Little Shop of Horrors "Audrey" Cupcakes

These super moist "Audrey" Cupcakes (from Little Shop of Horrors musical) pack TONS of chocolate flavor in each cupcake wrapper! Made from chocolate cake box, this easy, but spooky cupcake recipe with teeth, tongue and mouth will be your new Halloween favorite. Feed me, Seymour.

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Who is Audrey

It's actually Audrey II, not just Audrey. She is a strange, carnivorous plant that appears to have teeth and mouth (Venus Fly Trap) from the Little Shop of Horrors (horror comedy musical film from 1986). Seymour Krelborn, the main character (a poor, nerdy florist) who discovers this unfortunate plant, names it after his crush, Audrey. Hence Audrey II cupcake name. Whenever he fails to feed this plant, Audrey II cries: "Feed me Seymour".

Audrey II represents a variety of things, primarily the dangers of unchecked ambition, the seductive nature of evil, the perils of easy solutions, and the ultimate corrupting power of unchecked desire and greed. How is that for Halloween dessert idea?

Little shop of horrors cupcakes

As we determined, Audrey II is based on a real Venus flytrap plant. It has mouths, soft hairs, and trigger hairs that need to be triggered twice in 15 seconds to snap shut. That's what these Halloween cupcakes are all about: they also have tongue and teeth - all piped easily on top of strawberry slices that represent the mouth of the evil plant.

These Audrey II Cupcakes are playful, eerie and perfect for your next Halloween get together. The base is a soft chocolate cupcake made simple using a boxed mix.

A sliced strawberry and cleverly placed buttercream frosting transforms the cupcake into a dramatic Venus Flytrap plant with tiny little fangs ready to snap shut with a sugary bite.  One look and you'll be crying out "Feed Me, Seymour".

Why you'll love this recipe

Easy: Made from boxed chocolate cake, this Halloween cupcake recipe is super easy to pull off despite its complex look and history.  No fancy mixing methods or complicated steps here. This recipe comes together quickly and is accessible to all skill levels. All you need is a couple bowls, some food coloring, piping bags and a whisk!

Moist and chocolatey: These cupcakes are super moist, pack tons of chocolate flavor and are so easy to make. No cracked, dry cupcakes here. Just super tender chocolate goodness straight out of the oven. Topped with a green chocolate buttercream frosting, these are amazing!

Equipment and tools

• Cupcake/muffin pan
• Paper liners
• Large mixing bowl
• Stand mixer with whisk attachment 
• 4 disposable piping bags
• Large piping tip
• Leaf piping tip 67
• 2 small mixing bowls

Key Ingredients

• Chocolate cake mix: This is the base of Audrey II cupcakes plus plus the ingredients to make the cake.
• Food Coloring: Use Red, Green, Black to create realistic colors for decoration (leaves, throat, tongue, teeth) so that the monstrous plant looks like it wants to gobble down everyone and anyone it can get.
• Strawberries: Medium sized strawberries serve as the "mouth" of the flytrap.

You will also need butter, icing sugar, vanilla, heavy cream.

How to make Audrey II Cupcakes

1. Make cupcake batter: Combine the cake mix with the ingredients listed on the box.  I made a Duncan Hines recipe and it called for 3 eggs, milk and vegetable oil.

2. Add cupcake batter to lined muffin pan: Divide the batter amongst the muffin cups, filling each cavity about halfway full.

3. Bake and cool: Bake for 15-17 minutes and the cool in the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

4. Make the frosting: In the bowl to your stand mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream mix until fluffy.

5. Mix all 3 colors until they are fully combined

1. Add black food coloring to the first small mixing bowl.Very small amount of frosting.
2. Add red food coloring to the second small mixing bowl. Also small amount, but bigger than the black frosting bowl.
3. Add green food coloring to the remaining frosting in the bowl to the stand mixer. This is your largest frosting bowl because it will frost the cupcakes.

6. Divide frosting into 4 piping bags

1. White frosting piping bag (no food coloring obviously). Place 3-4 tablespoons of the white frosting into a disposable piping bag. You don't need a tip or color for this one. This is white little teeth.
2. Black frosting piping bag - very small amount. You will not need a tip for this one. This is the back of the throat.
3. Red frosting piping bag with the Leaf Piping Tip#67 (you can also use leaf tip #69). This is the red tongue.
4. Green frosting piping bag with 1A large piping tip. This is for topping cupcakes with green frosting and is the largest piping bag of all.

7. Prepare the strawberries

Remove the stem from each strawberry.  Slice the strawberry in half, lengthwise.  Keep the two sides together as a pair.  

8. Assemble Audrey II cupcakes

Pipe the green frosting over the top of each cupcake. 

9. Make mouth and teeth

1. Place one side of the strawberry on top of the green frosting.
2. Pipe a dollop of black frosting, about the size of a ½ teaspoon on the wide end of the strawberry.
3. Pipe tiny dollops of the white frosting around the edge of the strawberry.  These will be your little teeth.  

10. Pipe the tongue and remaining teeth

1. Use the red frosting (and the leaf tip) to pipe a tongue from the black frosting to the edge of the strawberry.
2. Use the white frosting to pipe teeth on the opposite (or top) side of each strawberry.
3. Place the top strawberry into the black frosting, making a little strawberry mouth. 

Pro tips for horror cupcakes

• This may sound weird but you want the strawberries to be on the firm (slightly unripened)  side.  Really ripe strawberries are much juicier and you will have a hard time applying the white icing teeth if they are full of moisture.  If the strawberries are really juicy, use a paper towel to dry it before adding the teeth.
• The frosting should hold the strawberry securely but if needed, use a toothpick inserted to keep the strawberry from sliding off.  Be sure to warn your eaters that a toothpick is in there.  
• Serve soon after assembly as the strawberries can weep over time.
• If you have a steady hand and extra piping tips, you can also pipe leaves and curly stems to add to the allusion.

Storing cupcakes

• Refrigerate: Store leftovers, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days.  Due to the moisture in the strawberries, the frosting will start to weep out the colouring. 
• You can freeze the cupcakes and the frosting but the strawberries will not freeze properly.  If you are planning on freezing these cupcakes, I would recommend topping with the green frosting and stopping there. Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. When you are ready to serve them, thaw at room temperature and decorate with strawberries as normal.  

More Halloween Treats Ideas

• Halloween Rice Krispie Treats
• Nutella Ghost Hand Pies
• Chocolate Covered Ritz Cracker Spiders
• Halloween Brownie Cakesicles

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