Hocus Pocus Witch Hat Cupcakes are a cute Halloween treat reminiscent of the Sanderson Sisters in the movie Hocus Pocus. These easy cupcakes would be perfect for your Halloween Party or Hocus Pocus Party this year.
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Witch Hat Cupcakes are much easier than they may look!
We’re using a boxed cake mix for convenience and using our best vanilla buttercream for the frosting.
From there, we just add a few finishing touches for the cutest Hocus Pocus-inspired Cupcakes around.
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🔑 Key to Success #1 – Use Chocolate Cake Mix for Convenience
We’re taking a shortcut by using a boxed chocolate cake mix for these amazing Hocus Pocus Witch Hat Cupcakes.
If you have a favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, you can use it with these cute little cupcakes.
I think when we’re making cute cupcakes like Witch Hats, the focus is more on the design and you don’t expect to bite into a gourmet cupcake.
Plus, I really like boxed cake mixes for cupcakes because they bake up so light and fluffy.
It’s very difficult to get that fluffy texture in a homemade cupcake.
We can make some easy substitutions to make our boxed cake mix taste like it came from a bakery.
🔑 Cake Mix Substitutions to Make Bakery-style Cupcakes
To make the boxed cake mix into bakery-style cupcakes, we’re substituting melted butter for the oil.
This is optional. You can use ingredients and instructions suggested on the box of cake mix if you’d prefer.
A box of cake mix makes 24 standard size cupcakes so you will need two 12-cup muffin pans or you will need to bake your cupcakes in batches.
Be sure to use some cupcake liners in your muffin pans.
I like to use the parchment liners made by Paper Chef. They are naturally nonstick. If you use them, you do not need to spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
For regular paper cupcake liners, I highly recommend spraying them right before you add your cupcake batter.
If you spray the liners in advance, they tend to get greasy during baking.
🔑 Key to Success #2 – Make Deep Purple Buttercream Frosting
We’re using our favorite Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe for these fancy Hocus Pocus Cupcakes.
To make the frosting, start with softened butter. Real butter, not margarine.
Use an electric mixer to cream the butter until it is light colored.
Next, slowly start adding in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
Be sure to stop and scrape down the bowl several times while you are mixing the frosting.
You don’t want to end up with some powdered sugar that is not fully mixed in.
When the powdered sugar is fully mixed in, add in the salt, vanilla extract, and the purple food coloring.
I highly recommend using a high-quality gel food coloring like Americolor.
The Americolor Student Kit is a great starter kit.
It has 12 different colors that you can use for many different kitchen projects.
It has a great bright purple color, called Regal Purple, that I used here for these Witch Hat Cupcakes.
I used about 12 drops of the purple gel food coloring.
You can use less or more to get the shade of purple that you want for your cupcakes.
I highly recommend getting the color that you want before adding the additional milk that is called for in the recipe.
Even though the food coloring is a gel, it will add some additional moisture to your frosting and you may not need to add as much milk.
🔑 Key to Success #3 – Decorate with Cookies and Kisses
Do not be intimidated by the frosting on these cupcakes or the decorations.
It’s really much easier than it looks.
I’ll share all the tips so that your Witch Hat Cupcakes will be a success.
When you are ready to decorate your cupcakes, be sure that you’ve gathered up all the decorating supplies that you’ll need.
Supply List
- large 16-inch piping bag
- open star piping tip, such as Wilton 1M
- Halloween sprinkles
- Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies
- Hershey’s Kisses
You can use reusable or disposable piping bags for these adorable Hocus Pocus-inspired Cupcakes.
I like to use a disposable piping bag that is at least 16 inches long to save on clean-up.
First, snip off the tip of the piping bag then press the piping tip down into the bag.
If the piping tip doesn’t fit into the hole that you cut in the bag, snip off a little more until the piping tip fits smoothly.
The piping tip should fit snugly without any gaps between it in the bag.
Once you have the piping tip fitted into the bag, scoop in the frosting. You do not have to fit all the frosting in the bag at once.
Only put as much as you can handle at once. You can always add more later.
Close the top of the bag and fasten it with a clip.
I use these clips from Ikea that I purchased on Amazon for a few bucks and they work great to keep the frosting in the bag.
How to Add the Witch Hat
First, we’ll add a swirl of purple frosting on top of our cooled cupcake.
- Start at the outside edge of your cupcake
- Hold the piping bag straight up and down over the cupcake
- Squeeze the bag firmly while drawing a swirl on top of the cupcake. You will end in the middle of the cupcake.
- Stop squeezing the bag and pull the piping tip up and away
Next, add the sprinkles on top of the frosting. Be as generous as you would like.
Place one fudge stripe cookie upside down on top of the purple frosting.
The fudge stripe cookie has a hole in the middle of it. Hold your piping bag fitted with the same piping tip right over the hole in the cookie.
Squeeze the piping bag gently to make a dollop of frosting right over the hole.
Finally, place a Hershey’s Kiss on the top of the frosting to make the pointed tip of the witch’s hat.
That’s all it takes to make a super cute Witch Hat Cupcake just in time for Halloween.
📌 Get the Printable Recipe for Hocus Pocus Witch Hat Cupcakes
Save this Hocus Pocus Witch Hat Cupcakes Recipe to your favorite Halloween Cupcakes board or your Halloween Party Ideas board.
Witch Hat Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Frosting
- 1 cup butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- purple gel food coloring
For Decoration
- 1 pkg Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies
- 24 Hershey’s Kisses
- Halloween Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place cupcake liners into two 12-cup muffin pans.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, blend together the chocolate cake mix, water, melted butter, and eggs. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Lightly spray muffin pans with nonstick spray then evenly divide the cupcake batter into 24 cupcake liners in the muffin pans.
- Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set cupcakes aside to cool completely. Once cupcakes are cool, make the frosting.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well on medium speed after each addition.
- Add in vanilla, salt, and 8 drops of purple gel food coloring. Mix well. Add more purple food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
- Add in milk a little at a time until frosting is thick and fluffy.
- To assemble the cupcakes, swirl the purple frosting on top of each cupcake then sprinkle Halloween sprinkles on top.
- Next, place a Fudge Stripe cookie on top of the frosting. Pipe a small dot of frosting over the hole in the cookie. And place a Hershey’s Kiss on top.
Equipment
Nutrition
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