Bloody Broken Glass Cupcakes

For people who are having problems with the glass, it's very important you have a candy thermometer. The sugar should be cooked on low, cooking it too fast or too hot will cause it to carmelize. I start on low and ramp it up to nearly medium over the course of an hour and my glass comes out nice and clear. It's a time commitment, but there's really no way to rush sugar. This a fun recipe that will get you kudos every time though!

I made these cupcakes for a bad Horror movie party I went to with friends. I thought this just fit the theme of bloody and ridiculous! I varied the cupcakes however: after I baked them, I cut cone shaped holes and filled them with cherry pie filling. I placed the little topper back on and iced the top of the cupcake. This made it so when you bit into the cupcake, it was also "bleeding" and blood filled. The cherry and dark chocolate flavor goes together well! The hardest part is making the "glass", which I had nooo experience with that type of cooking. After spending a long time at the stove (I also didn't have a candy thermometer) I was able to get the sugar mixture the right consistency. The glass effect is really creative! Also I had a hard time making the "blood" sauce the right consistency, so I just used red gel icing. I loved this recipe and enjoy the odd side of cupcake making ;)

Five stars for presentation! Excellent for Halloween! I made Devil's food cupcakes from a mix and topped them with vanilla frosting. Only used this recipe for the glass and blood. The glass recipe is fantastic - don't change a thing! Boiled the mixture to 300* and poured it in a parchment lined jelly roll pan which ended up making the glass the perfect thickness. Let it cool, removed from the pan, covered with another piece of parchment and hit it with a hammer. It shattered like real glass!! As for the blood, I did not add any water at all and I'm glad I didn't as I think it would have been way too watery. The consistency is perfect without water. Also, only used one drop of blue color. For 12 cupcakes, I'll cut the glass and blood recipes in half next year as I have alot leftover. Update: Store in refrigerator. Otherwise, glass melts overnight and no longer looks good.

This is an awesome idea and so much easier than it looks. I halved the sugar glass recipe and added 1/2 tsp of almond extract before pouring it in the cake pan. Also, if you dont have a meat mallet a can of veggies works just as well. Just put the can in a plastic bag and hit the candy with the rim.

These were really neat. I admit I used a homemade yellow cake and white icing. However, I did follow the instructions for the glass and blood. The fake blood was very quick and super easy to make. I liked how it had a realistic blood color. Make sure to have a red food coloring with a topper that will allow drops of the color. Mine was a large bottle and I had to guess. Luckily, I got it right. For the glass, I would seriously make it the day before and just leave the pieces separted on the sheet pan on the counter. It takes a long time, to try to make the same day. The fake blood also thickens up nicely if it is put in the fridge overnight anyhow. To make the glass candy, a very reliable thermometer is neccessary. I also highly suggest a large sheet pan with a silpat that fits. The liquid glass will not stick to the silpat sheet and will peel off. It took, I would guess 30-45 minutes to reach 300 deg. I didn't time it, but it seemed about that long. I started it on medium and slowly moved it up to a temperature of 8. Splattering sugar is very hot, so I did it more slowly. It will take a couple of hours at least to fully harden too. It broke real easy with a hammer. If I made them again, I might divide the sugar liquid. It is real thick, about 1/4" at least. It has to be sucked on like a lollipop, it can't be bitten at that thickness. Either way, I thought the affect looked rather real. TY

Great recipe! Only wish I had read the reviews to go low and slow when making the glass instead of high and fast. My glass came out a little amber in color, but still worked. I filled the cupcakes with cherry pie filling and used the filling syrup for blood instead of the corn syrup mixture. They were a huge hit for our Halloween party and will defintely make again, they are delicious!!

I am just begining to learn to cook and I bought a candy thermometer just for this recipe. When I made the glass it turned out perfect but I had way too much left over. So I cut the recipe in half and poured it in the center of the pan in an oval shape. It gave me more presentable "shards". And I tried making the blood 5 or 6 times and it never came out to the right color or consistency. It just wouldnt stick to the glass as it ran down and it did turn out too dark or even purple. I found the best thing was to just drop the red food coloring right on the glass it it comes out perfect! Instead of cupcakes I used frosten brownies and everyone liked them so much more!

