Bloody Halloween Cupcakes are easy to make and deliciously spooky with raspberry jam edible fake blood (made without corn syrup!), vanilla buttercream, and soft, tender yellow cake.

halloween cupcakes with fake edible blood

This Bloody Halloween Cupcakes recipe is along the same vein as my Murder Cake (no pun intended, lol).

If you’re looking for a fun treat for a Halloween party that’s both creepy and crowd-pleasing, this is it. And they aren’t any more difficult to make than any other cupcakes!

boody cupcake showing inside filled with raspberry fake edible blood

Here we have soft, tender vanilla yellow cake with a rich vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam filling that doubles as decorative edible fake blood. They taste like buttercream-topped raspberry jam-filled donuts.

For how grotesque these Bloody Halloween Cupcakes look, they are absolutely delicious.

bloody halloween cupcakes with description

In This Article

The Best Bloody Halloween Cupcakes Recipe

What You’re Going to Love About This Halloween Cupcakes Recipe

They’re perfectly spooky for Halloween. Ugh, blood! Our edible blood is made mostly of raspberry jam (without corn syrup). It does a surprisingly good job of simulating blood!
The taste. Of course these are grotesque, which makes them great for Halloween, but they’re also delicious! The soft, tender vanilla yellow cake pairs really well with the fruitiness of the raspberry jam (aka edible blood). And of course a quick and easy homemade vanilla buttercream is the icing on the cake, so to speak! It reminds me of a jelly donut.
How easy they are to make. They’re just as easy to make as any other cupcake!
Make as many as you want. This small batch recipe makes just 8 cupcakes, but it’s easy to double or triple if you need to feed a crowd.

Edible Fake Blood Ingredients Without Corn Syrup

Seedless red raspberry jam
Hot water
Red gel food coloring
Blue gel food coloring

Bloody Halloween Cupcakes Ingredients

Butter
Sugar
Egg
Vanilla extract
Almond extract
Sour cream
Flour
Cornstarch
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt

How to Make Edible Fake Blood Without Corn Syrup

Stir together all ingredients in a small bowl until well-combined.
Add more red and/or blue food coloring to achieve the right color.

Pro Tip: Instead of raspberry jam, strawberry jam will also work! However, you may need a little bit more red and/or blue food coloring.

injecting edible fake blood with syringe into cupcake

How to Make Bloody Cupcakes for Halloween

Cupcakes. Make the cupcake batter, scoop it into a cupcake tray lined with paper liners, and bake the cupcakes. If you’re pressed for time you can use a cake mix, but if you have a couple extra minutes, I highly recommend making this cake!
Frosting. Whip up the frosting. Again, you can use frosting from a can, but making your own is quick, easy, and so much more delicious.
Edible blood. Mix up the edible fake blood. It’s so easy to do without corn syrup! Our recipe is jam-based and thinned out with water. A little food coloring is optional, but helps give it a deeper blood-like color.
Decorate them! Now comes the fun part, putting it all together! You’ll need plastic syringes, which are available on Amazon and sometimes at craft supply stores. Simply draw some of the fake blood into the syringe, insert the syringe into the center of the cupcake, and partially press down on the syringe. And voila, you have a filled cupcake with a bloody syringe! Additionally, you can drizzle a little bit of the fake blood on top.

How to Store Halloween Cupcakes

Unfrosted Cupcakes: Store unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. After that, move them to the fridge for up to an additional 3 days.
Frosted Cupcakes: Once the cupcakes are frosted, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving to soften the frosting.
Decorated Cupcakes: Once the cupcakes are decorated with the edible fake blood, serve them within 4 hours. After that, the fake blood can start to seep into the frosting.

Equipment for This Recipe

Variations on This Recipe

Flavor the cupcakes any way you want. These are vanilla with a very subtle hint of almond aroma, but you can use any type of extract you like.
Play with the frosting. You can add your favorite extract to flavor it, or add food coloring to dye it.
Swap out the raspberry jam to make the edible fake blood. If raspberry isn’t your thing, you can use another flavor of red jam. Just make sure it’s seedless and doesn’t contain fruit pulp. Or you can strain out the fruit pulp and seeds after you thin it out with hot water to make the edible blood.

Tips for Making Halloween Cupcakes

Sour cream swap. If you don’t have sour cream, if you can use the same amount of unflavored Greek yogurt to make the cupcakes instead.
When you’re pressed for time. If time is short and you absolutely have to decide between making homemade cupcakes or homemade frosting, make the cupcakes and buy pre-made frosting! These vanilla cupcakes are so much better than any box mix. The homemade frosting is better too, but the cake is even more so.
The edible fake blood. Our fake blood is actually thinned-out seedless raspberry jam, so it’s a lot more delicious than corn syrup-based fake blood! I like to use a little bit of both red and blue food coloring to get it the right color, but you can omit the food coloring if you want.
Go grotesque. Make a batch of edible bloody eyeballs to decorate the tops of these cupcakes.

More Halloween Recipes to Make

bloody syringe halloween cupcakes recipe

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Grotesque Bloody Halloween Cupcakes Recipe (Easier to Make Than You Think!) {video}

The Best Bloody Halloween Cupcakes Recipe

What You’re Going to Love About This Halloween Cupcakes Recipe