The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
I’ve made a lot of “cute for the holidays” desserts that end up looking like a toddler got loose with the sprinkles. These Halloween cupcakes were the first batch where the decorating actually worked on the first try. A rich chocolate cupcake, an orange buttercream, and three faces built almost entirely out of split Oreos. That’s it. No fondant, no piping skills required beyond a star tip.
The trick is treating the Oreo like a building material instead of a topping. Split it, pull the filling, and you’ve got two identical black wafers ready to become ears, wings, or a zigzag pumpkin mouth. Once that clicks, the rest of the decorating goes fast.
Why This Works
Dutch process cocoa is doing more work here than it gets credit for. It’s less acidic than natural cocoa, so it needs the baking soda paired with real acid from the buttermilk to rise properly — skip the buttermilk and swap in milk, and the crumb turns dense and the color goes flat and muddy instead of deep brown.
The oil-based batter (not butter) is the other quiet decision. Oil stays liquid at room temperature, which is why these cupcakes are still soft the next day instead of firming up the way a butter-based cupcake does once it cools. For a dessert you’re decorating and photographing before anyone eats it, that extra hour of workability matters.
Splitting the Oreos and removing the filling isn’t just cosmetic — the leftover cream is what you’d otherwise be scraping off your cutting board when you try to slice a whole cookie into a clean triangle. Filling-free wafers snap into ears, wings, and eyes without crumbling.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 1/3 cups (170g) all-purpose flour (spoon and level to measure)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (42g) Dutch process cocoa powder (spoon and level, sift after if clumpy)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp (scant) salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting
- 2 3/4 cups (330g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 to 3 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, or zest of 2 oranges + 1/2 tsp orange extract
- Orange gel food coloring
Halloween Decorations
- Regular Oreos
- Green M&M’s
- Edible black marker
- Pretzel sticks
- Orange jimmy sprinkles or round sprinkles (or use orange frosting)
Instructions
Bake the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners, then spray the top of the pan around the liners with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until blended.
- Pour in buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Pop the egg yolk with the whisk first, then whisk until well blended — don’t overmix.
- Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.
- Bake 19 to 23 minutes, until cooked through.
- Cool in the pan 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Prep the Decorations
- For cat ears: split Oreos in half, remove the filling, and cut into larger rectangles.
- For bat wings: cut some filling-removed Oreo halves into half moons.
- Draw eyes on green M&M’s with the edible marker — any design works.
- For jack-o’-lantern faces: cut filling-removed Oreos into small rectangles for eyes and a nose. Save the rounded scrap edges for the mouth.
Make the Frosting
- Using an electric hand mixer, beat together powdered sugar, butter, 2 Tbsp heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract (or orange zest and extract) in a large bowl.
- Mix until combined, adding up to 1 more Tbsp cream near the end if it needs to come together.
- Increase speed to high and whip about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy, tinting with orange food coloring as you go to reach your desired shade.
- Set aside 2 Tbsp of frosting in an airtight container for decorating.
- Pipe the remaining frosting over the cupcakes with a star tip, or spread it on with a spatula.
- Save a little frosting to use as “glue” for the eyes and mouths.
Decorate
- Cats: Place one Oreo on a cupcake, then tuck two cut Oreo triangles underneath at the top for ears.
- Dot frosting on the green M&M eyes to stick them down, and add a sprinkle nose, or pipe one with orange frosting.
- Bats: Place one Oreo on a cupcake, then tuck a half-moon wing under each side.
- Add eyes with a dot of frosting and a sprinkle mouth, or pipe the mouth with orange frosting.
- Jack-o’-lanterns: Top with two cut Oreo triangle eyes, a small triangle nose, and the curved scrap pieces arranged into a zigzag mouth.
- Break a piece of pretzel stick and press it into the frosting at the top for the stem.
- Turn four green M&M’s on their side around the stem for leaves.
Prep, Cook & Servings
- Servings: 12
- Prep time: 1 hour
- Cook time: 20 minutes
- Cooling time: 1 hour
- Ready in: 2 hours 20 minutes
Tips
- Remove the Oreo filling with a butter knife, not your thumbnail — it comes off in one clean scrape instead of ten crumbly ones.
- Chill the split Oreo pieces for a few minutes before cutting shapes into them. Cold wafers crack less than room-temperature ones.
- Pipe the frosting before it fully sets up stiff — once it’s fully whipped and cooled, the star tip starts to clog.
- Do the bat wings last out of the three designs. They’re the most fragile cut and you don’t want them sitting around waiting while you finish the others.