5 stars for presentation. But it was a giant pain in the butt. I made the chocolate surprise cupcakes from this site (which are 5 stars) and used canned vanilla frosting to frost them. The glass took over an hour and a half and I ended up having to speed it up because I was running out of time (resulting in slightly brown tinted glass which is my fault not the recipes. Will not go through the effort again.

my 9 yr old can't wait for halloween to come around again so she can take these to school:) I only wish I had found them a few months ago! Thanks so much for the inspiration and recipe. I've tried out the glass already and it turned out perfect!

Excellent idea! I made Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (so the 'blood' would stand out). I did alter the blood significantly after mine turned purple. I used 1 tsp icing sugar, 6 tsp light corn syrup, 15 drops red color and only 1 drop blue. I thought the blood was a 'less is more' effect, so I didn't even use all of that. It was gory and great. Thank you so much!

I'm definitely going to make these again. After reading some of the reviews, I filled mine with cherry preserves to make a more flavorful and bloody effect when you bite into it. the only thing that got me was making the glass, big didn't realize it would take so long to boil it to 300. It turned out perfect after an hour or so of standing over the stove. Next time I'm going to add some almond extract to the glass mixture to give it more flavor. The kids loved it, but me personally would prefer candy with more flavor than just sugar.

These were easy and fun! The thing that took the most time was making the 'glass' (obviously), but other than that these came together in a snap! I made these to surprise my horror movie loving husband and he got a real kick out of them. I would make these again, for sure! Thanks for sharing. :)

Careful with the food coloring on the blood - the instructions for so much blue is not correct unless you want to end up with really purple blood. Otherwise - right on and great instructions for the glass - my kids LOVED it.

LOOKED AWESOME!! Easy to make..but glass does take a little bit. Well worth it though! Did white and black cupcakes and worked well also!

i liked martha stewarts recipe better, more spice flavor and used cherry preserves strained as the blood gives that added pop of flavor.

Very easy to make. Be patient, though, because you have to stir constantly for about 30 minutes to get the candy mixture to "hard ball" consistency. Also, GRADUALLY stir in the water or it will get to thin - i accidently put in the whole thing and had to play with to get to correct thickness. Used the double chocolate cake recipe instead but did use canned white frosting. the kids loved them!

I loved this! I had no experience with making the glass but thank goodness I did have a candy thermometer Because it really helped me to know when it was done. It was one the stove for a long time to heat up to the temperature it needed to be at for hard ball (300 degrees) so I thought I was burning it. It turned out great though! The edible blood was a perfect consistancy. I would definately recommend refrigerating cupcakes after being made. I made the mistake of leaving them out and the "glass" started to melt.

These turned out so great! Such a huge hit at my work Halloween potluck. The glass takes the most time but such a simple recipe to make and it looks amazing!

Only things I used was the glass and blood. The blood was a complete fail will never use it again but the glass turned out excellent and its the first time I have ever tried anything like it. Very easy to do.

I Made These For A Halloween Party And They Were A Huge Hit. They Were So Fun To Make. They Were A Little Time Consuming But The End Result Was Worth It. I Think I Got My "Blood" A Little Too Thin But Other Than That It Was Awesome! Thank You For Your Recipe!!! I Will Be Doing This Again And Again.

I'm going to make this recipe but wanted to share my idea -- I'm going to tint the icing a flesh tone (remember, red, yellow and blue together make brown, so it shouldn't be that hard) so it will look like skin, and put that on red velvet cupcakes. The idea of filling the cupcakes with cherry filling is great, so they will "bleed" more when they are eaten. Will upload a photo when they're done in a couple weeks...

This was my first time making cupcakes or sugar candy! My glass is yellow tinted, which is a bummer but I am just happy it turned into the glasst! I was afraid of messing this up majorly. I substituted the light corn syrup with 1 cup water, 2 cups sugar and another 1/4 teaspoon - just because I didn't have any on hand. I also just splattered red food coloring rather than making the blood syrup - again, because I didn't have the light corn syrup. Overall, I had a really good experience with this. Thanks!

These are perfect for a halloween party! However, I instead made red velvet cupcakes from scratch with a cream cheese frosting to make it a bit "bloodier".

