We wanted to make a fun, Hallowe'en-themed treat to take in and share with the Kidlet's class for their end-of-month celebration. I made some pumpkin hummus with a little veggie tray and the Kidlet and TF baked some cupcakes from a boxed cake mix we'd picked up during the last grocery run. Then we turned the cupcakes into this fun graveyard!

NB: I found the icing to be a bit skimpy when I was actually applying it. It didn't seem like there was going to be enough to fully cover the cupcakes and I had to spread it very thin. But it seems like a lot ended up smooshed down between the cupcakes (even with the marshmallows to help fill in the gaps). So now I'm not sure whether it would make sense to scale up the icing in future or not...

Cupcake Graveyard

Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 c. icing sugar
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 20 Oreos, divided
• 24 cupcakes (regular size/2" diameter base)
• 15 marshmallows
• ~1 Tbsp. black and/or green decorating sugar
• black gel/writing icing
• 4-6 giant ladyfingers or oval sandwich cookies
• marzipan or marshmallow fondant
• 3-4 spherical lollipops
• 1/4 c. orange decorating sugar
• green icing¹
• black licorice²

Directions

1. Beat the butter until light and fluffy. (If using stand mixer, the flat beater is best for this job.)
2. Beat in sugar.
3. Add milk a little at a time and beat in well.
4. Crush 13 of the Oreos and beat them into the icing.
5. Adjust consistency with a little more sugar or milk if necessary.
6. Arrange cupcakes in a 4x6 grid with marshmallows in between.
7. Spread the icing over the cupcakes and marshmallows to make a smooth(ish), continuous surface.
8. Crush the remaining Oreos and sprinkle them on top.
9. Sprinkle the green and/or black decorating sugar over top as well.
10. Use the black icing to write "RIP" on the ladyfingers/sandwich cookies and stand them in your graveyard as desired.
11. Take several (6-10) small chunks of marzipan/marshmallow fondant and roll them into balls.
12. Toss the marzipan/fondant balls in the orange decorating sugar to coat. You may need to slightly wet the surface to get the sugar to stick.
13. Place your orange orbs in the graveyard as desired. (These are your pumpkins.)
14. Roll out a portion of marzipan/fondant fairly thin (1-2mm) and then cut out 3-4 large circles (4" diameter).
15. Drape the marzipan/fondant circles over the lollipops. Stand them up in a cup of sugar to stabilize them. Then use the black icing to draw faces on your ghosts.
16. Place your ghosts in the graveyard as desired.
17. Attach an appropriate tip to your tube of green icing (or icing bag if you're using homemade icing).
18. Make little tufts of grass around the base of your tombstones or anywhere else that seems good. Also use the green icint to add stems to your pumpkins.
19. Use the black licorice to make a border around the graveyard. Bend one piece up into an arch if desired.

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¹ I just bought a tube of "kelly green" decorating icing for this. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the coupler to actually attach the icing tips to the tube, so I wasn't able to use and of the green icing. Hence the lack of grass and other embellishments in our graveyard. ^Back
2 I didn't end up getting any black licorice, so that's missing from this rendition as well. ^Back