How to make these easy DIY fake cupcakes for Halloween

Whether it’s for decoration, a storefront or just for fun, these DIY fake cupcakes are perfect for Halloween. They are super easy and they look good enough to eat. Here’s how to make these ultra-realistic faux cupcakes.

I make a scarecrow for the Ashton Gardens Scarecrow Festival in Lehi, Utah every year. This year, I decided to make a monster cupcake stand. So, naturally, I had to make some cupcakes to go with it. I found the easiest and most realistic-looking way to make fake cupcakes. And the best part is that I can use them year after year. Check it out!

Gather your DIY fake cupcake supplies

Most of these supplies for your Halloween cupcakes are probably hanging around your house. But there are a few specific items that you might need to run to the hardware store for. Here’s the list of supplies:

DAP Fast Dry High Strength Spackling (instead of the plaster of paris pictured below)
Great Stuff Window and Door insulating foam (in the blue container)
Decorating bags or piping bags
1M star piping tip
Cupcake liners
Cupcake pan
Plastic Halloween toys (to decorate the cupcakes)
Paint brush
Green, orange, purple, light gold and orange acrylic paint

Step #1: Make your cupcakes

This first step is the easiest. Place your cupcake liners in the cupcake pan. Then, using the insulating foam, fill each of the cupcake liners just to the top of the liner. The foam will expand a little bit as it dries, so you don’t want to fill it too full or not enough. Once you’ve filled all the cupcake liners, set the faux cupcakes aside and allow them to dry overnight. If you don’t want to use insulating foam, you can also try air-dry clay or styrofoam balls.

*Spray insulating foam to the top of each cupcake liner*

Step #2: Frost the cupcakes

Once your insulating foam has dried completely, it’s time to frost the cupcakes. But first, you’ll want to paint the tops of each cupcake a light golden brown color. You want it to look like freshly-baked cupcakes out of the oven.

Paint the cupcakes a light golden brown on top. — *Paint the cupcakes a light golden brown or with brown pain on top so it looks like real cake.*

Next is the frosting. You’ll want to use a pre-mixed light-weight spackling. I tried using the powder spackling but it was super heavy and I could never get the perfect consistency. I finally bought the DAP fast-drying high-strength spackling and it was super smooth and lightweight. It looked just like real cupcake frosting. Mix the spackling and your choice of colored acrylic paint and then place the frosting in a decorating bag with a 1M star piping tip.

Mixing paint with the spackling. — *Mix together acrylic paint and spackling together in a bowl.*

Slowly squeeze the colored spackling in a circular motion around the top of the cupcake. It should form a tiny mountain on top. The 1M star tip gives the spackling the perfect texture. Then, allow the spackling to cool.

Frosting the faux cupcakes — *Pipe the colored spackling in a circular motion on top of the faux cupcake*

Step #3: Decorate your fake cupcakes

Finally, it’s time to decorate your spooky DIY fake cupcakes with Halloween accessories. I bought a bunch of spider and vampire rings at the Dollar Store and cut off the ring part. I also bought some fake eyeballs and cut them in half. Then, I just glued each one onto the cupcakes with hot glue.

Hot glue a cute plastic Halloween toy onto each cupcake — *Hot glue a cute plastic Halloween toy onto each of these decorative cupcakes*

Of course, you can make these adorable fake cupcakes for any occasion, not just for Halloween. They would be perfect for birthdays, Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Display them on a cute cupcake holder. They would also be so much fun as play food for kids. Here’s a short video tutorial showing how I made these cupcakes. Enjoy!