These spooky Frankenstein Cupcakes are perfect for Halloween! Use this easy cupcake decorating technique to make a Frankenstein face from buttercream and sprinkles on the cupcake flavor of your choice.

🧪Scary Halloween Frankenstein Cupcakes
I’m always on the lookout for cupcake decorating hacks. I love quick tricks to make stunning desserts in a short amount of time — especially when you need to feed a crowd at a party or Halloween carnival. Everyone knows I love super detailed baking projects like my Monster Cake, but sometimes mama needs a break and speed is the name of the game.
These spooky little Frankenstein Cupcakes start with prepared cupcakes of your choice, easy homemade frosting, and a few candy decorations. If you can follow a few simple steps, you’ll be pumping out armies of these Franken-licious monsters in no time. And, the best news is that I’ll be here to walk you through every single step!
🥣More Halloween Treats
If you love baking for a crowd but are short on time, check out my Brain Cupcakes, Dirt Pudding Cups (Dirt Dessert) and Donut Hole Eyeballs!
Or, find more Halloween baking inspiration with our most popular Halloween dessert recipes: Melting Chocolate Skulls, Slice and Bake Halloween Cookies, Witch’s Brew Halloween Punch, and much more!
Table of Contents
🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients
You’ll only need a few ingredients to make some spooky monster cupcakes. Keep these tips in mind as you prepare to bake. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
For the Cupcakes and Frosting
- Cupcakes: You’ll need 24 baked and cooled cupcakes. You can make cupcakes from scratch or use your favorite mix. I used white cupcakes for my little monsters, but you can make any flavor you like.
- Unsalted butter and salt: I like to control the amount of salt in my frosting. I used unsalted butter and then added salt. If you don’t have unsalted butter, you can use salted butter and omit the salt. The butter should be at cool room temperature.
- Milk: Use milk or water to adjust the consistency of the frosting.
- Vanilla extract: It’s best to use a brand of vanilla extract that you enjoy the flavor of.
- Powdered sugar: One of the key ingredients to making American Buttercream is powdered sugar. It sweetens the frosting and helps to thicken it because it contains cornstarch. You’ll want to measure it and then sift it into the mixture.
For the Decorations
- Tootsie Rolls: We’ll use a few Tootsie Roll Midgees to create Frankenstein’s neck bolts. If you don’t have Tootsie Rolls in your part of the world, you could also use black fondant, gumpaste or taffy. You could even try small chocolate candies or bits of pretzel.
- Chocolate jimmie sprinkles: I think Frankenstein is rockin’ his chocolate jimmie fringe but you can substitute as needed. Crushed Oreos, fondant or even just plain frosting would give the illusion of hair.
- Gel food coloring: I love the Americolor brand of gel food coloring. It’s highly concentrated so you only need a little to achieve deep coloring. I used electric green for the base frosting that creates the face and unibrow and super black to dye the frosting for his hair, mouth and scars.
- Candy eyeballs: To complete Frankenstein’s face, I used small candy eyeballs. They are pretty easy to find, but you can also use M&Ms, Sixlets or small round sprinkles.

Equipment
Thankfully, you won’t need much to make Franken-dorable cupcakes–just a few baking basics! (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
- Piping bags and couplers: I like these piping bags (I wash them and re-use them to reduce waste!) and these couplers. You can also make your own piping bags from plastic zipper bags. If you go this route you won’t need couplers or tips, either.
- Piping tips: I’d recommend using a small round tip like Wilton Tip #1 for the mouth and scar, and a slightly larger small round tip like Wilton Tip #6 for the unibrow.
- Cupcake liners: I used plain black cupcake liners when I baked my cupcakes. However, you can have fun when it’s time to serve them by dressing them in solid colored rainbow liners or Halloween cupcake liners.
Ready to Make These?
- Get the recipe below 👇👇
- Scroll below the recipe for step-by-step photos
- Read important FAQs and more
🧡 More Halloween Cupcakes
Leave a Review!
If you make this recipe, let us know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe below, and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram @elabau, or use #sugarhero on IG!

