A Halloween party isn’t complete without some spooky treats! These Graveyard Cupcakes are easy to make and great for a Halloween party with friends, to bring to a work potluck or classroom party. The rich, fudgy chocolate cupcakes are topped with chocolate frosting, cookie crumbs, a candy tombstone, spider sprinkles, and white chocolate skulls.
Halloween is almost here! We have a Halloween birthday in our family, so we always get really excited for the big day to arrive. October is filled with spooky treats, pumpkin patch visits, and not-so-scary movie nights. That way when Halloween night arrives, we can make our son’s birthday the main event, while still sneaking in time to trick or treat before ending the night with a birthday cake. It’s a sugar-filled day, for sure, but we love it! One of our favorite treats to make in celebration of the festive holiday is Graveyard Cupcakes.
Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes
Halloween cupcakes are some of my favorite desserts to make. These days you can find a great assortment of sprinkles, candy eyes, and molds to make your own chocolate shapes. For the tombstone cupcakes, we made white chocolate skeleton pieces.
The Graveyard cupcakes are made with a fudgy chocolate cupcake batter then topped with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting. Oreo crumbs are sprinkled on top to create a dirt effect. To decorate the cupcakes, we made our own white chocolate skulls and bones in a mold, then wrote RIP with edible markers on tombstone icing pieces. Small bat and spider sprinkles crawl around the cupcakes for a creepy graveyard vibe.
Graveyard Tombstone Cupcakes Ingredients
- Chocolate cupcake recipe (printable recipe below)
- Chocolate frosting
- tombstone icing decorations
- OREO cookie crumbs
- bat and spider sprinkles
- white chocolate
- skeleton mold
How to make Halloween Tombstone Cupcakes (VIDEO TUTORIAL)
More Halloween Recipes:
- Hocus Pocus Treats
- Halloween Candy Charcuterie Board
- Halloween Muddy Buddies
- Frankenstein Treats
- Zombie Cupcakes
- Graveyard Candy Bark
Halloween Graveyard Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
- 2-4 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Graveyard cupcake decorations
- 1 cup white chocolate skeleton bones
- 1/2 cup OREO crumbs
- Tombstone icing decorations
- 1/4 cup spider sprinkles
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare baking pans with cupcake liners.
- Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a stand mixer or large bowl.
- Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in milk, oil, and vanilla until well combined.
- Stir in boiling water and mix thoroughly.
- Pour into baking pans, filling cups 3/4 full. Bake 22-25 minutes. Cool completely before decorating.
Chocolate Frosting
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to beat room temperature butter until creamy.
- Add confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until frosting is smooth. Add 1tbsp of milk at a time to thin out the frosting, or 1/4 cup confectioners sugar to thicken the frosting until desired consistency.
Decorate cupcakes
- Pipe chocolate frosting and cover with cookie crumbs.
- Use an edible food marker to write RIP on tombstone icing decorations. Press into cupcake frosting. Decorate with chocolate bones and candy spider sprinkles.
