Drop of Disney

Happy Friday! It’s Halloween weekend and my favorite witches are back again! Inspired by the cupcakes at Disney World, I’m excited to share these copycat Hocus Pocus Amuck Cakes! These rich chocolate devil’s food cake cupcakes have a fluffy peanut butter filling and are topped with orange, yellow, and violet buttercream in the style of each sister’s distinctive hair.

Hocus Pocus is my favorite Halloween movie and so I always make something Hocus Pocus inspired around Halloween as it’s the night the Sanderson Sisters came back from the dead. After seeing pictures of the Hocus Pocus Amuck Cupcakes that are available at the Grand Floridian in Disney World, I knew I wanted to recreate them at home.

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To make the devil’s food cupcakes, first combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until combined. Then, stir in the boiling water. Don’t worry, the batter will thin and runny.

Pour the batter into a 12-cup muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. For these cupcakes, I used black foil cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes at 350 F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, use an apple corer to remove the inside center of each cupcake. Set the cupcakes aside while you make the peanut butter filling and buttercream frosting.

To make the peanut butter filling, first beat the butter and peanut butter in a medium bowl until fully combined. For this recipe, I used regular creamy peanut butter. Add the powdered sugar and milk and beat until fluffy. Add additional milk if needed. Transfer the peanut butter filling to a piping bag. To fill the cupcakes, cut the end of the piping bag off and pipe the filling into the center of each cupcake.

To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and milk and beat until combined. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.

Separate the frosting into three bowls so that you can dye them. For this recipe, I used Americolor gel food coloring in lemon yellow, orange, and violet. Add a few drops of yellow gel food color to one of the bowls, a few drops of orange gel food coloring to a second bowl, and a few drops of violet gel food coloring to the last bowl. Stir each bowl of frosting until the color is completely distributed. 

To decorate the cupcakes, you’ll need to transfer each color of frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Since I just have the one piping tip, I simply transferred one color, decorated the cupcakes, and then removed and clean the piping tip before transferring another color to a piping bag fitted with the star tip.

To make the Winifred cupcake, pipe a swirl of orange frosting on top of a cupcake. Then, pipe two small rounds of frosting on the sides of the frosting swirl.

To make the Mary cupcake, pipe a swirl of violet frosting on top of a cupcake. When you’re piping the swirl, make the rounds smaller as you go up so that it looks a bit uneven and off balance.

To make the Sarah cupcake, pipe a swirl of yellow frosting on top of a cupcake. 

Once these Hocus Pocus Amuck Cakes are decorated, enjoy! Happy Halloween!

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Hocus Pocus Amuck Cakes

Inspired by cupcakes at Disney World, these copycat Hocus Pocus Amuck Cakes are a rich devil’s food cake with a fluffy peanut butter filling and colorful buttercream to match Winifred’s, Mary’s, and Sarah’s distinctive hair!

Course Dessert

Keyword Chocolate Cupcakes, Copycat, Halloween, Hocus Pocus

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup + 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup boiling water

Peanut Butter Filling

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk

Buttercream Frosting

• ¾ cup 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons milk
• orange gel food coloring
• yellow gel food coloring
• violet gel food coloring

Equipment

• 12 cup muffin pan
• black cupcake liners
• piping bags
• large star tip

Instructions

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
3. Add the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully combined, about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin and runny).
5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Once cupcakes have cooled, use an apple corer to remove the center of each cupcake.

Peanut Butter Filling

1. In a medium bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until fully combined.
2. Add powdered sugar and milk and beat until fluffy. Add more milk if needed.
3. Transfer to a piping bag.

Buttercream Frosting

1. In a medium bowl, beat butter and vanilla until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar and milk and beat until combined.
3. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
4. Separate the frosting into three bowls. Add a few drops of yellow gel food color to one of the bowls, a few drops of orange gel food coloring to a second bowl, and a few drops of violet gel food coloring to the last bowl. Stir each bowl of frosting until the color is completely distributed.
5. Transfer one of the frostings to a piping bag fitted with a large star piping tip. After decorating with one icing color, clean the piping tip and repeat with remaining colors of frosting.

Assembly

1. Cut off the tip of the piping bag holding the peanut butter filling. Fill each cupcake with peanut butter frosting.
2. Using piping bags fitted with a large star tip, decorate the tops of the cupcakes with the colored buttercream frosting.
3. To make the Winifred cupcake, pipe a swirl of orange frosting on top of a cupcake. Then, pipe two small rounds of frosting on the sides of the frosting swirl.
4. To make the Mary cupcake, pipe a swirl of violet frosting on top of a cupcake. When you’re piping the swirl, make the rounds smaller as you go up so that it looks a bit uneven and off balance.
5. To make the Sarah cupcake, pipe a swirl of yellow frosting on top of a cupcake.