Add a dash of spookiness to your Halloween spread with these fang-tastic Vegan Halloween Cupcakes! Fluffy vanilla cupcakes get a tall swirl of bright orange buttercream and a shower of Halloween sprinkles, and they’re 100% vegan, with no eggs or dairy anywhere in sight.
Halloween is one of my all time favorite holidays! Our decorations go up on October 1st without fail, and we love getting into the spirit of the season with Fall festivals and pumpkin themed everything.
But somehow I have failed to keep up with the Halloween themed recipes around here. So let me make that up to you with these simple and delicious Vegan Halloween Cupcakes. These cupcakes are:
- Spooky and sweet.
- An easy, family friendly Halloween treat.
- Baked in about 20 minutes, with a simple one-bowl frosting.
- 100% vegan!
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. Gives the cupcakes a soft, tender crumb. For gluten-free cupcakes, use a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend that already contains xanthan gum.
- Sugar. Regular granulated or organic cane sugar both work. Some refined white sugar is filtered through bone char, so choose organic sugar or a brand labeled vegan if that matters to you.
- Almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Together they make a quick vegan “buttermilk” that reacts with the baking soda and lifts the batter without eggs. Any unsweetened plant-based milk works, and soy or oat milk give a slightly richer crumb. Lemon juice or white vinegar can stand in for the cider vinegar.
- Vegetable oil. Oil keeps the cupcakes moist for days. Any neutral oil, such as canola or light olive oil, works. Melted coconut oil is fine too, but it makes a slightly denser cupcake.
- Vegan butter. The base of the frosting. Stick-style vegan butter, like Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, pipes more firmly than a tub spread, which can make a softer, droopier frosting.
- Powdered sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream. As with granulated sugar, pick one that’s organic or labeled vegan to avoid bone char.
- Gel food coloring. Gel colors give a bold orange without thinning the frosting the way liquid drops can. AmeriColor orange gel is a reliable choice.
- Halloween sprinkles. Many sprinkles are coated with confectioner’s glaze (shellac, which comes from insects), so they aren’t vegan. Supernatural Halloween sprinkles are colored with plants and labeled vegan; otherwise, check the ingredient list.
Helpful Tips
Get creative with the decorations. You can use any Halloween themed sprinkles or candies of your choice, just be sure to check the label to make sure they are really vegan. Halloween cupcake liners are a fun touch too!
Don’t overmix the batter. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together only until you can’t see streaks of flour. A few small lumps are fine. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and gives you tough, tunneled cupcakes instead of soft, fluffy ones.
Fill the liners two-thirds full. That’s about 3 tablespoons of batter per cupcake. A spring-loaded cookie scoop makes this quick and keeps every cupcake the same size, so they all bake evenly and finish at the same time.
Cool before frosting. Cool the cupcakes completely before applying the frosting, so it doesn’t melt! Give them at least 30 minutes on a wire rack, or pop them in the fridge for 10 minutes if you’re short on time.
Coloring the frosting. Start with a small amount of food coloring and gradually add more until the desired shade of orange is achieved. Gel colors deepen a little as the frosting sits, so stop just shy of the shade you want. I like these AmeriColor gel food colorings, which are vegan friendly. For a more professional look, use a piping set to apply the frosting in big swirls!
Variations
The orange buttercream in the recipe card is classic, but the same cupcakes and frosting make a great base for all kinds of spooky designs. Here are a few easy ideas, plus some flavor twists.
Spooky Decorating Ideas
- Ghost cupcakes. Leave the frosting white and pipe it through a large round tip into a tall, tapering swirl so each cupcake looks like a little ghost. Press in two vegan mini chocolate chips for eyes and one more for a surprised “oh!” mouth. For taller ghosts, set a vegan marshmallow on the cupcake first and pipe over it.
- Spider cupcakes. Frost the cupcakes (orange looks great here), then set a vegan chocolate sandwich cookie in the center for the spider’s body. Pipe eight bent legs with black-tinted frosting or melted dairy-free chocolate, and add two dots of white frosting for eyes. For a spiderweb instead, pipe a spiral of black frosting on a smooth orange top and drag a toothpick from the center out to the edge.
