Venus flytrap cupcakes

These cupcakes are the perfect spooky treat to celebrate Halloween with! Kids will love decorating these biting plants.

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamUpdated: 23 September 2022

These Venus flytrap cupcakes are as fun to make as they look! With vibrant green sponge and white fondant teeth, they are the perfect addition to any Halloween party. Short on time preparing for trick-or-treaters? They can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container.

Find more of Good Housekeeping's ghoulish recipes and Halloween decoration ideas here.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Yields:

Prep Time:

45 mins

Cook Time:

25 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 10 mins

Cal/Serv:

448

Ingredients

For the cakes

175 g
unsalted butter, softened
175 g
caster sugar
3
medium eggs, lightly beaten
175 g
self-raising flour
Finely grated zest and juice 1 lime
Green food colouring paste, we used Sugarflair

For the buttercream

150 g
unsalted butter, softened
250 g
icing sugar, sifted

To decorate

Green food colouring paste
15 g
white sugarpaste/fondant icing
Red icing pen
75 g
green sugarpaste/fondant icing

Directions

1. Step 1Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl. Add 2tbsp just-boiled water from a kettle and beat using a handheld electric whisk until smooth and combined.
2. Step 2Beat in enough green food paste to get your desired shade. Divide batter evenly between the cases. Bake for 25min, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Remove cakes (still in cases) to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Step 3Make the buttercream icing. Using a handheld electric whisk, beat the butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in enough green food colouring paste to get your desired shade. Scrape into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted nozzle.
4. Step 4When the cakes are completely cool, using a small sharp knife, carve a disc from the top of each cupcake, a few mm in from the edge. Cut each sponge discs in 1/2 to make semi-circles. Set aside.
5. Step 5Pipe the icing on top of each cupcake in a tall swirl. Gently press 2 cake semi-circles into each swirl, to resemble a mouth. Using the red icing pen, cover the lower half of each ‘mouth’ with red icing.
6. Step 6Next divide the white icing into 36 pea-sized portions. Mould each piece into a pointy tooth shape. Decorate each ‘mouth’ with 3 teeth. Divide the green icing into 36 cashew-sized portions. Mould each piece into a rough leaf shape. Decorate the base of each buttercream swirl with 3 leaves. Serve.