Candy-Coated Oreo Cookie Red Spider Cupcakes for Halloween
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These Red Spider Cupcakes are fun to make and the kiddos will love helping out! Store-bought cupcakes are topped with red frosting and spiders made with Oreo cookies and candies. A plateful of these for the Halloween dessert table will look awesome!
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Red Spider Cupcakes
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved.
How creepy yet somehow cool do these red spider cupcakes look! They’d be perfect for any Halloween party – especially ones that have a strong spider theme!
The cupcake and frosting can be bought ready-made, making that side of things a breeze.
The spiders are made from Oreos dipped in melted candy and finished off with candies to turn them into arachnids.
It might be a fun task for the kiddos to get involved with too!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may have some of the ingredients for this recipe in your kitchen already – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed for this recipe have been listed below and linked to Amazon if available online.
- Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- Black Candy Melt Wafers
- Red Gobstopper Candies – or you could use any round red candy such as M&M’s, just flip them over so you don’t see the m on them!
- Red Twizzler Pull ‘n’ Peel Candy – in the UK you could use strawberry laces
- Chocolate Cupcakes – you can use a box of cake mix, your favorite recipe, or just buy them ready-made from the store!
- Red Frosting – you can use a tub of red ready-made frosting, or use your favorite recipe and color it red.
This recipe uses American cups. They’re a handy piece of kitchen equipment to have along with a kitchen food scale. Having both in your kitchen means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog as I use both cups and weighted measures.
More Recipes Using Oreo Cookies
One of the hero ingredients in this recipe is Oreo Cookies, so here are some more recipes using the same:
Red Spider Cupcakes Recipe Tips
- The Oreo cookies to make the spiders are dipped in candy melts – see my tips below for successful candy melting!
- Have a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper ready to place the dipped cookies on.
- Before dipping the cookies have your decorations ready – so split the Twizzlers into the spider legs, and have the red candy eyes in a bowl to easily pick up and add on.
- Use a fork to hold each cookie as you dip it into the melted candy, or use a candy decorating tool. Gently tap off excess candy and pop any air bubbles with a toothpick.
- Immediately add 4 Twizzer legs to each side of the cookie and the two candy eyes.
- Leave to set for a few hours before making your cupcakes.
- You could serve these red spiders as a stand alone treat too!
Melting Tips for Candy Melts
You can melt candy melts/candy wafers in the microwave or a double boiler, or if you plan on making lots of candy covered treats in the future, I recommend investing in a Wilton candy melting pot as treat-making life is then so much easier!
Try this PME one if you’re in the UK, as the Wilton one is not available on Amazon.co.uk.
If you use the Wilton Candy Melting Pot, you can check out Wilton’s demo video on YouTube which is really helpful. They also give tips on how to melt candy melts in the microwave, as well as using the double boiler method.
The two most important things are
- Do not overheat – use an even melting temperature
- Do not add water – it makes the candy seize up and become unusable. Make sure the equipment used is completely dry, and avoid using utensils that retain moisture like a wooden spoon.
If you find that the candy is too thick, add vegetable shortening or (solid) coconut oil in 1 teaspoon increments, up to 1 tablespoon, and stir well.
Another reminder – do not add water. The very first time I used candy melts I managed to get water in the bowl and it was ruined. Learn from my mistakes! Additionally, do not use vegetable oil, butter, milk, or any other liquids as this will also make the candy seize up.
If you are using your microwave, test melt a small amount of candy melts first, to see how it works. You may need to adjust the temperature and time to suit your machine. Heat in 15-30 second increments, stirring the candy melts each time. They may not look melted, but they might have started melting from the inside. Stirring helps to distribute the heat.
Cupcake Making Tips
- If you are making your own cupcakes, bake them in red cupcake liners.
- If you have bought them ready-made, you can place them in a red cupcake liner to tie in the color theme.
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners.
- Most cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cupcake Frosting Tips
- You will need a piping bag fitted with a large star piping tip.
- If you feel like you are going to be making a lot of cakes and cupcakes in your future, I think it is worth investing in a set of piping tips so that you know you always have the right ones on hand for a recipe.
- Do not overfill the piping bag with frosting, and make sure you squeeze the frosting down the bag to expel any air bubbles.
- If you are not confident with your piping skills you can practice on some parchment paper first and scoop the frosting back into the bag to use on the cupcakes.
More Halloween Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more Halloween cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
How Do I Make Red Spider Cupcakes?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, instructions, and demonstration photos. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Red Spider Cupcakes
These Red Spider Cupcakes are fun to make for Halloween and the kiddos will love helping out!
Ingredients
- 12 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- 1 (12 oz) package black candy melts wafers
- 24 red Gobstopper candies
- Red Twizzler Pull 'n' Peel candy
- 12 cupcakes
- 2 to 3 cups vanilla frosting in red
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.
- Cut Twizzler twist in half (or thirds for shorter legs) and pull strands apart.
- Melt the black candy coating according to package directions. If the candy is too thick to pour, add 1 teaspoon coconut oil or vegetable shortening. Stir well. Do not add water. You can add up to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil per bag of candy wafers.
- Dip each cookie into melted candy. Remove cookie, tapping gently against the side of the bowl, allowing excess candy to return to the bowl. If air bubbles form, pop them with a toothpick. Place the cookie onto the waxed paper.
- Immediately add 2 Gobstopper candies as eyes and press Twizzlers into sides as legs. Allow cookies to set completely before decorating the cupcakes.
- Pipe frosting over the cupcake in a circular direction working from the center of the cupcake towards the outside.
- Top each cupcake with a spider.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 998Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 27gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 602mgCarbohydrates: 159gFiber: 2gSugar: 130gProtein: 4g
This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!
- Appetizer: Jalapeño Popper Mummies Recipe
- Main Dish: Italian Meatball Soup
- Beverage: Zombie Apocalypse Cocktail
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!
The post is part of the Crafty October series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog. Check out Crafty October from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012 for awesome Halloween ideas and inspiration; including recipes, printables, crafts, and more!