[X]

Home > Recipes > Purple People-Eater

Purple People-Eater Recipe

Purple People-Eater Recipe photo by Taste of Home

Read reviews (6)

Rate recipe

This googly-eyed cupcake will get tongues wagging! Pretzels, marshmallows and candy helps this monster come to life. —Karen Tack, Riverside, Connecticut

[X]

Rate Purple People-Eater Recipe

Click on stars to rate

Would you make this recipe again?

Write a review

[X]

Purple People-Eater Recipe

Prep: 45 min. + standing

Yield: 6 Servings

45 45

Ingredients

6 chocolate or vanilla cupcakes baked in black foil liners
1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting
Neon purple food coloring
9 large marshmallows
18 thin pretzel sticks
Black licorice laces
12 mini marshmallows
6 pink fruit chews
18 brown mini M&M's

Directions

1. Spread the tops of the cupcakes with a mound of vanilla frosting. Spoon 1 tablespoon vanilla frosting into a small resealable bag. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting neon purple with the food coloring and place in a microwave-safe measuring cup.
2. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Cut the large marshmallows in half crosswise with scissors. Insert a pretzel stick into the side of each marshmallow to create the eyes. Cut the black licorice laces into eighteen 2-in. pieces. Cut the mini marshmallows in half on the diagonal to make the teeth. Soften the pink fruit chews in the microwave for no more than 3 seconds.
Roll out each fruit chew into a 3-in. length. Cut into a long tongue with a rounded end. Press the back of a knife down the middle of the fruit chew to make the crease in the center of the tongue.
3. Place a wire rack over a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Heat the neon purple frosting in the microwave, stirring every 10 seconds, until the frosting is the consistency of slightly whipped cream, about 25 to 30 seconds total. Holding the frosted cupcakes by the foil liners, dip the cupcakes just up to the liners. Allow the excess frosting to drip off before inverting cupcake. Transfer to the wire rack to set.
Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. If the frosting becomes too thick, return to the microwave and heat for about 5 to 10 seconds longer, stirring well before dipping.
4. Holding the marshmallow eyes by the pretzel end, dip the top half of the marshmallows into the frosting to make the eyelids. Transfer the marshmallows to the waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. While the frosting is still wet, add the black licorice lace along the dipped edge as the eyelid. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows. Snip a small corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of frosting on the marshmallow area and add the brown M&M as a pupil. Let eyes set for about 30 minutes before assembling cupcakes.
5. Spoon some of the remaining purple frosting on top of the dipped cupcakes and allow the frosting to drip over the sides.
6. While frosting is still wet, add three to four cut mini marshmallow pieces as the teeth along one edge of the cupcakes. Insert three marshmallow eyes at different heights. Transfer to a serving platter and add the fruit chew tongue under the teeth. Yield: 6 cupcakes.

How-To: See fruit chew tongue»
See marshmallow eyes»

Originally published as Purple People-Eater in Taste of Home October/November 2010, p30

Devilish Decorations

A slew of simple spooky decorations can set a spirited mood at your Halloween party. In addition to pumpkins and balloons, try these tricks.

With a black marker, draw ghostly eyes and mouths on old white sheets. Drape over the bristle ends of brooms and prop up against walls.

Cut out shapes of bats from black construction paper and suspend them from the ceiling with black thread and tape.

For an eerie glow, replace some of your regular lightbulbs with green or orange bulbs, which can be found at hardware and party supply stores.

Greet guests with spooky sounds from a purchased cassette or compact disc.

Pick up a bag of spider webbing from a party supply store. Place in corners throughout the house and attach black plastic spiders. Also scatter spiders on tables, mantels and counters.

Recipe Slideshows

Browse slideshows featuring our best recipes, holiday ideas, easy how-tos, cooking tips, and more!

Get Recipes >

Top 10 Recipes

A collection of our favorite, highest-rated recipes—including the best dessert, dinner and holiday recipes.

Get Recipes >

Reviews for Purple People-Eater

Purple People-Eater

Tell us what you think of this recipe.
Did you modify it? Would you make it again? Rate it today! >

Rate and Review this Recipe

(1-6) of 6 reviews

Sort Reviews:

Reviewed on Aug. 02, 2011 by musich4

Worth the work

Reviewed on Mar. 20, 2011 by wadesworld1973

My son and husband made a much larger version of this adorable "cupcake" and won first place in the "Funniest Cake" category at the "Dad and Lad Cake Bake", an event our local Cub Scout Pack holds every year as partof their Annual Blue and Gold Banquet. Instead of making small cupcakes, they used the Big Top Cupcake silicon pan, large pretzel rods, jumbo marshmellows (now found in stores), and a large Laffy Taffy for the tongue. The end result looked great, and got lots of laughs at the banquet!

Reviewed on Nov. 01, 2010 by suemercado

So cute. The kids espcially loved this one for the extra candy in the tongue. More work than the one eyed monster and the orange you spiky but worth the effort.

Reviewed on Oct. 29, 2010 by dannwood

I made this for my son's 3rd grade class of 24. It takes awhile (over 2hours for me with interuptions) but, I think the end product was great! Hoping the kids love them as much as I do!

You can get the neon food coloring at grocery stores, We got ours at Dillions (a Kroger Brand)...maybe even WalMart!

Reviewed on Oct. 20, 2010 by cathy27

I have not tried to make it but I would love too. Where do you find the neon food coloring?

Reviewed on Oct. 16, 2010 by amandaaax12

This is beautiful. i love it. <3