Cute Bat Cupcakes

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Why not make a batch of these super cute bat cupcakes for Halloween? The cupcakes are so easy to make thanks to a boxed cake mix and ready-made frosting, and the bat wings are made using fondant and a cookie cutter. With their big wide candy eyes, you can’t help but fall in love with these sweet little bats!

I’ve got 50+ freakishly good Halloween Recipes for you to try out – right-click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one!

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Cute Bat Cupcakes

I love making cupcakes for parties and celebrations because they are just so easy to put together. Vanilla or chocolate cupcakes are so quick to make from scratch, but I’m not averse to picking up a box mix (or even ready-made) cupcakes if I am in a hurry.

If you need a cute Halloween cupcake recipe, then give these adorable bat cupcakes a go! They use a box mix for the cupcakes, and ready-made frosting, but if you want to make those from scratch you totally can.

Ingredients for bat cupcakes

Ingredients used in this recipe

The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, but here is a brief outline so you know what to expect from the recipe. I highly recommend always reading a recipe all the way through before starting.

  • Box of Chocolate Cake Mix + the ingredients to make them (usually oil, water, and eggs) – use your preferred brand
  • Chocolate Frostingbuy this ready-made and save yourself a job!
  • Black Food Coloring Gelgels and pastes product a deeper, richer color than liquid food colorings.
  • Candy Eyeballsbuy large ones so the bats have that cutesy wide-eyed look!
  • Black Fondant (Sugarpaste) – to make the bat wings. If you can find it ready-rolled that saves you another job!
  • Powdered Sugar (Icing Sugar) – to dust the rolling pin and/or fondant to prevent sticking

Equipment used in this recipe

You are likely to have many of these cooking tools in your kitchen already, but I’ve added some Amazon links for your convenience should you need to purchase anything for this recipe.

How to make cute bat cupcakes

Tips for Making Cute Bat Cupcakes

I’ve got several step-by-step photos to guide you through making these easy cupcakes for Halloween, and there is also a slideshow video over on my YouTube channel that you can watch and save to your Playlists for future reference. (Don’t forget to subscribe while you are there!)

Using Fondant

If you have never worked with fondant before, don’t panic – it is really easy to use, follow my tips and you’ll be just fine!

  • Dust your work surface with powdered sugar so that the fondant doesn’t stick. Think of it like the way you use flour when rolling out dough.
  • Rub a little powdered sugar into your hands and knead a handful of the fondant to make it more pliable before rolling, rather than using straight from the package.
  • Dust your rolling pin too, and roll fondant to about ¼” thick. Some fondant rolling pins have guides you can use. You don’t want it too thick as it will take ages to dry, and you don’t want it too thin as it will become more tricky to work with.
  • Pour a little pile of powdered sugar onto your surface and dip the cookie cutter into it before cutting the shapes – again, this is to prevent sticking.
  • Use a sharp knife to cut the bat in half to create two wings.
  • Place the cut bat wings onto a cookie sheet or tray lined with some parchment paper.
  • If they have got excess powdered sugar on them, you can gently brush away with a pastry brush, or an unused, clean paintbrush.
  • Alternatively, you can use a vodka spray. Pour some vodka into a mini spray bottle and gently mist the fondant wings. Vodka dries quicker than water which is why it is usually used when handling fondant.
  • Leave the wings to harden in a cool, dry place – do not place in the fridge.
  • The wings should be solid enough to handle and insert into the cupcakes after 3 or 4 hours. I personally leave fondant pieces to dry for around 24 hours. How long this takes, however, is based on how humid your house is, so judge best if they will hold up as they need to in the cupcakes.
  • After using fondant the surface will be super sticky (it always is in my experience!) so you will probably have to wipe away the sugar first, then give it a soapy hot wash over and then another clean over! You can always by a fondant rolling mat for easier cleanup!
Chocolate Frosting mixed with Black Food Gel
Mixing Chocolate Frosting with Black Food Gel

