Halloween Vampire Bat Cupcakes

Yummy chocolate cupcakes with easy vampire bat decoration!

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cupcake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 470kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the sponge

175 g Butter or baking spread unsalted, softened
175 g Caster sugar
3 Eggs large
1 tbsp Milk
150 g Self raising flour
25 g Cocoa powder
¼ tsp Baking powder
50 g Chocolate chips
Black food colouring

For the buttercream

150 g Butter unsalted, softened
260 g Icing sugar
40 g Cocoa powder
2-3 tbsp Milk
Black food colouring

For decoration

24 Candy eyes
25 g White fondant
100 g Dark chocolate

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make the fondant fangs first so they can dry and harden. Roll out your white fondant on a smooth surface dusted with icing sugar, and cut strips about 1cm in width. Cut the strips up diagonally (sort of like bunting) to create the triangle shaped fangs. Leave out on some baking paper to dry
Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a cupcake tin with black paper cases
To make the cupcakes, mix together the butter and caster sugar until smooth
Add the eggs and milk, and whisk in
Add the self raising flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and whisk in
Add enough black food colouring to darken the batter, then fold in the chocolate chips
Divide the mixture between the cupcakes cases, and bake them for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Put them on a rack to cool completely
To make the chocolate wings. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave, make sure to use a microwave safe bowl. Heat the chocolate for 30 seconds, stir it, then heat in 10 second bursts, stirring in between
Pour into a piping bag and pipe wing shapes onto baking paper, aim for wide 'M' shapes, then leave to set
To make the buttercream, mix together the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar with a spoon or electric hand whisk, when it starts to come together, add the milk and mix until smooth
Then add the black food colouring until you reach the desired shade
Pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake using a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle, then smooth out the top with a palette knife. Or spread on with a spoon
Stick the candy eyes and fondant fangs on top
Push the wings into each side of the buttercream
Store in an airtight container in a cool place, eat leftovers within 3 days

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cupcakes and unsalted butter for the buttercream.
For the black buttercream I used a professional grade food colouring. These types of food colouring not only provide excellent colour results, but they are gel based so they do not make the buttercream sloppy. They are also easily available for purchase online. My favourite brands are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. Other good quality brands are Colour Mill and Americolor.
If you can't get hold of candy eyes, you can make the eyes out of fondant. Using a round fondant plunger, or a round piping nozzle, cut a circle out of white fondant, then cut a smaller circle out of black fondant, use a little water to stick them together.
If you can get hold of black candy melts, you could make the wings out of them so the colour of the bat is all black.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales*. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons* and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition