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Home » How to Make All-Natural Zombie Brain Cupcakes

How to Make All-Natural Zombie Brain Cupcakes

Published September 23, 2015 18 comments >>

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This fun Halloween cupcake recipe and icing tutorial makes blood-red brain cupcakes that are all-natural … no, they do not contain real BRAINS, but they are made with real ingredients and contain no artificial food coloring!

Disclosure: Netflix provided me with a streaming device and service in return for writing about their service. The opinions and free printables in this post are my own. #StreamTeam This post uses affiliate links. They don’t cost you a thing and help us bring you creative projects. Read more in Policies & Disclosures.

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

Calling All Zombie Fans

Are you a walking Dead Fan? I have to admit I love the series. It’s ominous and suspenseful without being too gory or disgusting. Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of blood and zombie killing… but it’s not so scary that it will keep you up at night.

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

Fall is the perfect time to snuggle up on the couch with a glass of wine, a good cupcake, and your shelfies.  Shelfies are those shows you’ve been meaning to watch but they’ve been sitting on a virtual shelf (probably collecting dust) because you haven’t had the time.

Confession:  I was late to the Walking Dead party, I binge watched the first five seasons on Netflix.

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

Mini Spice Cake Cupcakes with Beets

Every celebration needs some tasty snacks! You can make these these delicious blood-red brain cupcakes for a Minecraft, Night of the Living Dead or Walking Dead party. a Halloween get-together, or a night at home watching your favorite shows.

This fun spice cake tastes surprisingly like pumpkin cake with one difference, the intense red color! I’ve topped the cupcakes with simple cream cheese frosting decorations any zombie (or zombie fan) can appreciate. BRAINS!

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

No Artificial Coloring Needed

The red cupcake batter and pink frosting contain no artificial food coloring or dye. (I try to avoid artificial food coloring which are petroleum-based chemicals used to add color to food. You can read about the dangers of food dye at 100 Days of Real Food.)

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

 

So just how did I get my cake and icing these delightful shades? Fresh beet puree! Beets are a beautiful shade of red and add both delicious flavor and color to this fun recipe. Just look at the beautiful batter!

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

Zombie Crate Craft

The brain cupcakes look perfect in my free printable zombie gift boxes. These simple paper boxes are designed to look like a shipping crate and have lots of fun uses:

  • Fill them with fun zombie party favors
  • Use the zombie shipping crates for Valentine Day gift giving. Don’t forget to add the free printable Valentines!
  • Get the free printable Zombie Crates in my Zombie Valentine post.

Valentine Zombie Apocalypse Craft and Free Printable Valentine Cards will help you celebrate your love of all things zombie. Get the tutorial and free printable at BrenDid.com. These would make great zombie party favors.

 

Print
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Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

All Natural Zombie Brain Cupcakes

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Bren
  • Prep Time: 12 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 22 minutes
  • Yield: 24 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

Celebrate Halloween with some delicious blood red beet spice cupcakes with simple brain icing decorations any zombie (or zombie fan) can appreciate. Recipe uses beets instead of artificial food coloring. Perfect for the Walking Dead.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup beet puree
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini muffin tin with cupcake papers.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, beet puree, egg and vanilla.
  3. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until completely combined.
  4. Use a small scooper or spoon to drop two teaspoons of batter into each cupcake paper.
  5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, making sure a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. The cupcakes should spring back when lightly touched.
  6. Remove from the oven and let cupcakes cool completely.
  7. How to make beet puree: Wash and boil three small to medium beets until tender. Remove skins and puree until smooth. (Add a tablespoon or two of the water you boiled the beets in if necessary to puree.)


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 mini cupcake
  • Calories: 41
  • Sugar: 4.6
  • Sodium: 59.1
  • Fat: 0.3
  • Carbohydrates: 9
  • Protein: 0.9
  • Cholesterol: 7.8

Keywords: Zombie Brain Cupcakes, Natural Red Velvet Cupcakes

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @brendidblog on Instagram and hashtag it #brendid

Recipe Card powered byTasty Recipes

 

How to Decorate Brain Cupcakes

Making the brain decorations is easy. You need pink icing (see recipe below) and a pastry decorating bag with a 1/8 inch or #6 round icing tip.

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

 

Brain Icing Steps

  1. Bake 24 mini beet cupcakes and cool completely.
  2. Use about 1 tsp of icing and a small knife or spatula to smoothly frost the top of each mini cupcake.
  3. Pipe a line to the right of the center, slightly curve the end.
  4. Pipe a line to the left of the center, slightly curve the end.
  5. Stating at the curved end of the right line, pipe two squiggly lines outside the right line.
  6. Stating at the curved end of the left line, pipe two squiggly lines outside the left line.

 

Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

 

Print
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon facebook facebook icon print print icon squares squares icon heart heart icon heart solid heart solid icon
Catch up on the Walking Dead episodes, get a fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe, and celebrate everything zombie and goolish.

