Sprinkle Pop is sponsoring today’s post. In exchange for sharing this unique #Choctoberfest recipe, I was allowed to pick out a few of their amazing bespoke sprinkle mixes. All thoughts, ideas, recipes, pictures, and general silliness contained within this post are solely my own and not necessarily that of the sponsor. CLICK HERE to learn more about Sprinkle Pop.

What can make Halloween any better than it already is? Sprinkles, of course. Especially when they’re loaded on top of chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These are the type of Halloween cauldrons your kids will definitely go crazy for, and they’ll also help you clean out that sprinkle drawer or cabinet that’s beginning to get a bit out of hand.

By now, most of you know that I am not the type of girl who ever wants to eat a cupcake. After all, frosting is probably the one thing which I hate most in this world next to lima beans. Every once and a while though, I let someone guilt me into eating one at a kid’s birthday party, but for the most part, I have no problem saying no to a cupcake. And, if I’m being honest, there’s usually a few swear words in front of that no. That being said, please don’t get the impression that I don’t adore looking at a cute cupcake and appreciating it for its beauty or whimsy, because really y’all, there’s nothing quite like a trashed up, super-decorated, over-the-top-flaired-out cupcake to make my head turn. Just know, that when it comes to eating that cupcake, I’m most likely gonna wipe off all of the frosting and sprinkles before I even attempt to go anywhere near it. Thank goodness B.O.B. Bob loves frosting. Otherwise, I’d probably be sneaking it to someone’s dog.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 1/4 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
• 1/4 Teaspoon Espresso Powder
• 12 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 1 (8-oz.) Package Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
• 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 4 Cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
• Food Coloring

Decorations:

• Sprinkles, Candy Eyeballs, Candy Bones, and/or Candy Sugar Skulls
• Cake Pop Sticks, Black Licorice, and/or Small Twigs

Directions:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa, hot water, and espresso powder; set aside
3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together over medium heat until melted. Transfer the mixture to a mixer and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
4. Add in each egg one at a time and mix for 30 seconds after the addition of each egg. Add in the vanilla and mix for 30 seconds. Add in the cocoa mixture and mix for 30 seconds.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
6. On low speed, add half of the sour cream to the mixer; mix until just combined. Add half of the flour to the mixer; mix until just combined. Repeat with the remaining sour cream and flour.
7. Use an ice cream scoop to divide the cupcake batter among the 12 cupcake liners.
8. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
9. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Mix the butter, cream cheese, and salt together on medium speed for 3 minutes.
2. Add the vanilla; mix for 30 seconds.
3. On low speed, add the powdered sugar to the butter and cream cheese mixture 1 cup at a time. Mix until well combined after each addition.
4. When all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 minute or until smooth.
5. Add food coloring and mix until well combined.

Decorations:

1. Add frosting to each cupcake and decorate it before moving on to the next.
2. To decorate, add sprinkles, candy eyeballs, candy bones, and/or candy sugar skulls.
3. Place a cake pop stick, piece of black licorice, or small twig into each cauldron cupcake.

Suggestions:

• This recipe will yield 12 basic chocolate cupcakes and more than enough frosting to decorate them with.
• I used gel food coloring to color my frosting because it’s much easier to work with; it provides a more consistent color and doesn’t water down the frosting. You can dye the frosting whatever color you prefer for this recipe. Green, purple, or gray would all work nicely in this recipe.
• I used several techniques when piping the icing onto each cupcake to see which way would look best. In my opinion, the ones that looked the best were the ones I used two different-sized round piping tips to decorate. First, pipe large and small “bubbles” all over each cupcake, then add sprinkles and top with large decorations such as candy eyeballs, candy sugar skulls, and candy bones. Add more small “bubbles” and then add additional candy bones and sprinkles. This layered look is much more appealing.
• If you don’t have piping tips, fill two large Ziploc bags with icing and snip off a tiny corner of one and a little bit larger corner of the other.

Improvements:

• Add chocolate chips to the flour before you add it to the cupcake batter for an extra dose of chocolate. Adding the chocolate chips to the flour will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.
• If you would like to use the same exact sprinkle mixes that I did, I used the Sprinkle Pop Dia De Los Muertos and Purple sprinkle mixes. I also raided my sprinkle drawer for candy eyeballs and candy bones to make these cupcakes even more fun.
• These cupcakes are a great way to get rid of leftover sprinkles. Mix and match what you have on hand to make them your own unique Halloween masterpiece.
• Make your own stirrers to decorate these cupcake cauldrons. Add a little bit of water to black food coloring and then use a new and clean paintbrush to brush the black dye onto each stirrer. Allow them to dry completely before adding one to each cupcake cauldron.
• CLICK HERE to check out all of our great Choctoberfest recipes.

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Make sure to check out all of the other great #Choctoberfest recipes below.