers because that means that we only have to make them to add a theme to regular cupcakes.
Thanks, Ivan!
These toppers are so cute. I applaud the effort of those that do this type of project.
Thank you, Elise!
Those are really cool! this is a great way to take a regular cupcake and turn it into a Halloween masterpiece.
Thank you, Ben!
These cupcake toppers are adorable. It’s like art and cooking in one! My daughter will love it.
Thank you!
That looks so delicious! I don’t celebrate halloween however, your recipe gives ideas!
Thanks! You can make it with any type of theme, not just Halloween.
These are SO cute! I am so excited to try this recipe for Halloween!
Thank you!! 🙂
What a fun idea!! I am totally getting the supplies I need to make these!! They make them so festive!
Thank you, Natalie!