Halloween - Dirt Cupcakes

For this Halloween, my brother went to a party with some of his friends so I offered to bake him a batch of cupcakes, but not just any cupcakes... I wanted to make something a little more... fitting for the season. Halloween comes but once a year and I love getting to change things up!

These cupcakes are super easy to make. I followed the instructions on a box of chocolate cake mix and made 24 cupcakes. You have to let them cool fully before decorating or else the frosting melts. I actually didn't have any chocolate frosting on me so I improvised and used Nutella, which is even better in my opinion! I think it's not as sweet as canned frosting (and with the candy toppings/decoration, the sweetness from the frosting wasn't missed at all), but you can use whatever chocolate frosting you like.

I frosted each cupcake with Nutella. Then, I arranged a gummy worm and a few milk chocolate "rocks" (which can be found in most candy stores like Sweet Factory) on top. As a finishing touch to make it really look like dirt, I covered the exposed Nutella with crushed cookie crumbs. I used about half a package of Anna's Chocolate Mint Thins, but crushed Oreos or any chocolate wafer would work too. I just love the look of the crumbs on top of the worms because it gives the impression that the worms just crawled out of the "dirt." How gruesome! >:P

[As a side note, I actually experimented a little. At first, I covered the frosted cupcake with the cookie crumbs and then placed the worms and rocks on top, but I found that decorations didn't quite stick as well.]

But that's it! See! Isn't that easy? My brother says his friends got a kick out of the cupcakes and said they were really "creative." I gave some of the extras to my friends and they enjoyed them too. Next Halloween, why don't you impress your friends and family with a plate of delicious Dirt Cupcakes? For not a lot of work, you can easily put a smile on someone's face. :)