Naturally Pink Cream Cheese Icing

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Bren
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 4 minutes
  • Total Time: 14 minutes
  • Yield: 2 cups 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

This tasty icing is a beautiful shade of pink but uses no artificial colors. Learn how to use beet puree instead of red dye in this easy recipe.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 oz cream cheese (softened)
  • 1/8 cup unsalted butter (softened)
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla
  • 2–4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2–1 tsp beet puree
  • dash salt

Instructions

  1. Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until no lumps remain.
  2. Scrape down sides of bowl and add 1 tsp beet puree. Mix until uniform in color.
  3. Stir in powdered sugar one cup at a time until you have a stiff icing.
  4. Use to frost cupcakes.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 tbsp
  • Calories: 83
  • Sugar: 14.8
  • Sodium: 24.2
  • Fat: 2.6
  • Carbohydrates: 15.2
  • Protein: 0.3
  • Cholesterol: 7.7

Keywords: Naturally Pink Icing, Cream Cheese Icing

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @brendidblog on Instagram and hashtag it #brendid

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how to frost brain cupcakes
This fun and healthy Halloween cupcake recipe contains no artificial color or dye and is still blood red! Celebrate everything zombie and goolish this Halloween! Host a the Walking Dead party. Get a free printable zombie containment crate.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tracy

    October 26, 2017 at 11:37 am

    Hi Bren!
    I think the use of beets is a great idea.. I was just wondering how you created your beet puree. I found recipes online but they don’t look like the same smooth consistency. I plan on attempting these for the office Halloween party. If you are willing to share the recipe for the beet puree, I know me and my coworkers will appreciate it!

    Reply
    • Bren

      October 26, 2017 at 1:09 pm

      Thanks, Tracy. I make the beet puree by boiling three small to medium beets until tender. Cool then remove skins and puree until smooth in a food processor or smoothie blender. (Add a tablespoon or two of the water you boiled the beets in if necessary to puree.)

      Reply
      • Jenni

        August 7, 2018 at 11:30 am

        Is thee any way to edit the recipe and include these beet purée instructions in them? 🙂 I plan on making these for my son’s birthday. Also, have you ever tried a gluten free flour instead? Think they’d turn out?

        Reply
        • Bren

          August 9, 2018 at 8:25 am

          Jenni, to make beet puree simply roast a beet in the oven until soft then cool, peel and blend with a few tablespoons of water (use a blender or food processor). You can also peel the beets, cut into quarterse and boil until tender then cool and blend the beets with a few tablespoons of the water they were cooked in (use a blender or food processor). The boiling method is a little faster. 😉

          Reply
  2. Stephanie

    March 10, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    I bet the beets would work for red velvet cake too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Bren

      March 10, 2017 at 4:01 pm

      Yes! In fact, beets are the original “red” of red velvet cake… it’s only modern versions that use food coloring!

      Reply
  3. Stephanie

    March 10, 2017 at 2:00 pm

    I love that you created a cool “red recipe” with natural ingredients instead of food coloring. These are yummy!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Bren

      March 10, 2017 at 4:01 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Tale

    October 29, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    These are so nice! 🙂 I’m going to test them out this Halloween! 😀

    Reply
    • Bren

      October 30, 2016 at 8:43 am

      I hope you like the recipe! They are easy to frost and turn out cute.

      Reply
  5. Micki

    February 2, 2016 at 10:57 am

    These are so awesome! We don’t do any artificial ingredients (I’m the mom that brings her own cupcakes to bday parties). Our school does a cake walk for a fundraiser, and I’d love to participate with something not junked up. If I used an organic mix instead, do you think that I could reduce the oil in place of the beet puree? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Bren

      February 2, 2016 at 11:20 am

      Thanks Micki! Yes, you should be able to use a mix and substitute some of the oil for beet puree. It’s a great idea for a cake walk!

      Reply
  6. Tianna

    October 2, 2015 at 10:49 am

    these came out so amazing! Love it ♥ pinned! also excited for fall TV shows 🙂 I’m most excited for Sleepy Hollow, iZombie, Vampire Diaries and Heroes Reborn ♥

    Reply
    • Bren

      October 4, 2015 at 6:46 pm

      Thanks Tianna! I just watched the first episode of Heroes Reborn. I am loving fall television this year.

      Reply
  7. ValEventGal

    September 28, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    Definitely pinning for later these are adorable!

    Reply
    • Bren

      September 29, 2015 at 12:05 am

      Thanks Val!

      Reply
  8. Gina Wamsley

    September 26, 2015 at 7:44 am

    This is such a neat idea! Pinned and shared! Thanks for linking up with us at #Pinbellish! I hope you come back next Friday to pin some more!
    -Gina @ Gina’s Craft Corner (Concealed carry purses w/ style)

    Reply
    • Bren

      September 26, 2015 at 9:47 am

      Thanks Gina!

      Reply

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