Chocolate & Vanilla Halloween Cupcakes

Halloween has to rank right up there with Christmas for baking possibilities! All of the decorations and ideas are so cute! I saw a photo of swirled vanilla and double chocolate buttercream frosting in a magazine. I paired the frosting to a batch of cupcakes from a box mix & topped with some scary skull-and-crossbone decorations! Here’s the super yummy buttercream recipe I used:

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Recipe source: Mixingbowl.com
Print Recipe

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or split a vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds)
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, beat the shortening and the butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla extract (or seeds) to the butter mixture. Gradually add the 4 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well on medium speed, scraping sides and bottom of bowl often. When all the sugar is mixed in, the frosting will appear to be very dry. Add 2 tablespoons milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Double Chocolate Buttercream
Recipe source: Mixingbowl.com

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup unsweetened dark Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, beat the shortening and the butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well mixed. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Frosting Instructions
Make both flavors of frosting; then fill a pastry bag half full with both of them (starting at the tip and going down the sides). Usually there’s a little more of one flavor at the bottom, so pipe that out. Then simply swirl on the top of the cupcakes (imagine those soft-serve ice cream machines that have chocolate and vanilla).