If you’re craving a sweet treat that embodies the essence of fall, look no further. In this article, we’ll delve into the delightful realm of pumpkin-themed cupcakes, where moist orange and black cake meets creamy, dreamy frosting. These pumpkin-themed cupcakes are perfect for kids to help decorate and enjoy.

These Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes will be a big hit at all your family-friendly Halloween parties. For another fun Halloween treat, try these chocolate covered Halloween pretzels or this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cake!

So roll up your sleeves, grab your pumpkin spice latte, and let’s dive headfirst into the pumpkin patch of cupcake perfection! Get ready for a pumpkin extravaganza that will have you saying, “Oh my gourdness!”

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you. You can see our disclosure page here for more information.

Ingredients Notes:

Box cake mix: For your dry ingredients, you can use 2 boxes of cake mix for this recipe – one box of white cake mix and one box of chocolate cake mix.

Wet ingredients: Most box cake mixes call for vegetable oil or butter. Using butter will give your cake more of a rich flavor. You will also need eggs and either water or milk. I suggest using milk instead of water if you can.

Unsalted butter: You’ll need unsalted butter to make the buttercream icing from scratch for this recipe.

Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar is used for the buttercream frosting.

Vanilla extract: Using pure vanilla extract will give your buttercream frosting a better flavor.

Cream: You can use milk or cream for your buttercream frosting to thin it to the desired consistency. I prefer using heavy cream.

Orange sanding sugar sprinkles: This is optional to give the top of your pumpkin cupcakes a magical glow.

Food coloring: Use a good quality brand like Wilton or Americolor for vibrant colored cake layers. Unfortunately, some cheaper food coloring brands are all right for coloring frosting but when you bake them, the heat destroys the color and your layers will turn out more brown than bright. I personally use buttercream frosting from scratch and Wilton Color Right drops.

More Halloween Fun:

How To Make Pumpkin Cupcakes

Bake the pumpkin cupcakes

To bake orange and black pumpkin cupcakes you’ll need two types of cake batter. You can use your favorite chocolate and vanilla cake recipes, or you can use boxed cake mixes like I did. I used Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge and Duncan Hines classic white. One box of cake mix can make 12-24 cupcakes, so this is a fair warning that you’re going to get a lot of cupcakes from this method.

Mix together 3 eggs, ½ a cup of oil and one cup of water with one box of cake mix in a large bowl. In a separate bowl do the same with your second box of cake mix.

In your bowl of chocolate cake mix, add black food coloring to make it nice and dark. This will help your black stripes look darker instead of brown once the cake is baked.

In your bowl of vanilla cake mix, add orange food coloring to make it a bright orange color. I used this brand of food coloring for both black and orange. Using the right brand of food coloring helps ensure the flavor doesn’t change and the colors are vibrant.

Alternating orange and black striped cupcakes

Now that both cake batter mixes are prepped, spoon the batter into two separate ziploc bags, one bag of black and one bag of orange. Try to squeeze all the air out of your plastic bag before sealing it shut. Cut the tip of the bag off so you can control how much comes out into your cupcake liner.

Alternate a small squeeze of black cake with a small squeeze of orange cake in each cupcake liner until your cupcake liners are all about ¾ full of cake batter and then bake them for 16-20 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit depending on your cake mix instructions and oven.

Smaller amounts of batter will give you more, smaller stripes. If you pour a large amount in at a time you’ll only end up with one or two stripes.

Take your cupcakes out of the muffin tin and cool your them on a wire rack and don’t start decorating until they are completely cooled.

Make the frosting

Make your vanilla buttercream frosting with 1 cup of butter and about 4 cups of icing sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp of cream or milk. Blend it with a hand mixer or stand mixer for two minutes or until it’s fully blended and no sugar crystals remain.

Take out three tablespoons of frosting in a small bowl and add green food coloring. For the rest of your white frosting, take a second bowl and add orange food coloring. I used this same brand of food coloring for my icing as I did with my cake batter.

Decorating pumpkin cupcakes

Use a Wilton 4B piping tip to pipe your orange buttercream frosting on the edges of your cupcake first. Then create your next ridge of frosting inside the outer edge. Pipe a third layer on your second and a stripe of frosting on the center to cover any final gaps.

As an optional step, sprinkle orange sanding sugar on top of the cupcakes to give your pumpkins an extra magical simmer.

Chop large pretzel rods into smaller pieces and insert them into the top of your cupcake to look like a pumpkin ‘stem’. Then use a small round tip (#1 or #2) to pipe a bit of green frosting near the stem to look like a pumpkin vine.

Pumpkin Themed Cupcake Tips

Decorating Alternatives

If you don’t have piping tips, you can still make easy pumpkin cupcakes. Just spread orange frosting on the top of each cupcake, dip them in orange sanding sugar, and add a pumpkin stem as decoration.
If you prefer sweet to salty, try brown tootsie rolls as a pumpkin stem instead of pretzels.

How to store Halloween Pumpkin cupcakes

You can store your cute cupcakes that look like pumpkins in an airtight container for about 2 days at room temperature. You can also freeze your cute little pumpkins for up to 2 weeks.

Final Thoughts on Cupcakes That Look Like Pumpkins

I hope now you’re ready to bring some festive flair to your baking adventures this time of year with these easy halloween cupcakes. Decorating cupcakes like pumpkins is not only a delicious treat but also a creative way to celebrate the enchanting season of fall. If you like cupcake decorating, you might also like to try your hand at decorating a Halloween cake like this Jack Skellington Cake!

You’ll also love this recipe for tasty pumpkin cheesecake and these Halloween Pretzels. If you’re looking for a spooky drink to go along with these Halloween cupcakes, check out this recipe for Halloween eyeball punch!

The best part is sharing them with your loved ones. Whether you’re hosting a Halloween party, a cozy gathering with friends, or simply satisfying your sweet tooth, these pumpkin-themed cupcakes are sure to delight both young and old. Happy pumpkin season!