- Candy corn colors. Divide the frosting into three bowls: tint one yellow, one orange, and leave one white. Spoon the yellow down one side of a piping bag, the orange down the middle, and the white down the other side, then pipe a swirl for a striped candy corn look. Or frost in bands, with yellow at the base, orange in the middle, and a white tip on top.
- Monster cupcakes. Tint the frosting bright green or purple and pipe it on in a messy, shaggy swirl with a grass tip. Add eyes made from dots of white frosting with a mini chocolate chip pupil, as many as you like.
Flavor Variations
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cupcakes. Replace the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend.
- Chocolate Vegan Halloween Cupcakes. Swap ½ cup of the flour for unsweetened cocoa powder for a chocolate version. Chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting are extra striking.
- Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes. Add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients and top the frosting with crushed vegan ginger snap cookies.
- Coffee Flavored Cupcakes. Replace half of the almond milk with strong brewed coffee and decorate the cupcakes with dark chocolate shavings along with Halloween sprinkles. Yum!
Serving Ideas
These cupcakes are made for Halloween parties, classroom treats, and trick-or-treat night. Decorate a batch in two or three styles, a few ghosts, a few spiders, a few candy corn swirls, and set them out on a big platter so everyone can pick a favorite. Planning a Halloween party? Check out our vegan Halloween candy guide to fill the candy bowl too.
To build out a dessert table, pair the cupcakes with something chocolatey, like our chocolate avocado cookies or our vegan no-bake chocolate cookies, plus a bowl of something salty to balance all the sugar. And if there’s a birthday close to Halloween, our vegan funfetti cake makes a colorful partner.
Storing & Freezing
Frosted cupcakes keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 day, as long as your kitchen isn’t too warm. After that, store them in the fridge for up to 4 days, and let them sit out for 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the frosting softens and the cake isn’t cold. Colored sprinkles can bleed into the frosting after a day, so for a party, add them shortly before serving.
For freezing, unfrosted cupcakes work best. Cool them completely, wrap them well or pack them in a freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour, then frost and decorate. The frosting freezes well too: store it in an airtight container for up to 3 months, thaw it overnight in the fridge, and beat it again until fluffy before piping.
To get ahead for a party, bake the cupcakes the day before, store them unfrosted at room temperature, and decorate them the day you plan to serve them.
More Vegan Fall and Halloween Treats
If you love these Vegan Halloween Cupcakes, be sure to check out these other delicious ideas:
- Pumpkin Juice (a Halloween Treat!)
- Best Vegan Halloween Treats
- Vegan Pumpkin Bars
- Vegan Cinnamon Roll in a Mug
Recipe
Vegan Halloween Cupcakes
Equipment
- piping set optional
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar organic
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup almond milk or any other plant-based milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil or other neutral oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
For the Orange Vegan Frosting:
- ½ cup vegan butter softened to room temperature, such as Earth's Balance Buttery Sticks
- 4 cups powdered sugar organic or labeled vegan (bone-char free)
- ¼ cup almond milk or any other plant-based milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- orange food coloring gel, adjust amount to achieve desired shade
For Decoration:
- Halloween-themed sprinkles vegan, without confectioner's glaze
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, combine the almond milk, oil, vanilla extract, and apple cider vinegar.
- Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners, filling each about two-thirds full (about 3 tablespoons).
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack and cool completely, at least 30 minutes, before frosting.
Orange Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the vegan butter until creamy and smooth.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, then the almond milk and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. If it's too stiff to pipe, add a little more almond milk; if it's too soft, add a little more powdered sugar.
- Add vegan orange gel food coloring a little at a time, beating after each addition, until you achieve your desired shade.
- Once the cupcakes are cooled, pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes using a knife or a piping bag.
- Top each frosted cupcake with vegan-friendly Halloween-themed sprinkles.
- Serve and enjoy your spooky Vegan Halloween Cupcakes!
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