Bat Cupcakes

These adorable bat cupcakes are as delicious as they are fun to make. A delight for both kids and adults, they are an absolute hit for Halloween parties. From the moist, chocolate cake to the creamy frosting and creative bat decorations, this recipe checks all the boxes for the spooky season.

Let’s Dish: About These Halloween Cupcakes

Main Ingredients: Chocolate cake mix, butter, eggs, sour cream, milk, vanilla, frosting ingredients, Oreos, candy eyeballs.
Quick Steps: Bake cupcakes, frost and decorate with Oreo bat wings and eyes.
Total Time & Yield: 1 hour 15 minutes, yields 20 cupcakes.

Why This Recipe

• These bat cupcakes stand out for their combination of rich flavor and ease.

• Many other recipes rely on premade frosting or simple mixes, but ours uses sour cream, milk, and vanilla to create moist, delicious cupcakes from scratch.

• The homemade frosting, with semi-sweet baking bars, gives a deep chocolate flavor that is richer and smoother than other options that use shortcuts.

• While the decoration with Oreo wings and candy eyes is a fun, kid-friendly activity, the real star here is the balance of flavors, ensuring that the cupcakes taste just as good as they look.

Bat Cupcakes Ingredients

SUBSTITUTIONS AND ADDITIONS

EYES: The tiny size of candy eyeballs looks best for the bats. However, larger eyeballs can be fun to add quirky character.

CAKE MIX: Use any chocolate cake recipe and any chocolate frosting recipe that you’d like. For a swirled frosting like we’ve used here, you will need a medium stiffness in the frosting consistency.

FOOD COLORING: You could add black food coloring to the frosting for extra Halloween fun.

How To Make This Bat Cupcakes Recipe

STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line standard-size muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.

STEP TWO: In a large bowl, combine the chocolate cake ingredients: cake mix, butter, eggs, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 1 minute and then on medium-high speed for two additional minutes. 

STEP THREE: Fill the cupcake liners about halfway full.

STEP FOUR: Bake for 15 minutes and then cool completely.

Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cupcakes as the suggested baking time approaches.

STEP FIVE: Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Chop the chocolate baking bar into small pieces. Use a double boiler or 30-second increments in the microwave to melt the chocolate. Stir until fully melted and set it aside to cool. The chocolate should not cool long enough to re-harden, just cool down so that it is not hot to the touch.

STEP SIX: Use a whisk to stir together the cocoa powder and hot water (or hot cream) until smooth and shiny.

STEP SEVEN: In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the softened butter, cooled chocolate bar, cocoa powder mixture, and powdered sugar. Beat until fully combined and fluffy. 

STEP EIGHT: Fill a piping bag with the prepared frosting and fit with piping tip #1M (or an open star piping tip). Pipe swirls of frosting on top of the cupcakes.

STEP NINE: To make a bat topper, cut an Oreo cookie in half – a swift, strong chop with a sharp knife works best for a clean cut.

A little crumbling adds character to the bat wings, so don’t worry too much about having perfect halves.

STEP TEN: Separate the cookie from the cream filling. 

STEP ELEVEN: Place two Oreo cookie halves side by side to form the “wings” of the bat.

STEP TWELVE: Twist one half from a mini Oreo. Using the half that still has the cream filling on it, press the mini Oreo over the center point where the “bat wings” meet. The cream filling will serve as the glue to hold the bat together.

STEP THIRTEEN: Use a toothpick or small piping tip to dab two dots of frosting on the mini Oreo “bat face.”

STEP FOURTEEN: Place two candy eyes on the dots of frosting.

STEP FIFTEEN: Carefully place each assembled bat onto the top of each cupcake. 

How To Serve

Easy Halloween bat cupcakes would make a fun addition to any Halloween party for kids or grown-ups alike. Our pumpkin dip or mini pumpkin pies would be tasty recipes to add to your party menu as well.

For more easy recipes to celebrate this scary holiday, our Halloween sugar cookies and gingerbread men sugar cookies in ghost costumes would both be perfect.

Storage

IN THE FRIDGE: Store the homemade cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

IN THE FREEZER: You can also freeze these sweet treats for up to 3 months. 

These delicious chocolate cupcakes are so cute and so easy to make with a boxed cake mix as a base. With an edible bat topper, they add plenty of spooky fun to your Halloween celebrations.

More Recipes You’ll Love

• Coconut Cupcakes
• Brownie Cupcakes
• Vanilla Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Cupcakes
• Cookie Monster Cupcakes