Cute Halloween Cupcakes Kids Can Decorate

Play with your food, kids, starting with Halloween cupcakes. Close your eyes and envision not-too-scary, goofy, creepy and even cute images and faces to place on top of cupcakes. You'll be decorating your favorite cupcakes with frosting, candy, marshmallows, sprinkles and chocolate, happily licking your fingers as you go. Start with a box of white or chocolate cake mix and bake 24 regular size cupcakes, or bake twice as many mini cupcakes.

Monsters

Build scary or cute monster cupcakes with the help of mini marshmallows, regular marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, licorice, taffy, red hots, Necco wafers, and any candy shaped like noses or lips.

Create mixed up faces with the candy pieces. Chocolate chips pressed point-down into mini marshmallows become eyes and stretched laffy taffy becomes tongues. Make the eyes different from each other to give each monster its own horrifying look. Make some with only one eye, or a fruit roll up pirate patch to amuse the kids.

Frankenstein comes to life when you dip a large marshmallow into green melting chocolate. Once cooled and hardened, dip one end of the marshmallow into milk or dark chocolate to make the hair. Poke mini butterscotch or white chocolate chips to make eyes. Stick two pretzel ends into the marshmallow to make the bolts. Place Frankenstein on top of a frosted cupcake.

Pumpkins and Cats

Make easy pumpkin shaped cupcakes with deep orange frosting. Draw five lines from the center, towards the cupcake paper to look like ridges. Stick broken pretzel tips in the top of the pumpkin to make the stems. Use chocolate-covered pretzels for a more decadent treat. Sprinkle with orange or white decorating sugar.

Bats are easy to make when you use each half of a chocolate cookies as the wings. Draw on a face with a gel writer or use candy and frosting. Use candy corn to make the ears and stick a long piece of black licorice in the paper to make a tail.

Witches and Bats

Frost a cupcake with chocolate frosting and place a sugar cone, open side down on the cupcake. Add licorice for hair, a candy corn nose and M&M eyes.

Or try a more decadent witch hat cupcake, made by layering frosting and different chocolate treats into the shape of a tall hat. Use a chocolate cookie, then add frosting. Add a miniature peanut butter cup and then another layer of frosting. For the tip of the hat, an unwrapped Hershey's kiss makes the point.

Bats are easy to make when you use each half of a chocolate cookies as the wings. Draw on a face with a gel writer or use candy and frosting.