Healthy-ish Halloween spider web cupcakes are a homemade light and fluffy chocolate cupcake. Topped with velvety cream cheese frosting. Perfect for a fun Halloween dessert.
I always imagined Kennedy’s first Halloween. Wondering what we would dress her as and taking her trick-or-treating.
This year is obviously looking very different than any years past.
We still plan on dressing Kennedy up and keeping up our annual Halloween party, just on a smaller scale.
This will be our fifth annual Halloween party, and every year I make some sort of Halloween inspired dessert.
One year it was an easy chocolate graveyard. Another year was healthy pumpkin spice cake pops made to look like mummies. Spooky spider Halloween treats graced the dessert table another year.
This year I’ll be serving up these healthy-ish chocolate spider web cupcakes.
If you love light and airy cupcakes, this homemade chocolate cupcake recipe is going to be for you!
The best part is that literally no one knows that the chocolate base of the cupcake is healthy.
The ‘ish’ part of healthy-ish comes into play with a velvety cream cheese frosting. I honestly just couldn’t bring myself to skimp on this frosting.
Not to mention there’s a little surprise within these cupcakes that you should be super excited about.
Let’s get on with a little step-by-step instructions on how to make these healthy-ish Halloween spider web cupcakes, shall we?
How to make healthy-ish Halloween spider web cupcakes
Making the chocolate cupcakes
In the past, my cupcakes have always been on the denser side. But I’ve always struggled to make a fluffy cupcake from scratch.
I’ve finally accomplished it with these healthy chocolate cupcakes!
A mix of whole wheat flour and almond flour help to make this cupcake light and airy.
This chocolate cupcake is also refined sugar free. It uses a mix of coconut sugar and pure maple syrup to naturally sweeten.
I like to fill my cupcake wrappers about three quarters full. This makes for a nice, large cupcake, and easier to frost.
Speaking of frosting, let’s move on to that.
Cream cheese frosting
I love myself some cream cheese frosting, but there’s one very key thing to keep in mind to make the most velvety frosting.
It’s to make sure that your cream cheese is super soft. If it’s even remotely still firm, you’re going to end up with cream cheese lumps.
To ensure super smooth cream cheese frosting, either leave the block of cream cheese out on the counter while you make the cupcakes. Or you can microwave it.
The key here is softened, not melted. Melted cream cheese won’t allow for the frosting to set up properly.
Surprise center in spider web cupcakes
While creating the spider web on top {a step we’ll get to real soon} is super cute for these cupcakes, I wanted to make them even fancier.
That was accomplished by filling them with a strawberry jam.
And boy does that jam add just the right punch to these fluffy chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate and fruit pair so well together. Why not stuff a fruit jam inside a cupcake?
To do so, it’s pretty simple.
Cut a small circle in the top of each cupcake with a paring knife. Pull the top off the cupcake and it should come out looking a bit like a cone.
Fill the center of the cupcake with some of the jam. Then cut off the bottom of the cone so that only the “lid” of the cupcake remains.
Place the lid back on and you’re ready to frost and decorate.
How to make a spider web cupcake
Here comes the fun, and quite easy, part! Making the spider web on top of the cupcake.
Smear and smooth a hefty amount of cream cheese frosting over the top of the filled cupcake.
Using a black icing and writing pen, make a dot in the center of the frosted cupcake.
Draw one circle around the dot and then one more circle around the outside of that.
With a toothpick and starting in the center, drag the toothpick through the frosting and black gel to create a spider web.
It’s truly that simple when it comes to decorating these spider web cupcakes!
Spooky and Sweet Celebrations
While your cupcakes have that spook factor happening, the sweet factor is riding along.
I’m not kidding when I say that people will have no idea these spooky spider cupcakes are healthy{ish}.
My parents were over when I made them and they couldn’t believe how light and fluffy there were. Or the fact that the chocolate cupcake base contains no butter or refined sugar.
One bite into the center is going to have your friends and family delightfully surprised.
Even if your Halloween festivities look different this year, these cupcakes should still be on the list of must-make!
- 1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup tahini
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- ⅔ cup raspberry or strawberry jam
- Black gel icing
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature {or softened}*
- 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature {or softened}
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
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Directions:
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Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake tins with 18 cupcake liners.
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In a medium bowl, mix together the yogurt, milk, maple syrup, sugar, tahini, eggs and vanilla.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add about half of the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix to incorporate.
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Fill cupcake liners about ¾ full.
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Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.
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Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting. In a medium bowl, add the room temperature cream cheese. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until completely smooth.
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Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until smooth. Add 1-2 Tbsp. milk if the batter seems extra thick.
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Once the cupcakes are cool enough to touch, use a small paring knife to cut a circle out of the top of the cupcake. Fill with about 1 Tbsp. of jam.
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Slice the bottom off the cupcake top and place the top back on the cupcake to seal. Frost the cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.
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With the black gel pen, dot the center of the cupcake. Then make two circles around the dot.
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Using a clean toothpick and starting from the center dot, drag the toothpick through the circles to create a spider web look.**
*Note: cream cheese and butter must be softened, but not melted, to create perfectly smooth cream cheese frosting.
**Note: reference ‘how to’ photos within the blog post to accomplish.
