With Hocus Pocus 2 just coming out, my mind has just been totally witch crazy. I shared a fun Hocus Pocus movie night bucket on TikTok that blew up plus these spellbook brownies, so I’m guessing most people are also in the witching mood. These fun cauldron cupcakes are part cupcake, part rice krispie treat, and part witch’s potion. They’re not only delicious, they’re really cool to look at. And for me, that’s a huge part of Halloween – cute Halloween party foods! These would be perfect for any Halloween party, a Hocus Pocus movie night, or even as fun treats for a fun Halloween celebration in the classroom! You can either make the cupcakes and add them into the cauldrons later or I found these really fun silicone cauldrons that you can actually bake the cupcakes in directly – way more fun! But also way more expensive unless you plan to make witch cupcakes regularly. Make these along with these fun witch rice krispie treats and these witch hat cookies for the ultimate night of witchy fun! Or if you want to use these as cauldron cakes as a Harry Potter recipe, make them along with this easy butterbeer recipe for a Harry Potter themed movie night!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Devil’s food cake mix plus all of the ingredients you need to make the cake (typically water, oil, and eggs) – you could also use regular chocolate cake, but I prefer the devil’s food cake for its richness. You could also use your favorite chocolate cupcakes as well. Pudding mix – I like white chocolate best but you could also use regular vanilla or even cheesecake pudding. Marshmallows – large or mini marshmallows work, I’ve included notes in the recipe card at the bottom of this post with amounts if you want to use mini marshmallows. Green food coloring – I used neon green but you can use whatever green food coloring you want as long as you use the same in the pudding and in the rice krispy treats so they look like they’re all together. Rice krispy cereal – any puffed rice cereal is best, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like rice krispies! Halloween sprinkles – I like to do a combo of Halloween colored sprinkles and candy eyes. Some sprinkle mixtures like this one already have them mixed in or you can mix them in yourself.
You’ll also need 24 little plastic witch cauldrons to put the cupcakes in unless you’re going to buy the silicone cupcake cauldrons I mention below to make these fun chocolate cakes!
How to make cauldron cupcakes
These cauldron cupcakes are pretty easy to make in just three steps – making the cupcakes, making the pudding, and making the rice krispy treats to put on top. There’s really nothing difficult about any of the steps, the most time consuming part is just putting them together!
1 – Make the Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 350°F and place cupcake liners in 24 cupcake tins (aka a cupcake pan). You can either use paper liners or silicone liners – I prefer silicone so they just pop right out. Combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs (or whatever your recipe calls for) in a medium mixing bowl and stir until well blended. A large bowl works as well – just something big enough to hold the cupcake batter! You can either mix this with an electric mixer on medium speed, a hand mixer, or even just with a whisk. It normally comes together pretty easily! Pour batter into the cupcake liners until each liner is about 2/3 full of batter. Bake your witch cauldron cupcakes for 15-20 minutes (or follow package directions if they’re different), or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely either in the pan or on a wire rack, then remove the liners carefully. You really want them to be at room temperature before adding the pudding so it doesn’t just melt off. Move the cauldron handle down so that the inside of the cauldron is easily accessible. Now gently push a cupcake into each cauldron, pushing down enough that you will have room for the pudding on top of the cupcake. It’s okay if you have to break it into small pieces to fit it in, you’re not going to eat it like a cupcake anyway. ca You’ll end up eating these a bit more like a parfait or trifle than a cupcake, but they’re still fun!
2 – Make the Potion Pudding
Whisk the pudding mix and milk together in a medium bowl until fully incorporated, then add a few drops of neon green food coloring, adding a drop or two at a time to achieve desired color, and whisk until color is uniform throughout pudding. Make sure to keep track of what you added to the pudding so you can start with at least that in the rice krispies in a minute. Add the green pudding on top of the cupcake in each cauldron, making sure you don’t overfill. Chill the cauldrons for two hours to let the pudding cool before moving onto the next step. This helps to keep the rice krispies on top from just getting over liquidy and soggy.
3 – Make the Rice Krispy Witches Brew
Now it’s time to make the Rice Krispy treats. Start by melting the butter in a large pot on low heat, then add marshmallows and stir continuously until marshmallows are completely melted. Stir a few drops of green food coloring into the melted marshmallows and mix well. The color will get a little lighter when you add the Rice Krispies so make sure the green is fairly dark. I always start with the same amount that I added to the pudding and then typically double it. Once the marshmallows are melted, remove from heat then add the Rice Krispies to the marshmallows and stir until all the cereal is evenly coated. Immediately put a spoonful of Rice Krispies mixture on top of the pudding in each cauldron. You have to do this before the marshmallows start to cool or it will be difficult to put them on the pudding. It’s great if the Rice Krispies drip down the sides, it will add to the “bubbling cauldron” look! While Rice Krispies are still warm, top with Halloween sprinkles for a perfect Halloween treat! These finishing touches are what really makes these spooktacular! Serve an individual cauldron cupcake to each guest along with a spoon or fork so that they can eat their witches cauldron cupcake out of the plastic cauldrons! They’re the most fun or at least most spooky Halloween cupcakes they’re try all year!
Expert Tips and Storage Info
Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to three days. If you know you aren’t going to eat these immediately, I recommend making the cupcakes and pudding and chilling until you’re almost ready to serve. Then make and add the rice krispies on top right before serving. Clean out the mini cauldrons as soon as possible after to make them easy to clean. They’re easy to clean as long as you do it quickly and then you can reuse the cauldrons for all sorts of things like a bunch of these Halloween games! Add a pretzel stick to the cupcakes if you want to give it that look of a spoon stirring the pot. Change up the colors and try out orange, purple, or even a spooky black potion would be great. If you’re really ambitious, you could do a variety of colors. I just recommend keeping the pudding and rice krispies on top the same color for each cauldron so it looks like one potion bubbling over. Use a piece of parchment paper to grab the rice krispy treats and move them if they’re sticking to your hands. You can also spray them if that’s easier.
More Easy Halloween Treats
Finish off your Halloween dessert table with these other delicious Halloween sweets that are perfect or Halloween season (and for celebrating the Sanderson sisters).
Hocus Pocus brownies – these fun spellbook brownies look just like the infamous spell book in the movie! Halloween cookie bars – delicious M&M cookie bars loaded with Halloween M&Ms, Oreos, and flavor! They’re the perfect treat for serving to little witches and ghouls! Spider cookies – peanut butter cookies topped with the cutest little chocolate spiders! They’re a creepy sweet treat! Spider web pretzels – really fun pretzel treats that look just like a spiderweb, made in just a few minutes!Ghost brownies – easy brownies (store-bought or homemade brownies) topped with the cutest little ghosts for a great treat for this time of year!
