Easy Bat Cupcakes

Halloween is right around the corner. You’ve probably already seen the fall and Halloween themed decorations out in stores. I know I sure have! So why not kick off this Halloween season with some adorable Halloween Bat Cupcakes? These are extremely cute and easy to make. It can be a fun family activity for everyone to participate in.  I did use a few shortcuts like box cake mix and premade frosting to help save some time and make it more kid-friendly.

You will need the following to make these cupcakes –

1 box of chocolate cake mix, any brand + boxed cake mix ingredients
2 tubs of chocolate frosting
Candy eyes
1M Wilton piping tip
Disposable piping bag
Black gel food coloring
Black fondant
Small bat-shaped cookie cutter
Rolling pin
Powdered sugar
Black Cupcake liners
Cupcake Pan

Making the Bat Wings

Don’t let this part intimidate you. Fondant is very easy to work with and is very forgiving. You are going to take a small handful of the black fondant, roll it flat to about a 1/4″ thickness with a rolling pin.

If you don’t have a rolling pin, use a soda can, wine bottle or another round bottle you have in your kitchen. 

Sometimes fondant can get a little sticky when you’re working with it. Use a little powdered sugar (similar to how you would use flour with dough) on the counter, cookie-cutter or rolling pin.

Once you have your fondant rolled out it’s time to cut out the bats! Use the small bat-shaped cookie-cutter to cut out the wings. You’ll need 24 bats in total.

Take a kitchen knife and cut the bats in half, creating 2 wings. Place them on wax paper and let them firm up. This will take several hours.

Baking the Cupcakes

This is a fun part that the kids can help with. Make the cupcakes according to your box mix directions.

Let the kids crack the eggs into a small bowl before adding them to the mix. This way, if they break eggshells into the egg it’s easier to get them out of you can toss the egg and start over without ruining your cake mix.

Another fun step the kids can do is place the cupcake liners in the cupcake pan.

Fill each cupcake liner 1/2 to 2/3 full of the batter and bake per the directions on the box.

One the cupcakes are baked, remove them from the oven and let them cool completely before decorating.

Decorating the Bat Cupcakes

Now we are going to take that brown frosting and turn it black! Gel food coloring works best for this, it’s more concentrated and turns brown to black fairly quickly. Room temperature frosting is also easier to work with when you are changing the color but the cooler frosting is easier to work with when decorating.

Take your brown frosting and add a few drops of the black food color and mix until thoroughly combined.

Place the black frosting into a piping bag, with a tip attached. If the frosting is too soft, place in the fridge or freezer for it to firm up a little.

Take a cupcake, frost the cupcake in a circular motion with the black frosting.

Insert a bat wind into each side of the cupcake.

Give each bat two candy eyes.

Place in the fridge to firm up the frosting for about a half-hour. Then place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

When you are ready to enjoy, remove and let the cupcakes sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes for the frosting to warm up.

*Makes 24 Bat Cupcakes

Also – Check out our Spider Cupcakes too!