Tombstone Cupcakes
Bake yourself an impressive Halloween chocolate tombstone cupcakes graveyard topped with glazed biscuit RIP tombstones.
Published: October 21, 2022 · Modified: March 11, 2024 by Jennifer Ryan
October is one of the best months of the year! As the character, Anne from the famous book Anne of Green Gables quotes “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers”. Not only is it Halloween, but the Autumn colors are just beautiful; the oranges, reds, and yellows of the trees are simply amazing. There’s so much to love, from pumpkin picking, drinking hot chocolate topped with mini marshmallows, and whipped cream, baking Halloween-themed cupcakes, wearing cozy jumpers and thick socks, and best of all, parties with friends, watching scary movies and it’s also pizza month. I mean, you can’t get much better than that.
Halloween Themed Cupcakes
These spooky Tombstone cupcakes are perfect for any Halloween dessert table. The Tombstones are so simple to make, basically a kid-friendly recipe. You could make these cupcakes look even better if you were to make tiny fondant pumpkins to sit beside each glazed tombstone. The chocolate cupcake sponge itself tastes soft, moist and so chocolaty, everyone loves this recipe as it’s quick and easy to make. You just need a whisk and a mixing bowl… And obviously the ingredients LOL.
Halloween Cupcake Ideas
Halloween is such a fun time to experiment with your baking skills. I’ve made a selection of easy and kid-friendly Halloween cupcake decorating ideas, everything from spooky tombstones to zombie’s faces and a few more in between. Having a few delicious spooky cupcake options at your Halloween dessert table will have your friends and family wowed. I normally make two types of cupcakes one using a chocolate sponge and the other using vanilla. From there add the spooky-themed toppings to the cupcakes. All you need is icing, a little food coloring, candy, and a few sprinkles and you can create your very own spine-chilling, spooky, yet very delicious Halloween-inspired desserts.
When is Halloween?
Halloween is always on the 31st of October each year, this year it will fall on Monday the 31st of October 2022. This day is also known as Hallows Eve; it’s the day before All Hallows Day, which is also known by most people as All Saints Day on the Christian calendar. The word Hallows comes from the old English language meaning “hallowed” meaning “made holy” but now everyone knows this day as Halloween.
What is the most popular food for Halloween?
- Candy Apples: Candy apples are juicy, colorful, and perfect for Halloween treats. This is one of those Halloween treats that actually has something healthy in it, and you get 1 of your 5 a day as a bonus.
- Halloween Themed Drinks: Halloween themed drinks are so much fun to make, our most popular kid friendly Halloween drink recipes include Toxic Fizz, Ice Scream Fanta Floats and Witch’s Brew Punch.
- Cone S’mores: Cone s’mores filled with warm gooey marshmallows with melted chocolate are the best combo ever. Cone s’mores are brilliant as Halloween party food and can be made ahead of time and then heated up when you’re ready to serve.
- Pumpkin Pie: Pumpkin pie would make a great addition to any Halloween dessert table. This pumpkin pie recipe is bursting with the taste of Autumn flavors. It’s smooth, rich, and tastes luscious and is always a big hit at the buffet table.
Tombstone Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcakes
- 190 Grams Plain flour All purpose flour
- 200 Grams Granulated sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 25 Grams Cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon White distilled vinegar
- 236 Milliliters Warm coffee not hot
- 80 Milliliters Olive oil
- 1 Medium Egg at room temperature
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
For the chocolate buttercream frosting
- 115 Grams Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 160 Grams Icing sugar
- 30 Grams Cocoa powder
- 2 Teaspoons Milk
For the grey glaze icing
- 225 Grams Powdered icing sugar
- 1-2 Drops Black food coloring
- 15 Milliliters Water
For the decorations
- Chocolate sprinkles
- 12 Biscuits shaped like tombstones any biscuit you like
- 100 Grams White chocolate
Instructions
How to make tombstone cupcakes
- First preheat your oven to 170 C, grab yourself a muffin tin, and fill it with 12 cupcake cases. Then grab two mixing bowls, one for wet ingredients and one for dry ingredients.
- In one bowl add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt then give it a mix making sure there are no big lumps of cocoa powder.190 Grams Plain flour, 200 Grams Granulated sugar, 1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda, 1/4 Teaspoon Salt, 25 Grams Cocoa powder
- In the second mixing bowl add in the warm coffee, vinegar, olive oil, vanilla extract, and 1 egg, then whisk until all the ingredients are combined.1 Tablespoon White distilled vinegar, 236 Milliliters Warm coffee, 80 Milliliters Olive oil, 1 Medium Egg, 2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and whisk until all the ingredients are well combined and you have a runny batter-like mixture (don't over-mix).
- Divide the cupcake batter evenly between the 12 cupcake cases, and fill each paper case 2/3 full, I use an ice cream scoop to make each portion even.
- Bake in the middle of your preheated oven for 20 minutes, to test if the cupcakes are cooked simply stick a wooden cocktail stick into the center of your cupcake, if it comes out clean it's done if there is a little batter stuck to it, pop them back into your oven and bake for a couple more minutes.
- Once baked leave to cool for five minutes in their tin before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
To make the chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer add in your butter (room temperature) and cream it for a few minutes using the paddle attachment or spatula.115 Grams Unsalted butter
- While the butter is being creamed measure out and sieve your icing sugar and cocoa powder into a separate mixing bowl and set to one side.160 Grams Icing sugar, 30 Grams Cocoa powder
- Next, add in your vanilla extract and give it a quick mix.1 Teaspoons Vanilla extract
- Add in your dry ingredients a little at a time and mix well. Continue mixing until the frosting is thick and creamy. Last but not least add 1 tablespoon of milk and give it one more mix until it’s all incorporated.2 Teaspoons Milk
- Using a palette knife add a little chocolate buttercream to the top of each cupcake, making sure to reach the edges and smooth it off, Set the cupcakes to the side once you have finished frosting them all.
How to make the grey glaze tombstone icing
- Sift the powdered icing sugar into a mixing bowl, add in a couple of drops of food coloring then gradually add the warm water until the icing becomes thick and runny and able to coat the back of a teaspoon. You May need to add a little more warm water to get the right consistency, but do this one drop at a time.225 Grams Powdered icing sugar, 1-2 Drops Black food coloring, 15 Milliliters Water
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, now cover each biscuit with grey icing on both sides leaving a section at the bottom un-iced, this will be the end you put into your cupcakes. Place your iced tombstone biscuits onto your lined baking sheet so the icing can set.12 Biscuits shaped like tombstones
- Now its time to melt the white chocolate, to do this simply break up the white chocolate into a heatproof dish and pop it into your microwave, take the chocolate out every 30 seconds to stir then return and continue to melt, keep doing this until the chocolate is fully melted and runny.100 Grams White chocolate
- Dip the tip of a toothpick into the melted chocolate then write the letters R.I.P on each biscuit tombstone.
- Now it's time to decorate your cupcakes. First, add a few chocolate sprinkles to the top of each cupcake. Then add your tombstones, to do this first cut a slit into each cake and then insert each tombstone.Chocolate sprinkles
- Once you’ve done this your tombstone cupcakes are ready to impress.
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Notes
Nutrition
If your hosting a Halloween party this year and need a few more Halloween-inspired recipe ideas to add to your tombstone cupcakes, why not take a look at some of Love Food Feed’s most popular spooky treats? Our Toxic Fizz looks amazing on the drinks table alongside the Witches brew punch, which is always a big hit at all our parties. We even have a spider web celebration cake which would make a great centerpiece at any buffet table.
You can follow Love Food Feed on social media where you’ll see all our new spooky recipes as they come out each week.