These Halloween Cakes and Cupcakes Are Scarily Fun to Make

Maker, beware: there’s a sugar rush ahead. These spook-ified Halloween cakes and cupcakes are just as delicious as they are scary, so pick your poison and get piping.

1. Eye Love This Cake

OK, the eyeballs themselves aren’t exactly edible — you don’t want a mouthful of styrofoam, no matter how much gum paste is draped around it — but they are an easy way to spook up any cake. Decorate ’em with gum paste petals painted with confectioner’s glaze for an extra dramatic touch.

2. A Monster Mash-Up

When you can’t decide on your favorite monster, go ahead and make two, even three with those fuzzy spider cake pops! Don’t let the tiers on this Halloween cake scare you away, either — they’re really simple to stack and decorate. All you have to do is support ’em with straws!

3. The Tastiest Haunted House

Gingerbread houses aren’t just for Christmas. Build the haunted house of your dreams — err, nightmares — with fondant, buttercream, candy and cookies. It’ll make a fantastic centerpiece at your Halloween party.

4. Mummified Mini Cakes

Miniature Halloween cakes can be just as cute as they are creepy. These mummies are made from stacks of cut-out sheet cake, topped with buttercream and wrapped in textured fondant strips. The best part: you don’t have to make ’em perfect, since mummy wrappings are often a frayed mess anyway!

5. Night of the Living Zombie Cake

It’s aliiiiive! This undead creature looks scarily realistic thanks to meticulous sculpting from modeling chocolate and rice cereal. Place him in a shallow grave of chocolate cake and Oreo buttercream and you’ve got a dessert that’s horrifyingly delicious.

6. A Boo-tiful Design

This cute cake is scary easy to make using basic buttercream and fondant techniques. So even if you’re not a well-versed cake decorator, you can conjure it up with no hassle.

7. The Sparkliest Spider

Even those with arachnophobia may admit this cake is pretty, well, pretty. Beware: you’ll want to allot plenty of prep time before you begin — the gum paste spider needs to dry overnight, so it’s best to craft it a day in advance.

8. Going to the Dark Side

This design puts a Halloween spin on a rainbow that’s gorgeous all on its own, but the little bloated monster is the (figurative) icing on the cake. Sculpted from modeling chocolate, he’s like a warning to everyone: eat too much cake at once and you may pay the price.

9. A Gargoyle Good Time

Between the modeling chocolate gargoyle and intricate stonework piping, this tiered creation looks like it’s straight outta medieval Europe. We recommend using a mold for the gargoyle, so you can focus your efforts on that to-die-for piping.

10. Another Haunted House

If you prefer your spooky homes be made of cake, this tutorial is scarily perfect. Remember, haunted houses tend to look like they’re falling apart, so perfection isn’t the goal — it’s all about creating some creepy character!

11. Feeling Witchy

Get ready to fall under these cupcakes’ spell. Once your pieces are cut out and shaped, simply stick ’em together with edible glue and press into some orange buttercream.

12. Glowed Up

Slime may not make your mouth water at first glance, but one taste of this fruity, sugary version and you’ll soon change your mind. Plus, it’s made with just two ingredients and it glows in the dark! Drizzle it over a cake and you’ve got the most kid-friendly Halloween treat, um, ever.

13. Gone Batty

The cutest bats are ones made from fondant: just look at the sugar pearl eyes! The toothy grin! The little cape! These guys are super simple to make, too, so you can craft an entire colony for your cupcakes.

14. Braaains

Fully embrace your inner zombie with these brains that really are good enough to eat! You won’t believe how easy they are to pull off — all you need are some basic piping skills.

15. The Monster Mash

There’s more to these cupcakes than meets the … eyes. That’s right: there’s a Halloween surprise hiding inside.

16. Heading for Halloween

There’s no better day than All Hallows Eve to look death right in the eye, right? Twist, shape, then stamp the names of all your friends into this fondant gravestone for an extra brave treat.

17. No-Mold Skull Cake

It’s cute. It’s creepy. It’s the perfect Halloween sweet. And you don’t need a special mold to make it — just piece together a round and square cake, then cover both in buttercream.

18. Chocolate Skull Cake

This isn’t just a cake. It’s a marble cake combined with a brownie, combined with a cookie, combined with a cheesecake smothered in chocolate buttercream for a ridiculous-in-all-the-right-ways creation. Oh, and to make things even more chocolatey, it’s packed with goodies like Oreos and and chocolate Pop-Tarts. Y-U-M!

19. No Tricks, Just Treats

If you have little ones around the house — or you don’t like spooky stuff all that much — this is the cake to bake. These monsters are anything but scary, and you’ll get to practice your cake sculpting skills.

20. Til Death Do Us Part

Make a beautiful wedding cake with delicate piping and fondant flowers … and then zombify it. This nightmarish look is perfected with edible fake blood — paint, splatter and pour until you love the finished result.

21. Gettin’ Catty

Every witch needs a familiar, so why not make one out of fondant? These toppers make every cupcake extra superstitious — make a bunch and create the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” scene on top of a spooky cake.

22. Glow-in-the-Dark Cupcakes

In broad daylight, this cupcake may look a bit boring. But once you have it under black lights, you’ll get a jaw-dropping dessert that glows. The secret is all in the buttercream, meaning you can also use it to make other tricky treats.

23. Candy Corn Cake

Whether you opt for the fanged or faceless design, this candy corn cake is oh-so-adorable for Halloween. And because none of the buttercream is visible underneath the fondant, you can use any flavor you love!