These easy Jack Skellington Pull Apart Cupcakes make the perfect Halloween party dessert! Movie-inspired Nightmare Before Christmas cupcakes are a must for fans of the classic film!
Jack Skellington Pull Apart Cupcakes
A couple weeks ago, our family had the real treat of experiencing Disneyland during HalloweenTime. I didn’t know that this was a thing before, but WOW, was it amazing!
HalloweenTime features gorgeous fall-themed decorations, Halloween and pumpkin-flavored foods, and many of the Disney characters dress up in Halloween costumes. We had a blast taking in all the sights and trying as many of the festive foods as possible.
Related: Click here to see our Disneyland HalloweenTime Food Tour!
The Nightmare Before Christmas was my sister’s favorite movie as a kid, so the ONE thing she really wanted to do was track down Jack Skellington for a meet & greet.
Jack and his love interest Sally were a popular duo, especially during Halloween season, so there was a little wait to meet them. However, it was worth the wait for my sister to talk to her favorite characters and get a photo together. This was our last day at HalloweenTime and the perfect ending to our Disneyland adventure!
Now that we’re home, I think we’ve all been in a little bit of what I’ve dubbed “Disney withdrawal.” Disneyland is so magical that it’s easy to miss all the excitement!
To bring a little bit of that Disney Halloween magic to our kitchen, we decided to make a Jack Skellington Pull Apart Cupcake Cake. It’s a fun Halloween party dessert surprise – it looks like a cake, but is actually a lot of individual cupcakes!
Jack Skellington Cupcakes Ingredients
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- 1 Box chocolate cake mix
- 2 cans white buttercream frosting
- 1 can chocolate buttercream frosting
- Black gel food coloring (we love gel food coloring because it creates such vibrant colors!)
- Halloween cupcake liners
- Reusable decorating bags
- Black food coloring
- Muffin tin
How to Make a Jack Skellington Pull Apart Cupcake Cake
First, watch our quick video demo (1:20 min) to see how we made these Nightmare Before Christmas cupcakes. Then keep reading for photo step by step instructions. A printable recipe card is available at the bottom of the post.
Click video to play:
TIP: To save time, we made our cupcakes using box cake mix. This should make approximately 2 dozen cupcakes.
Arrange your cupcakes in a circle shape. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle, as Jack’s head is not perfectly round.
Scoop white frosting into a piping bag with a wide opening and apply enough frosting to cover the surface of all the cupcakes. Use an offset spatula to smooth frosting so that you can’t see any of the cupcake below. It takes quite a bit of frosting!
In a mixing bowl, combine your frosting with a 5-10 drops of black food coloring and whisk until your frosting is a rich black color.
Scoop black frosting into a piping bag with a smaller tip. Draw the outline of Jack’s eyes and mouth, then fill in the details. Use your spatula to smooth.
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Nightmare Before Christmas Cupcakes Recipe (Printable Copy):
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Jack Skellington Pull-Apart Cupcakes (with Video)
Ingredients
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 2 cans white frosting
- 1 can chocolate frosting
- 5-10 drops black food coloring
Instructions
- Prepare about two dozen cupcakes according to the package directions. We used chocolate because they would match the black & white color scheme, but you can use any flavor you prefer.
- Arrange your cupcakes in a circle shape. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle, as Jack's head is not perfectly round. Make sure cupcakes are complete cool before frosting.
- Scoop white frosting into a piping bag with a wide opening. This allows you to easily get your frosting onto the cupcakes, without tearing them up or moving them out of place.
- Once you have a generous coating of frosting on all the cupcakes, gently spread the frosting with an offset spatula until you have a flat surface.
- In a mixing bowl, combine your frosting with a couple drops of black food coloring. Stir until you have a rich, even color.
- Scoop black frosting into a piping bag with a smaller tip. Draw the outline of Jack's eyes and mouth, then fill in the details. Use your spatula to smooth.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More of our favorite Halloween recipes:
Halloween Bento Lunch for Kids
Jack ‘O Lantern Mini Orange Halloween Cupcakes
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Julie says
Thank you for the recipe and the detailed instructions. Just wondering if you have any advice on how to store it, rather what or how to cover it with to store it. I made this and used home made cream cheese frosting. Part of the decorating was damaged when we covered it and put it in the refrigerator. No big deal this time since I only made it to learn but next time it will be more important.
Stacey aka the Soccer Mom says
Hi Julie, do you have a cake keeper? This might help if you’re making in advance! Here’s an example on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2pznXor (that’s my affiliate link)
Fontilla says
Hi, this was very detailed and easy to make. I made this for my daughter to surprise her for her birthday which is today.
Thank you,
Fon
Stacey aka the Soccer Mom says
Wonderful! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed it! Hope your daughter loved the cupcakes too!