Bloody Eyeball Halloween Cupcakes

SO much more fun than candy eyes, IMHO.

Anyway, I’m in the midst of working on easy recipes for fun Halloween treats, and some of those are going down that same road!

(Yes, October 31st is still a ways off... such is the nature of food blogging!)

Today, it’s all about adorning the top of a cupcake with those eyeballs, as an easy Halloween cupcakes option.

Sure, they’re not the most adorable Halloween cupcakes ever, but these simple Halloween cupcakes sure do .. Uh, grab the eyes. LOL!

Not only are these spooky Halloween cupcakes perfect to serve your Halloween party guests, they’re a great activity to keep your little ghouls and little monsters entertained!

However you want to make - and serve - this sweet treat, you’re sure to love them!

Happy Halloween!

Ingredients

This recipe is made up of 3 main parts, consisting of fairly simple ingredients:

Cupcakes

I generally make these with my Black Velvet Cupcakes - or Gluten-Free Black Velvet Cupcakes - Halloween versions of my fabulous red velvet cupcakes.

1 batch makes 36 cupcakes, the perfect size to accommodate a whole classroom with delicious Halloween cupcakes.

That said, you can use any cupcakes you like - from scratch, from a cake mix, or even store bought (I won’t tell!).

Dark chocolate cupcakes are always a great base, but vanilla is good also.

While I’d normally suggest considering pumpkin cupcakes - or pumpkin spice cupcakes - as a seasonal flavour option, I don’t know how well that would go with the lychee and berry thing we’ve got going on!

Buttercream Frosting

While I’ll usually frost my ___ Velvet cakes and cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting, I like to stick to a vanilla buttercream for this one - either my American Buttercream (pictured), or my Swiss Meringue Buttercream (when I’m feeling bougie).

You can flavour it any way you’d like, really - I just like a simple vanilla icing with this, to avoid weird flavour conflicts with the topping!

In addition to the actual frosting, you’ll want some food coloring.

As always, I recommend using gel food coloring. Specifically, I recommend Americolor (what I used when I was in the USA), or ChefMaster (Which is the option more readily available here!).

You can usually find them at the large chain craft stores, as well as cake supply shops.

I generally go with a lime green frosting, but this cupcake also works well with a black frosting. The red “blood” sauce tends to get lost against an orange frosting.

The Bloody Eyeballs & Sauce

Sure, you can buy gummy candy eyeballs, but I have a better way to get the gross factor going: Lychees and jam!

I like to use 2 cans of Lychees in Syrup, well drained.

You won’t use them all, but there are always lychees that are too small, ripped, etc. I like to have enough on hand to be picky about it!

I recommend going with a seedless jam, usually either raspberry or strawberry. I prefer the flavour of blackcurrant jam, but it’s too purple for it to look right, IMHO.

You’ll want fresh berries for the eyes. I generally use blueberries, but for some reason they’ve been hard to come by lately.

So, I used Saskatoon berries, as those were readily available at the farmer’s market the weekend we shot this recipe. Easy!

Finally, you’ll need some liquid honey for the “blood”. You can substitute corn syrup, if needed.

Equipment

This recipe doesn’t require a lot in the way of equipment, and some of it is optional.

Decorating Bag(s)

First, you’ll want a piping bag for getting the jam into the lychees. It’s just so much easier than trying to spoon it in.

While you can use an Offset Spatula to slather frosting on each cupcake, I prefer to use another large decorating bag to pipe the frosting on.

I like to keep a huge box of Disposable Pastry Bags on hand, as I use them for EVERYTHING.

No piping bags on hand? You can use a Ziplock plastic bag with a corner cut off it.

Piping Tips

You can use a small round tip to pipe the jam into the lychees if you like, I really don’t bother.

I am generally too lazy to bother with using a large round tip for piping frosting onto the cupcakes, but you can use one - or a large star tip - if you like.

How to Make Bloody Eyeball Cupcakes

Full recipe follows at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Make and cool your cupcakes, set aside.

Make your buttercream. Flavor it with whatever extract you like, then dye it bright green. Cover and set aside.

Bloody Eyeballs

Drain the lychees and reserve the liquid - you’ll need it for the sauce!

Sort through your lychees, and set aside any that are jacked up - cracked wide open, ragged, etc. You want ones that are in one piece and look good.

Next, spoon a few tablespoons of seedless red jam - I like currant, but raspberry and strawberry also work well - into a pastry bag. Snip a small amount of the end off.

Stick the tip of your pastry bag into the opening of a lychee, and pipe in a small amount of jam. Don’t fill it all the way, you need to leave a bit of room for the blueberry.

Note: For the lychees with a REALLY big cavity, I’ll usually put an extra blueberry in first, to take up some of the space. Then I’ll put the jam in.

Finally, pop a blueberry in. You want one roughly the size of the opening. Set it most of the way in, just bulging slightly outside of the opening.

Repeat with your remaining lychees. Place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill until you’re ready to serve the pancakes.

Sauce

Whisk together the jam and the honey until smooth.

Spoon into a disposable pastry bag, tie off with twine or elastic, set aside.

Assembly

Set a large pastry bag up with a large round tip, if desired.

Carefully spoon frosting into the bag, careful to avoid creating air pockets.

Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each of the cupcakes. Use a clean, damp fingertip to create a bit of a dent / crater on top of the frosting.

Clip the very tip off the end of the pastry bag of red sauce, drizzle a bit on top of each mound of frosting, allowing it to ooze from the center of the frosting mound.

Place a lychee eyeball in the center of each frosting mound.

More Halloween Cupcakes

Whether you’re into making cute Halloween cupcakes or spooky cupcakes, the possibilities are endless!

Make spider webs from frosting, place gummy black cats - or gummy worms - top of cupcakes, pipe a hairy green monsters with a basic star tip and some candy eyes, or make creepy spiders out of an Oreo cookie.

I asked a few fellow bloggers for their favourite Halloween cupcake recipes and easy Halloween cupcake ideas, and they did not disappoint!

Check em out (Along with a couple more of my own!):

3D Halloween Bat Cupcakes
Candy Corn Cupcakes
Easy Halloween Bat Cupcakes
Easy Spider Cupcakes
Ghost Cupcakes
Graveyard Cupcakes
Mini Cauldron Cupcakes
Mummy Cupcakes
Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes
Spider Web Cupcakes

More Halloween Ideas

If you're still considering ideas for Halloween recipes and other ideas, be sure to check out my:

Bacon Wrapped Mummy Meatloaf
Black Velvet Cupcakes
Bloody Eyeball Halloween Punch
Deviled Eggs, Halloween Style!
Easy Spider Web Cookies
Elegant Halloween Charcuterie Board
Fruity Glazed Halloween Popcorn
Gluten-Free Black Velvet Cupcakes
Gluten Free Mummy Dogs
Gluten-Free Mummy Jalapeno Poppers
Halloween Pavlova
Halloween Shooters
Halloween Spider Web Halloween Cupcakes
Homemade Pastry Mummy Dogs
Keto Witch Finger Cookies
Gluten Free Witch Finger Cookies
How to Carve a Pumpkin Like a Pro
Jalapeno Popper Mummies
Lychee Eyeball Halloween Pancakes
Mummy Halloween Brownies
Mummy Pastries
Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies
Spider Halloween Bread Bowl

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