These Beetlejuice cupcakes are sure to impress your friends and family! Striking purple sponge cakes topped with electric green frosting and a fun, homemade stripey cupcake topper. These are perfect for Halloween or watching Beetlejuice 2!
I know I'm a little late to the party but following the release of the Beetlejuice 2 movie, I decided I'd make some cupcakes to celebrate.
They are perfect for Halloween parties or Beetlejuice-themed gatherings, and they are surprisingly easy to make. This was actually my first ever time making fondant cupcake toppers and although they're not perfect, I'm super happy with how they turned out.
Below you'll find all the details you need to get these cupcakes right on the first try. That includes ingredient notes, step-by-step photos and more. I hope you find it helpful but if you'd prefer to skip straight to the recipe card, you can find it right at the end of this post. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- Butter: You can use unsalted butter or salted, whichever you prefer. Take it out of the fridge around 1 hour before you start baking so that it's soft enough to mix. Alternatively, you can cheat and put it in the microwave for 10 seconds!
- Caster sugar: Adds the perfect amount of sweetness while keeping the sponge nice and light. Caster sugar will produce a better texture than granulated sugar so use this if you can.
- Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon for extra flavour.
- Eggs: 3 medium eggs, to help the ingredients bind together and the cakes to rise.
- Self-raising flour: This type of flour already contains a leavening agent, which will save the need to add baking powder separately.
- Food colouring: You'll need purple and lime green or electric green food colouring to create these cupcakes. I recommend using a paste or gel food colouring so you don't alter the consistency of the frosting/cake mix too much.
- Icing sugar: Adds sweetness and bulk to the frosting, making it easy to pipe into beautiful swirls.
- Milk: To adjust the consistency of the frosting as needed.
- Ready-to-roll fondant: Black and white ready-to-roll fondant blocks, or you can make your own if you prefer.
Equipment You’ll Need
- Cupcake cases: 12 cases. If you can, use purple cases to match the theme. I got mine from Amazon.
- Cupcake tin: One that's big enough to hold all 12 cases. I like to use a muffin tin because the slightly deeper holes help prevent the cakes from baking outwards.
- Food scale: This recipe uses grams so use a food scale to ensure accuracy.
- Utensils and bowls: You'll need a large mixing bowl for the batter, a medium bowl for the frosting, a wooden spoon, a toothpick, a teaspoon and a tablespoon.
- Rolling pin: To roll out the fondant.
- Cookie cutter: For toppers that cover the entire cupcake, use a 3-inch cutter and for smaller toppers (as pictured), use a 1.5-inch cutter.
- Small knife: Or a pizza cutter, to create the black and white stripes from the fondant.
- Small food brush: To paint a little bit of water onto your cupcake toppers. This will help the strips stick properly. You can also use your finger if you have to!
- Pastry brush: To dust excess icing sugar off of the toppers.
- Piping bag and nozzle: I used a large star nozzle but use whichever nozzle you like best. If you want to cover the entire cupcake with the topper, you won't need a lot of frosting and can just spread it on with a small palette knife or spoon.
How to Make Beetlejuice Cupcakes
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a cupcake tin with 12 purple cupcake cases.
Step 2: In a large bowl, beat 190g of softened butter and 190g of caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Step 3: Gradually mix in 190g self-raising flour and 3 medium eggs to form a smooth batter. Add a small amount of purple food colouring gel and mix well, until the colour is evenly distributed.
Step 4: Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake cases, filling each one about two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean then let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
Making the Beetlejuice Cupcake Toppers
Step 5: Roll 300g of white fondant to about ½cm thick and use a small round cutter to cut out 12 circles. Use icing sugar to dust your surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking.
Step 6: Reroll the rest of the white fondant to ¼cm thick and do the same with 100g of black fondant. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut thin strips out of both colours.
Step 7: Paint a small amount of water onto your first fondant circle then layer the black and white strips on top. Gently roll with a rolling pin to help press the strips in then recut the circle to get rid of any loose strip ends.
Step 8: Give your topper a good dusting with a pastry brush to get rid of excess icing sugar, then repeat until you have 12 toppers in total.
Electric Green Frosting
Step 9: In a medium-sized bowl, beat 120g of softened butter until creamy. Gradually mix in 400g of icing sugar, using 3-4 tablespoons of milk to help loosen it as needed.
Step 10: Add some lime green food colouring to the frosting then transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
Step 11: Pipe a swirl onto each cooled cake then top with your Beetlejuice cupcake toppers.
Top Tips
- Use gel food colouring rather than liquid to get super vibrant colours without making the cake batter or frosting too runny.
- Make 3-inch toppers and then use a 1.5-inch cutter to cut out a smaller circle in the middle. You can use the small circle on top of the frosting and then use the leftovers to make a ring around the frosting, as pictured below. If you do this for all of your cupcakes then you'll only need to make 6 toppers rather than 12.
- Switch the vanilla extract in the frosting for lime extract. This will give a citrusy kick that complements the green colour.
- If you'd rather not make fondant toppers, you can use ready-made Beetlejuice toppers, chocolate beetles, or black and white candies (such as liquorice) instead.
FAQ
Yes. The cupcakes will last for up to 5 days in an airtight container and the fondant toppers can be made a few weeks in advance.
Yes, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. I'd recommend adding the toppers just before serving as fondant tends to crack in the freezer. You can freeze the cakes in an airtight container and defrost them on a wire rack or plate at room temperature. Do not refreeze.
More cupcake recipes:
- Purple monster cupcakes
- Elphaba Wicked cupcakes
- Black velvet cupcakes
- Halloween funfetti cupcakes
- Halloween spider web muffins
I hope you like these Beetlejuice cupcakes! If you make them at home, please leave a comment and rating below to let me know how you get on. Enjoy!
Beetlejuice Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 190 g Softened butter
- 190 g Caster sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 3 Medium Eggs
- 190 g Self-raising flour
- Purple food colouring (add a little bit at a time until you get your desired colour)
Stripey cupcake toppers:
- 300 g White fondant
- 100 g Black fondant
Frosting:
- 120 g Softened butter
- 400 g Icing sugar
- 3-4 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Lime green food colouring
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 180℃ (160℃ for fan ovens) and line a cupcake tin with 12 purple cases.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy then stir in the vanilla extract.
- Mix in the flour and the eggs, a little bit at a time, until you have a smooth, thick cake batter. Then stir in the purple food colouring.
- Divide the batter between your 12 cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick through the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Stripey cupcake toppers:
- Using icing sugar to prevent sticking, roll the white fondant out to around ½cm thick then use a cookie cutter to cut out 12 circles. A 3-inch cutter will make a topper that covers the whole cupcake while a 1.5-inch one will sit in the middle of the frosting (I used 1.5-inch).
- Re-roll the rest of the white fondant to ¼cm thick and do the same with the black fondant. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut thin strips of each colour.
- Take one fondant circle and lightly brush it with water. Stick the black and white strips on, alternating until the whole circle is full. Repeat with the rest of the circles.
- Gently roll over the strips to press them in, being careful not to squash the topper. Then use your cookie cutter to recut the circles and trim off the edges of the strips (see video if unsure).
- Brush off excess icing sugar with a pastry brush.
Frosting:
- Add the butter to a bowl. Mix in half of the icing sugar and half of the milk. Then add the rest and mix well until smooth.
- Stir the vanilla extract and lime green food colouring into the frosting then transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
- Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake then top with a stripey cupcake topper.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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