Frankenstein Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 24 baked and cooled cupcakes, from scratch or your favorite mix, I used white cupcakes
For the Frosting
- 1 lb unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 2 TBSP milk, can substitute water
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 28 oz powdered sugar, (7 cups), sifted after measuring
To Decorate
- Black gel food coloring, I used Americolor brand, Super Black
- Green gel food coloring, I used Americolor brand, Electric Green
- 24 Tootsie Roll Midgees, or black fondant or gumpaste
- Chocolate jimmies, or other sprinkle of choice
- 48 small candy eyeballs
Instructions
Make the Frosting
- Place the butter in the bowl of a large stand mixer. Beat on medium speed with a paddle attachment until very white and pale, about 3-4 minutes.
- Turn the speed lower, and add 1 tablespoon of milk, the salt, and the vanilla extract. Mix until everything is well incorporated with the butter.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the powdered sugar. Once all of it is added, stop and scrape down the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl, then mix the buttercream on medium speed for 30 seconds.
- If the buttercream is too stiff for your needs, add the remaining tablespoon of milk and mix it in well. You can adjust the final texture by adding more powdered sugar or milk until you like the consistency.
- Separate out about a quarter of the buttercream and place it in a small bowl. Dye this portion black, using good-quality powder or gel food coloring, like Americolor Super Black. (If you don’t mind some chocolate flavor, you can also add 1/4 cup black cocoa powder to reduce the amount of food coloring needed).
- Dye the remaining three quarters of the frosting a bright vibrant green – I used Americolor Electric Green gel food coloring.
- You can use the colored frosting right away, but it’s best to chill it for at least 1 hour before use. See Note below.
Frost the Cupcakes
- When you are ready to frost the cupcakes, place some green frosting into a piping bag fitted with a plain coupler or large round tip like Ateco tip #809.
- Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pipe a large round ball of green frosting on top of a cupcake (approximately 3 TBSP). Invert the cupcake and gently press it onto one of the lined baking sheets so that the frosting spreads evenly and covers the top of the cupcake. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.
- Chill the cupcakes for 30 minutes in the freezer or 60 minutes in the refrigerator, until the buttercream is very firm. Peel the cupcakes off the parchment, revealing a completely flat buttercream layer on top.
Decorate the Cupcakes
- Place the black frosting into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I used Wilson tip #1).
- Make Frankenstein hair by piping around the top of a cupcake and adding a jagged bottom border. Fill in the center of the squiggly shape with black frosting.
- Right away, spoon chocolate jimmies onto the black buttercream and press down gently so they adhere. (Tip: to prevent the jimmies from sticking to the rest of the face, cover the green portion with a small piece of parchment paper.) Repeat with all of the cupcakes.
- To make a slightly thick unibrow, attach a small round piping tip, like Wilton tip #6, to the piping bag filled with green frosting. Pipe a straight or wavy unibrow just below the sprinkle hairline.
- Place 2 small candy eyeballs below the unibrow. Then use the piping bag filled with black frosting to pipe a zig-zag mouth and sewn-up scar.
- To prevent wilty decorations, prep the neck bolts just before serving. Unwrap each Tootsie Roll and cut them in half widthwise. Then cut each piece in half again so that you have a total of 48 pieces of candy.
- Pick up a piece of Tootsie Roll and use your fingers to gently start rolling downward to elongate the candy. Keep rolling downward until the Tootsie Roll piece begins to look like a neck bolt. Repeat this process until all 48 pieces are prepped.
- Insert a Tootsie Roll neck bolt into the outer rim of the green frosting on the right and left side of the smile. Serve and enjoy!
- Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week. If they have been chilled, allow them to come to room temperature before serving for the best taste and texture.
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Frankenstein Cupcakes
Here’s that step-by-step overview I promised for how to decorate Frankenstein Cupcakes! You can find more detailed instructions in the recipe card above.


Pipe Frosting On Top, Flatten & Freeze
- Prep baking sheets and decorations. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and place the smaller decorations in their own bowls. Set all items aside.
- Fill piping bag. Fit a piping bag with a large round tip, like Ateco #809, or coupler, and fill it with green frosting.
- Pipe frosting ball. Pipe a large round ball of frosting on top of a cupcake (approximately 3 TBSP).


