Halloween Mini Cupcake Cake

I knew the moment I figured out that Reese’s look like cupcake liners that a cupcake cake needed to happen, and pronto! This not-so-spooky cake is actually pretty simple to put together, and goes over-the-top with the cuteness factor when it comes to your Halloween cakes this season. All it takes is a couple simple steps:

What do I need?

• Mini-reese’s peanut butter cups. Not the small ones with the wrappers on them. You need the MINI ones. You can definitely use the small ones, but they won’t be as tiny.
• Knife. They slice right in half pretty easily. I used a large knife and sliced more than one at a time to speed up the process.
• Air Brush kit with black. It doesn’t take very much coloring because you’re going from brown to black.
• Parchment Paper. The overspray is no joke, haha. Put down some parchment paper and thank me later.
• Small Star Piping Tip. The smaller the cupcake, the smaller the tip you’ll need! This one is itty bitty and perfect for our mini cupcakes.
• Sprinkles. Anything with a little variety will do. You will need to look for little spheres to top off each little cupcake.
• A frosted cake & buttercream. I have a killer vanilla cake recipe that is pretty versatile when it comes to color.

HOW TO MAKE THEM?

1. First, lay down your parchment paper. Slice your mini reese/s in half. This works best if they are chilled. You’ll get more clean cuts that way.
2. Next, lay out all the mini reese’s so they are cut-side-down. Using your air brush, lightly brush the tops and sides of the reese’s. Let them dry for at least 10 minutes.
3. Frost your cake, and when the outside layer is freshly frosted, gently press on your half reese’s bottoms. The peanut butter on the inside should be slightly soft, and will stick to the side of your cake easily. If not, you can always add on a touch of buttercream to help act as glue.
4. Using your small star piping tip, start at the base and swirl up on each of the cupcake bottoms – gradually getting smaller at the top. Add on sprinkles immediately.
5. That’s it! You have your mini cupcakes on the side of your cake.
6. To finish, I pressed on any other sprinkles in the mix around the cake, along the bottom, and on the top.
7. I also used a Wilton 1M piping tip on top for the black buttercream rim.

To see me in a video making this cake, click here.

I hope you love making these mini cupcakes as much as I did! As always, if you recreate my cakes, I’d love to see it! Share with me on @bakingwithblondie on Instagram. #bakingwithblondie.