These Witch Hat Cupcakes are the perfect Halloween treat. They are spooky in the most adorable way, and super fun to make. Chocolate cupcakes, filled with caramel, topped with buttercream and a witch hat made out of ice cream cone and cookies! These are the perfect Halloween cupcakes because they are easy to make and will be a hit with all the trick or treaters!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cupcakes, halloween
Prep Time 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 14cupcakes
Calories 300kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Caramel Sauce
1/2cupgranulated sugar100 grams
1/4cupheavy cream60 ml
3tbspunsalted butter42 grams
1/2tspsalt
Chocolate Cupcakes
1cupall-purpose flour127 grams
1cupDomino® granulated sugar200 grams
1/2cupunsweetened cocoa powder33 grams
1tspbaking powder
1/2tspbaking soda
1/4tspsalt
1large egg
1/2cupmilk120 ml
1/3cupvegetable oil80 ml
1tspvanilla extract
1/2cupbrewed coffeeor hot water (120 ml)
Buttercream Frosting
1 1/4cupunsalted buttersoftened (282 grams)
4 1/2cupsDomino® powdered sugar562 grams
1/4cupheavy creamor milk (60 ml)
2tspvanilla extract
One drop yellow food coloring
A few drops purple food coloring
A few drops green food coloring
Witch Hats
2 1/2cupschocolate or black candy melts425 grams
1cupblack sanding sprinkles200 grams
14round chocolate cookies
14ice cream conesI used mini ones
Instructions
Caramel Sauce
Place the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly with a spatula to ensure the sugar is melting evenly.
Once the sugar has melted entirely and it’s a light amber color, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream. Be careful when doing that because the mixture will bubble up and splash.
Continue stirring for another few seconds until the bubbles subside a bit. Then add the butter. Continue to mix until the butter melts entirely. Don’t overcook or the caramel will be too hard once it cools down, as soon as the butter melts, remove the pan from the heat.
Add the salt and stir. Then pour the caramel in a small bowl and let it cool down completely at room temperature.
Chocolate Cupcakes
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF and line 14 cupcake tins with paper liners.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
In another bowl, or in a measuring cup, mix together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients over the sifted dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
Add the hot coffee or hot water and whisk until the mixture is smooth. The batter will be very runny, and that’s ok.
Fill each cupcake tin about halfway full with batter, and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 18 minutes, until you can touch the surface of a cupcake and it springs right back, or a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.
Buttercream Frosting
Beat the butter with an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium-high speed.
Sift the powdered sugar, and with the mixer off, add it to the bowl with the butter. Turn the mixer on a low speed.
While the butter and powdered sugar get mixed in together, slowly add in the heavy cream or milk, and vanilla to the bowl.
Raise the speed of the mixer to medium-high and beat the ingredients together for 1 minute, scraping in between, until fluffy and creamy. If the frosting is too stiff, add another teaspoon of heavy cream or milk at a time until it comes together. If the frosting is too runny, add a bit more sifted powdered sugar until it comes together nicely.
Remove about 1/3 cup of frosting and set aside. Divide the rest of the frosting between two different bowls. To the 1/3 cup of frosting, add the yellow food coloring, and mix to combine. Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a number 1 round tip.
To one half of the remaining frosting, add the purple food coloring, mix to combine. Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a number 3 tip. And to the other half, add the green food coloring and mix to combine. Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a number 3 tip.
Witch Hats
Place the chocolate or candy melts in a shallow bowl, place in the microwave for 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Also place the sanding sprinkles in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Dip the top of the chocolate cookies on the melted chocolate and place on top of a baking sheet. It’s best to work with a few at a time, so the chocolate doesn’t dry before you get to the next step.
With two fingers inside the ice cream cone to hold it, roll the sides of the cone around in the melted chocolate, coating it completely, and make sure to lightly scrape off the sides of the cone to drip off the excess.
After rolling the cone in the melted chocolate, and removing any excess, immediately roll the cone in the sanding sprinkles to coat it completely. Then place the cone on top of a cookie dipped in the chocolate, this way the cone will stick to the cookie. Grab a spoonful of sprinkles and sprinkle it over the sides of the cookie to coat the sides of the witch’s hat. After doing this to every 14 cones, place them in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden up.
Use the green or purple frostings in the piping bag lined with the number 3 tip, and go around the bottom of the hats, drawing a line to decorate the witch’s hat. Then using the yellow make a square in the front of the hat on top of the purple or green line.
To assemble and decorate the cupcakes
Lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Remove the number 3 piping tip, and spread out the remaining green and purple frosting next to each other on top of the plastic wrap.
Roll the plastic wrap onto itself to form a log. Then place the log of frosting inside of a piping bag lined with the tip of choice. I used a 6B.
Use an apple corer or a spoon to remove the center of each cupcake. Spoon or pipe a bit of the cooled caramel sauce inside each cupcake.
Frost the cupcakes with the bicolor frosting, and immediately place a decorated hat on top.
Place the cupcakes in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before serving.
Notes
Caramel Sauce: To make the caramel sauce, you have to be careful not to overcook it. If you overcook the caramel sauce it will become hard. And because this is a small batch, it's very easy to overcook it because it will cook extremely fast. So be aware of that fact.Chocolate Cupcakes: you can use hot water instead of coffee if you don’t want to use brewed coffee. You can also add 1 tsp of espresso powder to the dry ingredients when mixing them together, if desired.Buttercream frosting: make sure the butter isn’t too soft. The perfect butter temperature to use to make frosting is 72 Fahrenheit. If the butter is too soft, the frosting might be too runny.