- Turn upside down and press. Turn the cupcake upside down and gently press it onto a lined baking sheet so that the frosting spreads evenly and covers the top of the cupcake.
- Chill until firm. Repeat this frosting technique for all the cupcakes. Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes or the refrigerator for 60 minutes, until very firm.
- Peel the cupcakes off the parchment, revealing a completely flat buttercream layer on top.


Create the Hair
- Prep piping bag with black frosting. Fit another piping bag with black frosting and a small round tip, like Wilton round tip #1.
- Pipe frosting hair. Make the hair by piping along the top edge of the cupcake and then make a squiggly line that connects frome one side to the other. Fill in the center of the squiggly shape with black frosting.
- Sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. Use a small piece of parchment paper to cover the green part of the face and sprinkle chocolate jimmie sprinkles on top of the black frosting. Gently press to secure the sprinkles and repeat until all the cupcakes have sprinkle hair.


Add Facial Details
- Prep green frosting piping bag. Next, attach a small round piping tip, like Wilton round tip #6, to the piping bag filled with green frosting. Pipe a unibrow just below the hairline.
- Add eyes, mouth and scars. Place 2 small candy eyeballs below the unibrow. Pipe on a black zig-zag mouth and scar/stitches. Continue adding facial details until all the cupcakes have a face.


- Shape Tootsie Rolls. Cut 6 unwrapped Tootsie Rolls in half lengthwise. Cut each piece in half again, so that you have 48 pieces of candy total. Take a Tootsie Roll and pinch gently on the bottom half of the piece and use your fingers to gently roll downward until the candy is elongated on one side. Repeat this process until you have 48 neck bolts.
- Insert neck bolts. Insert a neck bolt into the outer rim of the green frosting on the right and left side of the smile on each cupcake. Tip: Tootsie Rolls tend to get soft and droopy with time and may look wilted if they are inserted too early. Add the neck bolts just before serving.
- Enjoy!

💭 Variations
Allergy friendly. Make your cupcakes with your favorite gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free (you get the idea!) recipe or mix to accommodate allergy needs.
Different extract flavoring. I love vanilla flavored buttercream but you could experiment with other delicious extracts like almond, orange or butterscotch.
💡Tips and FAQs
Just a few tips to help you make the best Halloween cupcakes ever!
The frosting used in this recipe is an American-style buttercream (made primarily with powdered sugar and butter). It will form a crust as it sits at room temperature, so you will need to work in batches of 2-3 cupcakes at a time when attaching the sprinkle hair. This will help prevent the frosting from crusting over before covering it with sprinkles.
If the frosting does start to crust, you can brush the top of the black squiggle frosting hair with a bit of water or thinned-out corn syrup to get the sprinkles to stick.
If you don’t have piping bags and tips on hand, you can use Ziplock bags, and cut off one of the corners to pipe frosting through. The size of the corner you cut off will be in proportion to the size of the frosting stream you want to pipe.
If you’ve ever tried to make black frosting, you’ll agree that it is one of the most difficult colors to make. For the best chance of making dark, evenly colored black frosting it’s essential to use high-quality gel or powder food coloring. After mixing in the coloring, it’s also essential to give it time to chill for 24 hours. The chill time allows the color to fully develop and makes a more vibrant black. I recommend making and coloring the buttercream a day before you want to use it.
And, if you don’t mind some chocolate flavor, you can also add 1/4 cup black cocoa powder to the frosting to reduce the amount of food coloring needed.
Frosting. You can actually make and color the frosting several days in advance if desired! Place the colored frosting in an airtight container and press a layer of cling wrap directly on top of the frosting. When you’re ready to use it, let it come to room temperature on the counter, then whip it on medium speed until it regains its light, creamy texture.
Cupcakes. You can also decorate these little monsters ahead of time. After the cupcakes are fully decorated (except for the neck bolts), store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The Tootsie Rolls tend to droop over time, so wait to add the neck bolts into the outside of the cupcake until just before serving.
Frosting. If you choose to chill your frosting before decorating, you’ll want to cover each bowl with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap downward until it touches and covers the top of the frosting. Contact with the plastic wrap will prevent a crust forming on the top of the frosting. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. When you are ready to use it, let it come to room temperature and then whip on medium until it’s light and fluffy again.
Cupcakes. Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week. If they have been chilled, allow them to come to room temperature before serving for the best taste and texture.
