Sweet and Fun Halloween Kitty Cupcakes

Since Halloween is almost here, it’s finally time to make kitty cupcakes. My daughter has been requesting these for weeks now! We had a great time making them together, and it was fun for me to explore options to make these with gluten free ingredients.

I also have a FREE Halloween coloring and activity book for you! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to grab yours!

Gluten free cupcake mix

I was interested in finding a cake mix to make our Halloween kitties. This was partly because all the ready-made mixes in my grocery store caught my eye, and I’ve been eager to try them. Also, this was partly because my family has been sick lately, and so it’s a good time to cut corners and make things a little easier on ourselves!

The mix we tried was Simple Mills Naturally Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffin & Cake Almond Flour Mix. The mix is non-GMO and certified gluten free and is available in other flavors as well. It makes 12 cupcakes. You can opt to add a sweetener like refined sugar or stevia or leave it out of the batter. We added a sweetener to ours, and white sugar is included in the nutritional info below the recipe.

The batter is quite thin, but don’t let that concern you. It bakes up nicely and creates moist, chocolately cupcakes. You can taste the almond in the cake, which I like, but that flavor is not as dominant as the chocolate.

We really like this cake and definitely would use it again for future recipes.

Making the kitty faces

Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, then comes the fun part – decorating them to make them look like Halloween kitties! 

First, apply chocolate frosting on top. Then cover the tops with chocolate cookie crumbles to make it look like soft fur. I used Glutino Chocolate Vanilla Creme Cookies. I may have snacked on a couple in the process…

Next, use more of the Glutino Chocolate Vanilla Creme Cookies for the ears by cutting them into quarters. 

Use yellow jelly beans for the eyes, and cut purple jelly beans in half for the noses. To make these treats vegetarian, look for jelly beans without gelatin in them. Here’s one good option for vegetarian jelly beans.

Finally, use black licorice strips for the whiskers. Although traditional licorice contains wheat flour, you can find gluten free, organic licorice laces at the Natural Candy Store. 

As a final step, take very small slices of the licorice and add them to the kitties’ eyes for pupils.

Although these make the eyes look more realistic, they don’t stay on very easily! If you transport these cupcakes to a party or other event, I recommend either adding the small licorice pieces to the eyes after you’ve transported them, or try another method of creating the pupils, such as applying chocolate frosting onto them using a toothpick.

Of course, you can get creative with your decorating. My daughter Isabel wanted to turn some of her cupcakes into rainbow kitties, so she used colorful mini chips on hers. 

We had a fun time making these cupcakes, and I hope you do as well! Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Don’t forget to grab your FREE Halloween coloring and activity book! Scroll to the bottom of this post to get your instant download!

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Halloween Kitty Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote

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Prep 1 hour hr

Cook 20 minutes mins

Total 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Servings 12

Equipment

• Cupcake liners
• Muffin tin

Ingredients

  

• 1 box gluten free chocolate cake mix such as Simple Mills Naturally Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffin & Cake Almond Flour Mix
• 3 eggs if using Simple Mills cake mix
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil if using Simple Mills cake mix
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract if using Simple Mills cake mix
• ⅓ cup sugar optional, and if using Simple Mills cake mix
• 1 can chocolate cake frosting
• 1 box gluten free chocolate cookies such as Glutino Chocolate Vanilla Creme Cookies
• 1 package jelly beans assorted colors
• 1 package gluten free black licorice such as Natural Candy Store Organic Black Licorice Laces

Instructions

 

• Prepare cake batter according to directions. Allow cupcakes to cool.
• Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
• Mash around 6 chocolate cookies with a rolling pin, and sprinkle cookie crumbles on top of the frosting.
• Cut chocolate cookies into quarters and apply two pieces to each cupcake to make ears.
• Apply yellow jelly beans for eyes. To make pupils, use small slivers of black licorice or apply chocolate frosting with a toothpick.
• Cut purple jelly beans in half and put them onto the cupcakes for noses.
• Slice licorice ropes into desired length and width for whiskers.
• Enjoy!