This idea is genius, taking a simple vanilla cupcake and turning it into the perfect Halloween Party food. These are perfect for a teenage party. My daughter and her friends loved these!!! I didn't think they were difficult to make, just time consuming to boil the sugar mixture for so long. I had to make a change when it came to preparing the "glass". I only had 2 cups of sugar, so I cut that part of the recipe in half. My pieces of glass may have not been as thick, but they were perfect, resembling real glass. I would make one change and only add 1-2 drops of blue food coloring. Our "blood" was a little more purple than we would have liked. We tried adding more red, but it didn't work like we had hoped. Overall, this recipe is super fun and very original. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!

these were awesome to look at however when they sit overnight the candy because softer and the "blood" tends to bleed

didn't make cupcakes - just playing around with the glass part of recipe. Was very easy, only took about 15 min to get to hardcrack stage, and broke apart just like my livingroom window did! Might try to find a way to incorporate it into house decorations, costumes, possibilities endless!

I did the cherry preserves rather then what listed on this recipe for the blood. Added more flavor.

Love the idea, glass was very sticky and chewy, do not add any water to the blood and only one drop of blue food coloring

I did a test run on the "glass" today in preparation for my annual Halloween-themed dinner. I've never made anything like this before so I wanted to experiment with it before next week. On the first try, the consistency was perfect - rock hard and broke into perfect glass pieces - but the color was way too dark (I probably overcooked it). So I tried it again and watched it closely. The second time, the color was good, just a pale amber which looks translucent when you hold it up, but the consistency was not as hard and did not break as well. It still worked, but I wasn't able to use as much of it as I would have liked. Still, terrific recipe and I can't wait to see the reaction on my guests' faces! :)

So much fun. Used a chocolate cake box mix to save time. Everyone LOVED them!!

These are great!

This review is only for the glass. The glass caramelized like crazy. I think there is WAY too much water. I don't think you need that much water. It's all going to cook off anyway. You only need enough to make the sugar a little sludgey, so all you're doing is adding to your cooking time. Also, higher temp IS better. Sugar has a small amount of protein in it, so the longer you cook it the more likely it is to turn brown, even at a lower temp. High and fast prevents this.

I made these as a last minute thing for my husband to take to work. They are simple to make if you can make a cupcake, you can make these. I made the glass a little different. I used the basic hard candy recipe, 2cups white sugar, 2/3 cup light corn syrup, 3/4 cup of water. Stir it till it is combined on medium heat, when to starts to slow boil, do not touch it again. When it hits the hard crack stage of 300, I removed it from the heat, added one dram of cinnamon oil, if you use cinnamon oil, be sure to open a window and step back when you add it at the end of the cooking process. Stir it well into the candy and then pour the candy onto slightly sprayed aluminum foil. Let it cool and break. If you don't have a candy thermometer just put a piece of ice into a glass of water. When you drizzle some syrup in, if it hardens right away, your candy is done. Every stove is different, but my candy took about 40 minutes. Do it slowly, and it will never fail you.

I made these for my husband's birthday. He was floored! Awesome. The only thing I would suggest would be to omit the blue coloring in the blood if you use professional food coloring gel, a squeeze of red should do it. Also, adding a little of blue or green to the glass would make it look more authentic.

Glass was too thick for our cupcakes and the amounts of it was way too much. Great concept.

I made these for Halloween and they turned out pretty well I only had a few issues... The "blood" was WAY too dark but the recipe as read didn't make it dark enough. The broken glass didn't setup quite right and some of the pieces were a little bent and not as cleanly broken. Overall everyone thought there were awesome and most of them were gone by the end of the night.

Basing this recipe off of the broken glass candy and the blood recipe...FANTASTIC! I had already made the cupcakes and frosting with a different recipe then the recipe on here just because I was working on custom cupcakes for a client. I strictly use this recipe as an add-on to what I was already doing. And it worked out perfectly. Served up bloody brains jabbed with broken glass for my clients was out of this world fun. The candy tasted wonderful like cotton candy as my husband and others stated and the blood color was the bomb. I would recommend adding a clear flavoring by Lorann's to enhance the blood because it was knock your socks off sweet. I added cherry to go with the cherry filling I had inside the cupcakes. Will totally make again. Because it was a total hit and now I have more people asking to make the same cupcakes as I photo'ed for this recipe. TY because this is a perfectly fun recipe to play with.

Looks awesome! Will have to try this next year. I love the fake blood effect and the "glass" doesn't seem so hard to make.

these cupcakes were delicious. i went to a party and the people there loved the cupcakes

it was really fun and easy making the sugar glass although the glass did come out a little yellow. For the cupcake though I made a pumpkin ginger spice cupcake *found on the website and for the frosting I did a cream cheese frosting and put 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon just to give it a little kick

This recipe was fun to make!! I made with gluten free devil's food cake and white frosting. The candy glass was time consuming but worth it!! I followed others and added no water to the blood and only added 1 drop of blue food coloring. This dessert was a big hit at my book club! I will definitely make again.