Coloring the Frosting

  • Before piping on the frosting, you will need to color it black using food gel. Gel and paste food colorings give the deepest and richest colors and I always use them over liquid food coloring. They also don’t alter the consistency of the frosting which is important when it comes to piping it onto cupcakes – you want it to hold its shape.
  • Because we are using chocolate frosting, you are part way there to turning it a deep shade of black for the cute bat cupcakes. Mix the frosting well to evenly distribute the color.
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Black Frosting

Piping the Frosting

  • Prepare your piping bag for frosting by first dropping the star tip inside the disposable bag and then cutting off enough of the bag so that the tip pokes through, but not so much that it falls out. Wilton actually has an excellent demonstration video using the exact piping tip used in these cupcakes.
  • Then fill, but don’t overfill the bag. Push the frosting down the bag to help reduce air bubbles.
  • Holding the piping bag in your dominant hand, place it vertically over the cupcakes, and confidently squeeze and pipe a swirl from the outside in – covering all of the cupcake. You don’t have to swirl too high for these particular cupcakes.
  • Remember, you can always do a few practice swirls on a piece of parchment paper first – just scoop them up and use the frosting on the actual cupcakes!
Black Frosting Swirls
Black Frosting Swirls
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Candy Eyeballs

Candy Eyeballs

  • If for whatever reason you can’t buy ready-made candy eyeballs, you can make them pretty easily yourself. Use some white fondant and a black food coloring pen.
  • Roll out the fondant as described above then using the end of a piping tip, cut out small circles. These will have to dry out for a good 24 hours before you can draw the pupils on with the edible marker.

Make It A Meal!

You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses? Here are some recipes to take a look at to make a complete meal!

There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy! Please feel free to check them out too.

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More Cupcake Recipes

I’ve got lots of easy cupcake recipes for parties and celebrations, and here are some seasonal ones you might like to try too:

More Halloween Recipes

Once you’ve made these cupcakes for Halloween I know you’ll be looking for more Halloween recipes – here are some for you to take a look at:

Bat Cupcakes

Bat Cupcakes

Yield: 24
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Adorable, fun, and easy to make bat cupcakes for Halloween!

Ingredients

For the Bat Wings

  • Black fondant
  • Powdered sugar (icing sugar), for dusting

For the Cupcakes

  • 1 box of chocolate cake mix, any brand + boxed cake mix ingredients
  • 2 tubs of chocolate frosting
  • Black gel food coloring
  • Candy eyes

Instructions

  1. Taking a small handful of black fondant at a time, use a rolling pin to roll out to about ¼" thickness. If it gets sticky, use the powdered sugar as you would flour. Use a bat-shaped cookie cutter (about 4" wide) to cut out the 'wings'. You will need 24 bats in total. Use a small knife to cut them in half and place onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Leave them in a cool dry place (but not the fridge) to harden. This may be a few hours or several as it can depend on humidity levels.
  2. Line 2 (12 count) cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Make cake mix according to package instructions and divide between cupcake liners. Bake at oven temperature provided on the box. Remove from the oven and let the cupcakes cool completely prior to decorating.
  3. Once the cupcakes have cooled, add several drops of black gel food coloring to the chocolate frosting. Stir to combine.
  4. Attach a star tip to a piping bag and scoop the black frosting into the bag.
  5. Pipe a swirl of frosting on the top of each cupcake.
  6. Insert the dried/hardened bat wings on each side of the cupcake.
  7. Place two candy eyeballs onto the frosting and your cut bat cupcakes are done!

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 118Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 171mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 0gSugar: 17gProtein: 1g

This site uses an outside source (Nutritionix) to provide estimated nutrition. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.

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The post is part of the Crafty October series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog and is filled with free printables, crafts, recipes, and more for Halloween! You can check out Crafty October from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012 for awesome Halloween ideas and inspiration!

Crafty October on The Purple Pumpkin Blog

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