Make easy ghost cupcakes with a regular cupcake pan! Frosted in white buttercream and topped with candy eyes, they are almost too cute to eat!
You might also like our pop tart haunted house, our bat brownies, or our homemade butterfingers made from candy corn!
Watch our step by step video!
Most of my posts include videos to help you recreate my recipes and craft tutorials. The video plays right under the first image and gives the best visual. I highly recommend watching it before starting this recipe.
Easy Ghost Cupcakes
I love Halloween treats. Slap a set of candy eyes on anything white and it instantly turns into a ghost. How cute are these ghost cupcakes? Made with a regular cupcake pan, they are easy to make and super cute. One batch makes 36 ghosts so they are perfect for Halloween parties. Did I mention they are made from a box cake mix? Yep, easy.
You might be wondering how I shaped my cupcakes using a regular cupcake pan. Foil! I learned this trick from @beautyanddasweetz on Instagram. She used foil balls to create darling ghost muffins. Simply roll up aluminum foil into small balls and place around the cupcake liner.
After the cupcakes are baked they look like this! You might have some that look a little wonky when they come out of the oven, but that’s totally fine. After they are frosted you won’t even notice.
I used the same candy eyes that I use for my stacked snowman cookies and my snowman hot cocoa bombs for the ghost’s eyes and mouth. They work great. The black eyes will stay fresh for a couple of days. After that, the color might run a bit into the buttercream. You can use black frosting or mini chocolate chips as an alternative if you plan on making these more than 2 days before you serve them.
Ghost Cupcake Ingredients & Supplies
Cupcakes
- 1 box cake mix (any flavor you’d like)
- eggs, oil, and water (according to box instructions)
Frosting
- butter
- powdered sugar
- milk
- vanilla
Supplies
- aluminum foil
- candy eyes/mouth (the ones that I used are out of stock so I linked to similar ones)
- cupcake liners
- 2A or 1A piping tip (large round)
- frosting bag
How To Make Ghost Cupcakes
- Prepare cupcake batter according to the instructions on the box.
- Line a cupcake/muffin pan with paper baking cups. I have a giant pan that bakes 24 cupcakes at a time. It works great for this recipe since it makes 36 cupcakes. I use the large pan and a regular muffin pan.
- Roll aluminum foil into small balls.
- Add 2 tablespoons (medium cookie scoop) of cupcake batter to each baking cup.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT OVERFILL THE BAKING CUPS! Normally you’d need to fill the baking cup 2/3 with batter. Not for these. Use half the batter that you’d normally use, which is only about 2 Tbsp, or a medium-sized cookie scoop.
(When you add the foil balls the batter will rise a bit. You’ll be glad you didn’t over-fill the baking cups. They’ll rise even more during baking.)
- Position the foil balls around between the metal from the pan and the cupcake liner. Two at the top and two near the center to create a head and arms.
Bake cupcakes for 16-18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. This will help them keep their shape while they cool.
Cool completely.
- Beat frosting ingredients together.
- Add a frosting tip to a frosting bag and fill it with buttercream.
- Frost cupcakes then smooth with a butter knife or cake spatula. (Watch my video to see how I do this)
Note: If you have a few cupcakes that look misshapen after baking, that’s totally fine. Frost them the same as the rest and you’ll hardly notice.
Add candy eyes/mouth.
Store cupcakes at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Easy Ghost Cupcakes Recipe
Ghost Cupcakes
Equipment
- aluminum foil
- candy eyes/mouth
- cupcake liners
- 2A or 1A piping tip (large round)
- frosting bag
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 box cake mix any flavor you'd like
- eggs, oil and water according to box instructions
Frosting
- 1 cup butter softened
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 Tbsp. milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare cupcake batter according to the instructions on the box.
- Line a cupcake/muffin pan with paper baking cups.
- Roll aluminum foil into small balls.
- Add 2 Tbsp. (medium cookie scoop) of cupcake batter to each baking cup.IMPORTANT: DO NOT OVERFILL THE BAKING CUPS! Normally you'd need to fill the baking cup 2/3 with batter. Not for these. Use half the batter that you'd normally use, which is about 2 Tbsp or a medium-sized cookie scoop.
- Position the foil balls around between the metal from the pan and the cupcake liner. Two at the top, and two near the center to create a head and arms.
- Bake cupcakes for 16-18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. This will help them keep their shape while they cool.
- Cool completely.
Frosting
- Beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth.Add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar and beat.
- Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Add a frosting tip to a frosting bag and fill it with buttercream.
- Frost cupcakes then smooth with a butter knife or cake spatula (watch my video to see how I do this).
- Add candy eyes and mouth.
Notes
Nutrition
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
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