I only used the glass & blood recipes too, I didn't add water to the blood mixture, because other reviews said it made the blood too watery, and only 2 drops of blue, the color was ok but I will use 3 next time, made for my sons birthday party, also flavored the glass with vanilla. Was a big hit will definitely make these again.

Much loved by everyone

I made these to bring to work on Hallowe'en. They are a bit time consuming, but everyone loved them. Reading other reviews, I tried to make the glass by going slow (it took an hour) but it still caramelized slightly halfway through and gave my glass a light amber hue. It only bummed me out - everyone else loved it. Instead of making the corn syrup blood, I just used some raspberry preserves I had on hand in the fridge. A great 'scary' recipe.

Won second place at the office bake-off with these. Suggestion: make half the amount of glass. Thinner looks more like a sheet of glass and it breaks better.

These were so fun to make and serve! I had my doubts about making candy glass because I have so little experience making candy but it turned out so good, looked just like glass! I was so impressed! Next time i will try to spread the hot candy a little bit thinner to make the "glass" not quite as thick. But otherwise this was a super fun treat to make.

The absolute HIT of the 5th grade Halloween party -- a 'grown up' kind of creepy that hides the fact that they still like to have cupcakes like the little kids do!

The "glass" was definitely time consuming to make, but not hard. Turned out great. I let the pan sit out overnight and it didn't melt like another reviewer experienced. The "blood" came out a little thin and I didn't add any water...maybe more corn starch next time? I also did 15 red drops and 1 blue drop of food coloring. They looked great!

I made these for Halloween this year, and they came out great! Next time, however, I will half or quarter the "glass" recipe, as I ended up with for more glass than I needed for even 4 dozen cupcakes. Please note that the glass will melt if let out of the refrigerator for too long.

Combined this recipe with the chocolate mice recipe

My family & friends LOVE the glass! I wish I had read the reviews so my glass would have not turned out an amber color. I had to do 2 batches. The blood I also had to make 2 batches cuz the first one was very purple. Only 1 or 2 drops of blue is all you need.

Oh these were awesome!! very very nice hit at a Halloween party! used Red Velvet cake mix, very cool!

I gave this 4 stars since it's such a great idea! I made these using a boxed chocolate cake and cherry pie filling to give the cupcakes a bloody surprise (used a cherry in the center of each cupcake). And used the left over cherry syrup as the blood for the top (highly recommend this, super easy and perfect color). However, I never got the sugar glass right. I made it 3 times!!! 1st time, I never let it come to a boil (took the reviews to keep the heat low too literal). After an hour, it burned. The 2nd time, I brought it to a light boil, but my thermoter never reached 300 - only went to 200 before the sugar went amber. The 3rd time, I watched a ton of videos of how to make sugar glass, bought a new thermoter, sat at the stove, stirred it the whole time (like 50 minutes)and kept the heat low-med until it reached 300 - even did the water test - and it still turned amber! Very frustrated!! I still used the amber glass, but I have no idea how people got their glass clear. Even in all the videos I watched, theirs all turned out amber too! I'm an experienced baker but have never made candy before. I like the whole idea of this recipe but not sure I'll attempt the sugar glass again. Also, left one batch as is, and flavored one batch with lemon extract. I guess I didn't add enough extract since it was barely noticable. I used a standard rimmed cookie sheet,which made the glass too thick to eat. The kids loved breaking the glass with a hammer! But too much leftover glass.

These looked great! I would note that when I first made the glass it looks very sharp and clear; however, the next day the glass had a more rounded polished look to it. This was probably due to the fact I had to store them in the fridge because of the frosting I used. Both looked good, just different (I probably would go with the same day look myself). Also, since it is corn syrup extra pieces will fuse together if not stored separately.

Huge hit at the neighborhood party. I added a little lemon extract to the glass would have a bit of flavor.

OMG this is the best recipe i have tried on here. This was so great for me to do and my kids they loved it. Since halloween is soon this was so great. Go check out my recipe classic southern cream corn . this was so fun and easy great to do. 9/19/2021

I will definitely make this again. The sugar glass really pulls it together

LOVed this fun creative cupcake idea , i did think that the “blood” should have been a little more thicker it was really runny didnt stay on cupcakes well, id mabye suggest using a little sugar and a little more corn starch to make it sweet but not as runny

I had a blast with these cupcakes! I made them in honor of Halloween.

