Monster Cupcakes

Need a cute and totally fun idea for Halloween this year?  I used this cupcake recipe to make these super cute monster cupcakes for Halloween this year.  I have been dying to make these for at least a year now.  I found the Spiky Monster and One-Eyed Monster in a magazine and then found inspiration for the Frankenstein Monsters while running one day.  They were so much fun to make and turned out so adorable!  I can't wait to come up with more cute monster ideas for next year!

I made a total of 48 monsters.  To make 48 monsters, I used two batches of frosting.  You could make any combination of monsters with about the same amount of frosting!

Frosting (make 2 separate batches for 48 cupcakes):

1 C butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 lbs. powdered sugar

4-6 tsp vanilla extract (to taste)

Place butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in a bowl.

Add half the powdered sugar and begin to combine well with a hand mixer.

Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar until a smooth frosting is formed.

Taste and add more vanilla if necessary.

Divide and color according to monster preference!

Orange Spiky Monsters:

12-16 cupcakes

frosting

Chinese noodles

orange food coloring

mini pretzel sticks

mini marshmallows

brown mini M&M's

chocolate stick sprinkles

Place a small "blob of frosting on the top of the cupcakes.
Add Chinese noodles as spikes.
Place on a cookies sheet and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Dye a bowl of frosting bright orange.
Melt at 20-30 second intervals until liquid enough to dip the cupcakes into.
Remove the cupcakes from the freezer and dip the top of the cupcake in the orange frosting (occasional re-melting of the frosting may occur - also make sure you always have enough frosting in the bowl to submerge the top of the cupcake).
Let the excess drip off and place on a cookies sheet.
For the eyeballs, place a mini marshmallow on the top of a pretzel stick.
Attach with frosting a mini M&M and three chocolate sprinkles to each eye.
Place in the top of the spiky monster body.

 One-Eyed Monsters:
12-16 cupcakes
frosting
large marshmallows
purple food coloring
Junior Mint candies
thin black licorice(optional)
 

Dye a bowl of frosting purple.
Place some white frosting in a small plastic bag with a tiny piece of one corner cut off or in a pastry frosting bag with a small, round tip.
Cut a corner off of each marshmallow (to allow the marshmallow to sit at an angle on the cupcake).
Secure the marshmallows on the cupcakes with a small blob of purple frosting.
Put the remaining purple frosting in a pastry frosting bag or a small plastic bag with a tiny piece of a corner cut off and using a light push and pull motion, create the small spikes all over the cupcake and marshmallow.  Keep the spikes close together for a clean look.
Attach the Junior mint with a dab of white frosting and add a glimmer to the eye!
To make "girly" one-eyed monsters, add 1" pieces of black licorice for eyelashes!

Frankenstein Cupcakes:
12-16 cupcakes
frosting
green food coloring
orange food coloring
giant s'more marshmallows
chocolate sprinkles
mini marshmallows
blue mini M&M's
1/2" strips of thin black licorice
mini Tootsie roll
mini pretzel sticks

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place a pretzel stick halfway through the bottom of a giant marshmallow.
Dye a bowl of frosting bright green.
Melt the frosting in 20-30 second increments in the microwave until liquid enough to dip the marshmallows.
Put 1/2-1 cup of the sprinkles into a bowl or onto a plate.
Dip each marshmallow (holding the pretzel) into the green frosting and let the excess drip off.
Dip the top of the "head" into the sprinkles and place the head onto the parchment paper.
Place the blank heads into the freezer for 15 minutes.

While the heads are chilling, make the eyeballs.
For each set of eyes, cut a mini marshmallow in half.
Using a bag of white icing with a small cut on the corner, secure the blue M&M's on the marshmallows.
Cut each Tootsie roll into four equal segments.
Frost each cupcake with orange frosting.
Once the heads are chilled, use the white frosting to attach eyes, mouths, and neck bolts to each head.
Stick each head into its own cupcake.
Try not to smile when you have a whole posse of Frankenstein cupcakes staring back at you!

*The Orange Spiky Monster and the One-Eyed monster designs come from the Taste of Home magazine.  The Frankenstein cupcakes are a Cookie Sundays original.