Easy Halloween Cupcakes

Who wants to make my spooky Gluten Free Halloween Cupcakes!? These super fun monster cupcakes are the perfect Halloween treat. With furry buttercream monster faces and a surprise ‘gory’ centre, these are a perfect Halloween baking activity for kids.

If you’re after easy Halloween cupcake ideas, you’ve come to the right place. These monster cupcakes have a cute and fuzzy face, but hide a gory secret!

Bite into the vibrant green, vanilla cupcakes to find a ‘gory’ jammy centre. They’re perfect for a Halloween party platter or half term baking activity.

Making these easy buttercream Halloween cupcakes is also a great alternative activity to trick or treating. They’re gluten free and easy to make dairy free too.

You can make them as cute or as creepy as you like – so whether you want fun Halloween themed cupcakes or scary Halloween cupcakes, I’ve got you covered.

For a super scary option why not pair them with baking up some of my Broken Glass Cupcakes? And for a fun alternative try my Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes too.

These are a great addition to a gluten free Halloween Snack Board and a lovely dessert after some Spooky Stuffed Peppers for dinner!

Ingredients

There’s a printable recipe card for these gluten free Halloween cupcakes below. But for the shopping list you will need…

• Butter: Use unsalted butter for both the cupcakes and the buttercream frosting. For the frosting, ensure it’s at room temperature. Use a vegan margarine to make these cupcakes gluten and dairy free.
• Caster Sugar: In the US you’ll need to look for baker’s sugar.
• Eggs: I use large UK eggs which equates to XL eggs in the US.
• Gluten Free Self Raising Flour: If you can’t find a suitable gluten free self rising flour, look for a plain or all purpose gluten free flour blend and mix 1 tsp gluten free baking powder per 100g gluten free flour to make your own.
• Xanthan Gum: You can omit this if your gluten free flour blend contains it. This just helps recreate the texture of the gluten and make cakes less crumbly.
• Vanilla Extract: This creates a classic gluten free vanilla cupcake recipe, but you could omit this for your favourite flavouring like orange or lemon extract instead.
• Icing Sugar: In the US you’ll need confectioner’s sugar to make the buttercream frosting.
• Gel Food Colouring: Some food colourings have a may contain warning for gluten, so pick one like these Sugarflair colourings which are gluten free. Use a good quality colouring for vibrant colours – the cheap ones tend to be quite dull.
• Strawberry Jam: This is essential for making the ‘gory’ filling of your monster cupcakes. You can use raspberry jam if you prefer, or even a lime curd for a slimy centre instead.
• Edible Eyes: Usually these can be found with the baking products – or you can buy them on Amazon.

How to make easy Halloween cupcakes

There’s a printable recipe card below with the method, but here are some step-by-step photos to show you how easy this gluten free monster cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160C / Gas Mark 4 and fill a 12-hole cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases. Set aside.

Using an electric whisk, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat again until combined. Sift in the gluten free flour and xanthan gum and beat again until fully combined.

Add the food colouring and mix well. Evenly spoon the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases and bake for 15-17 minutes, until risen and golden on top. Cool on a wire rack.

Carefully pipe ‘fur’ onto the cakes. Then place two edible eyeballs on each cupcake. Leave to set for 10-15 minutes before eating.

Make the frosting by beating the butter, icing sugar, milk, vanilla extract and food colouring until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag, fitted with your piping tip of choice, ready to decorate.

First, cut a small well from the top of each cupcake with a sharp knife. Add 1 tsp of jam into each well then replace the ‘plug’ of sponge you cut out.

Carefully pipe ‘fur’ onto the cakes. Then place two edible eyeballs on each cupcake. Leave to set for 10-15 minutes before eating.

Storing and Freezing

Once baked and decorated, these gluten free Halloween cupcakes will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

To make these ahead of a decorating session, you can bake the cupcakes and cool them completely, then store them for a couple of days or freeze for up to 6 months.

You can also freeze the cupcakes once decorated. Simply defrost at room temperature before tucking in to a spooky treat!

Variations

I’ve made vibrant green vanilla cupcakes with purple monster faces, but there are lots of ways you can get super creative with this bake!

• Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes: Instead of a vanilla sponge, you could follow the sponge method in my gluten free chocolate cupcakes recipe instead.
• Slimy Centres: Try using a lime or lemon curd for a ‘slimy’ centre instead of a gory jammy one. Or you could use chocolate spread instead!
• Piping Tips: Get creative with different piping tips to create different kinds of monster ‘fur’ on your cupcakes.
• Vary Colours: Use a variety of different coloured icing to create a whole little family of cute Halloween cupcakes. Kids will love creating their own monsters!

If you make this recipe and love it, please do let me know by tagging me on my Instagram or using #theglutenfreeblogger. You can also share your creations in my Facebook group! And please do leave a 5* review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to let others know you loved it too! It would mean the world to me and really helps support my website.