These Skeleton Graveyard Cupcakes are decadent apple spice cupcakes with a quick vanilla frosting that’s been dipped in crumbled Oreo cookies and decorate with white chocolate bones.
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If you’re looking for a spooky and delicious Halloween cupcake to make, these Skeleton Graveyard Cupcakes are one of our favorites. These cupcakes are a fun and festive way to celebrate Halloween and they are a hit at parties.
To make these cupcakes, you’ll need a skeleton chocolate mold. We got this one on Amazon and have used it for all kinds of things, including to make our blackberry skull cupcakes.
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes, but you can scale it to fit however many you need. Double it or even cut it in half for a smaller batch.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the cake
- Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature before starting the batter.
- Cream cheese – The cream cheese also needs to be at room temperature. Always use full-fat cream cheese for this recipe. It adds the wonderful rich creaminess that you won’t get with low-fat versions.
- Sugar – Granulated white sugar or you can substitute with Erythritol or Allulose for a sugar-free version.
- Eggs – Large eggs.
- Vanilla extract – Use a high-quality extract with a nice vanilla flavor.
- Flour – All-purpose flour or cake flour can be used.
- Baking soda and baking powder – These are your leavening agents. Make sure they are fresh!
- Salt – A pinch of salt.
- Sour cream – Use full fat sour cream.
- Spices – Ground cinnamon and all spice. If you don’t want to make these cupcakes spiced, just leave out these ingredients.
For the frosting
- Unsalted butter– This will be used to give the frosting it’s fluffy texture
- Powdered sugar– This will be used to sweeten the frosting.
- Vanilla extract– This will give the frosting more depth of flavor.
For the decorations
- White chocolate melting wafers– You will need this to make the chocolate bones.
- Oreo cookies – You’ll only want to use the cookie part, not the filling so it’s also possible to use any similar chocolate cookies.
Equipment
You’ll need a skeleton chocolate mold. We got this one on Amazon and have used it for all kinds of things, including to make our blackberry skull cupcakes.
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Skeleton Graveyard Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1/4 cup (57 g) softened butter
- 2 ounces (57 g) softened cream cheese
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.5 g) all spice
- 1 1/4 cups (156 g) flour
- 1/4 cup (58 g) sour cream
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup (114 g) softened butter
- 3/4 cups (90 g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) vanilla
For the decorations:
- 14 (14) Oreo sandwich cookies white center removed
- 1/2 pound (227 g) white chocolate melting wafers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Fill a cupcake tin with liners.
For the cake:
- Mix together the butter and cream cheese until smooth in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Add in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla and combine.
- In a separate bowl mix together the all dry ingredients, except for the flour. Alternately add flour and sour cream to the mixture and mix until incorporated.
- Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full and bake for 18-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.
For the frosting:
- Add the butter into the bowl. Beat until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar in 1/4 cup increments, beating until combined between each addition. Then turn the speed on the beater up to high and whip for five minutes or until fluffy.
For decorating:
- Melt the white chocolate wafers in a medium heat-proof bowl at 100% power in the microwave at 30 second increments (or, in a saucepan on the stovetop over medium-low heat). When the mixture is smooth, fill the bone molds about 3/4 full.
- Place the trays in the freezer until the chocolate is set. Remove the pieces from the molds while they are still frozen (they will pop out easier!)
- Use the frosting in a piping bag with a flat tip to frost the top of the cupcakes in a flat layer. You don’t want to mount it up too much or it won’t look like the ground.
- Place the Oreo sandwich cookies (center frosting removed) in the bowl of a food processor and grind until fine. Transfer the cookie dust to a plate.
- Dip each cupcake into the oreo dust, frosting first and roll it around gently to make sure Oreo crumbles adhere to all parts of the frosting.
- Add a few pieces of bones to the top of each cupcake.
Nutrition
Laura is a home cook, with 25 years experience behind the stove, who spends an extraordinary amount of time in the kitchen cooking. She loves making new recipes and finding wonderful new things to eat, both at home or abroad. She spends a lot of time researching, crafting, and perfecting her recipes.