Had A Blast Making This, and I Added Clear Vanilla exract To the Hard Candy For Flavor, and I Used Red Velvet Cake mix Add To the Blood Affect, i Will Totally make Again

Very cute idea. Here are the changes I would make - 1) Half or third the glass recipe. 2) Spread the glass thin, too thick to eat. I'm sure most of the people eating mine tonight will just discard it. 3) White cupcakes are super plain tasting, so either flavor the "blood" (see below) or flavor the "glass" with flavors. 4) I added some strawberry jelly to the "blood" to give some taste to the cupcake. Practice getting the right shade of blood. I would not use 3 drops of blue - makes a purple. 5) This is faster way to make the "glass." a) Mix ingred. together. b) place in heavy pot (le creuset). c) Mix and bring to boil. d) Reduce to medium, no need to stir. d) Take off heat at 310 degrees - if it turns amber, you went over the 310. Takes about 7 minutes. e) Flavor. f) Pour onto jelly roll pan. I used silpat, but it did pick up the tiny indentations of the silpat. g) Make sure the "glass" is spread thin. h) Then break like glass. 6) The "glass" is very sharp - I'd be a little worried about a little kid eating it - glad I'm going to adult only party. 7) Like I mentioned earlier, white cake and white frosting has no flavor - I would try different flavors of cake and frosting next time. Or I would use jelly for the "blood." 8) I used mini cupcakes because I think people will grab a mini cupcake at a party before a whole cupcake...

I enjoyed making this very much! The only thing was I rushed the glass and it turned more yellow then clear. Looked really great, some friends of mine really liked them. I'm making these again. :-)

Easy even for someone with little to no candy experience...mine came out great the first time. I bought a candy thermometer just for this and I'm glad I did because it takes longer than I would have thougt.. Turned out great though!

These cupcakes are absolutely delicious. The recipe was a little lacking in some areas so if you're new to this like I was, here's a few tips. First, the glass needs to boil almost an hour. You also need to be careful not to boil too quickly or too long or the glass will turn yellow. Also, I used a cocoa powder recipe found online for the blood. The suggested recipe came out too pink for me. Other than that, very yummy.

I used the glass recipe turned out awesome

Looked really cool, but I burnt my "glass" so it was brown, not clear.

It came out great. Took the advice of many to make the candy low and slow and it turned out clear. Even using a large baking sheet it was still really thick and I still have a zip lock bag full of leftover glass, lol. I liked the consistency of the blood before adding the water so I didn't. I let my fiance do the coloring so I have no input on that. I also refrigerated the blood for a few hours so I could have more control when adding the blood to the cupcakes. This is a recipe that I will most certainly use again.

The recipes were good for the glass and blood, but it made WAAAAAY too much! What a waste of food!!

For the edible blood I microwaved cherry preserves, added a few drops of red food coloring and spooned the melted jelly on each cupcake. They looked great

Ok, so I only used this recipe for the glass as I have my own personal cup(cake) & icing recipes. The glass didn't turn out.

I'm giving this 4 out of 5, because the only part I really used was the sugar glass recipe. I'd never made it before, and it came out just right for what I needed. For the blood, I used 30 drops of red, 1 drop of blue, and 1 drop of yellow to roughly 1/4 c of corn syrup and 1/2-1 tsp of powdered sugar. For the cupcakes, I used boxed red velvet Supermoist, with marshmallow frosting. Thank you to the OP for the inspiration.

These turned out so cute!

The glass melted before we could eat them.

I made this twice and both times failed.

These got rave reviews at my Halloween themed Bunco party! (and it was hard keeping the kids out of them before hand!) It was very easy, but the glass is time consuming. I ended up cooking the sugar too quickly (though it certainly didn't feel like it) and my glass had a bit of a yellow tint. Next time I'll slow it down and be prepared to invest more time in the process. I do have a candy thermometer and can't imagine trying to do it without one. I ended up with a ton of left over glass - next time I will cut that in half and still pour into a jelly roll pan - it ended up a tad thicker than I would have liked so I think it you cut down on the amount it'll end up more like the thickness of a drinking glass. Great recipe - thanks for sharing!! :)

I had a blast with these cupcakes! I made them in honor of Halloween.