Variations
Orange zest and orange extract beats plain vanilla frosting here — the citrus cuts the sweetness of that much powdered sugar in a way vanilla alone doesn’t. Skip the round sprinkles for the pumpkin nose if you have them on hand; the piped orange frosting nose looks more deliberate and holds its shape longer.
Make-Ahead Notes
Bake the cupcakes a day ahead and store them, unfrosted, in an airtight container at room temperature. Don’t frost and decorate more than a few hours before serving — the bat wings especially will only hold their position for about a day before they start to soften and slide off the frosting.
FAQ
Can I use natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch process?
You can, but the color and rise will change. Natural cocoa is more acidic, so it reacts more aggressively with the baking soda — expect a slightly different crumb and a lighter brown color than Dutch process gives you.
Why is my frosting too soft to pipe?
Probably the heavy cream. Start with 2 Tbsp, not 3, and only add more if the frosting genuinely won’t come together — it’s easier to loosen frosting than to stiffen it back up after the fact.
Do I need a star tip to frost these?
No. A spatula works fine and honestly disappears once the Oreo decorations go on top, since they cover most of the visible frosting anyway. The star tip (Ateco 846, if you want the exact one) just gives a nicer edge where frosting peeks out.
How far ahead can I make the Oreo decorations?
Cut and shape them the same day you plan to assemble. Once the filling is scraped out, the wafers dry out and get brittle faster than a sealed cookie would sitting in the package.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re making all three designs for a party, do the math on Oreos before you start — between ears, wings, and jack-o’-lantern faces, you’ll go through more cookies than the recipe list makes obvious at a glance. These also travel fine to a school party in a box as long as the bat wings go in flat.
Halloween Cupcakes
These fun Halloween Cupcakes feature rich chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy orange buttercream and decorated as spooky cats, bats, and jack-o’-lanterns using Oreos, green M&M’s, pretzel sticks, and sprinkles. They are a festive and kid-friendly Halloween dessert that’s perfect for parties, school events, or spooky-season baking.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners, then lightly spray the top of the pan around the liners with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, Dutch process cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
- Add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Break the egg yolk with the whisk, then whisk everything together until the batter is smooth and well blended.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.
- Bake for 19–23 minutes, or until the cupcakes are cooked through and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the Halloween Decorations
- For the cat ears, carefully separate Oreo cookies, remove the filling, and cut some cookie halves into larger triangular or rectangular pieces for the ears.
- For the bat wings, remove the filling from Oreo halves and cut the cookies into half-moon shapes.
- Use an edible black marker to draw eyes or other desired designs on the green M&M’s.
- For the jack-o’-lantern faces, cut filling-free Oreo cookies into small pieces for the eyes and nose. Save curved edge scraps to form the pumpkin mouths.
Make the Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to combine the powdered sugar, softened butter, 2 tablespoons heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract. For orange-flavored frosting, use the zest of 2 oranges plus 1/2 teaspoon orange extract instead of the vanilla.
- Mix until well combined, adding up to 1 additional tablespoon of heavy cream as needed to reach a smooth frosting consistency.
- Increase the mixer speed to high and whip the frosting for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add orange gel food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
- Set aside about 2 tablespoons of frosting in an airtight container for attaching the decorations.
- Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, such as Ateco 846. Pipe a single layer of frosting over each cooled cupcake. Alternatively, spread the frosting over the cupcakes with a spatula.
- Keep a small amount of frosting reserved to use as edible glue for the eyes, mouths, and other decorations.
Decorate the Cupcakes
- For cat cupcakes, place one Oreo cookie on top of the frosting. Tuck two cut Oreo pieces underneath the top edge of the cookie to form ears.
- Attach the green M&M eyes with small dots of frosting. Add an orange sprinkle for the nose or pipe a small nose with orange frosting.
- For bat cupcakes, place one Oreo cookie on the frosting and tuck two half-moon Oreo pieces underneath the sides to create wings.
- Attach the eyes with small dots of frosting, then use a sprinkle for the mouth or pipe the mouth with orange frosting.
- For jack-o’-lantern cupcakes, arrange two cut Oreo pieces for the eyes, a small triangular piece for the nose, and curved Oreo scraps to create a zigzag pumpkin mouth.
- Insert a small broken piece of pretzel stick into the frosting at the top of each pumpkin cupcake to create the stem.
- Arrange four green M&M’s on their sides near the stem to create a leaf decoration.
Notes
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.
The total time is approximately 2 hours 20 minutes, including about 1 hour of cooling time.
Ateco 846 is the recommended star piping tip for the frosting.
Oreo bat wings are best added shortly before serving. They may begin to soften and break after about one day.
Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before frosting so the buttercream does not melt.
