Monster Cupcakes

These cute Monster Cupcakes are a party hit! The homemade fluffy cupcakes paired with the rich green buttercream frosting create the perfect, spooky bite.

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Decorating time5

Total Time40

Servings: Servings

Calories: 991kcal

Author: Karin and Ken

Ingredients

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup hot water
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting

1 - ½ cups softened butter
2 cups vegetable shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon of pumpkin spice
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons extremely hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Green food coloring

Decore

Candy eyes
Chocolate sprinkles
Large pretzel rods 1 per cupcake **Use small pretzel sticks for mini cupcakes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Fill a regular sized cupcake tin with plain white cupcake liners, set aside.
In a large bowl, add in all of the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
Pour the vanilla into the hot water.
Add the oil, milk, and eggs and water/vanilla mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined.
Use a measuring cup or spoon to scoop batter into each of the lined cupcake cavities. Only fill each cavity approx ½ - ⅔ the way full.
Bake in a preheated oven for 15–20 minutes. Check to see if they are cooked all the way through by inserting a toothpick into one of the cupcakes, if the toothpick pulls out without any raw batter (a few crumbs are OK) then the cakes are done.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling, you can make the spiced vanilla frosting.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the butter and vegetable shortening until light and fluffy.
While the butter is whipping, add the pumpkin spice, vanilla, and salt to the extremely hot water. Let this sit for 2–3 minutes.
When the butter has been whipped, add in half of the powdered sugar and mix on medium speed. While it is mixing, stream in the water mixture.
Once combined, mix in the remaining powdered sugar, and whip until all is combined and light and fluffy.
Add green food coloring and blend until incorporated. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Or you can use a resealable bag and snip off one of the bottom corners.
If the frosting is too soft to pipe, put in the fridge for 5–10 minutes to cool down.
Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe frosting onto each cupcake. Pipe a circle around the top of the cupcake, fill the middle of the circle. Pipe a second circle on top of the first, and fill the middle again. This will give you a bit of a cylindrical shape on top of the cupcakes.
Pour ½ cup of chocolate sprinkles into a small dish, turn each cupcake upside down and dip the cupcakes into the sprinkles gently pressing down until the frosting has flattened just a tiny bit (you are trying to give your Frankie a flat top head while leaving enough space for his bolts and eyes.)
Break off the ends of a large pretzel rod, about an inch on both ends, then stick the broken ends into the “neck” of the frosting (see pictures). Do this for each cupcake.
Add candy eyes to each Frankie.
Set finished cupcakes in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the frosting set up, or until ready to serve.
Serve same-day, or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Store any extra monster cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You may store the cupcakes at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
If you don’t have a piping bag, make your own out of a Ziploc bag.

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