Batty Halloween Cupcakes

This weekend we had some friends over for a little impromptu Halloween get together. I made these cute batty Halloween cupcakes to serve our guests. I’m always for using shortcuts like boxed cake mix when you need them, but they never taste quite as good as made-from-scratch cupcakes.

I added some orange buttercream frosting and simple chocolate bats onto the top for a festive touch!

These were a last minute decision when I wanted to have a fun little treat for our guests coming over. If you’re looking for something quick, but homemade to make for a school Halloween party this week, office potluck or even just as a fun after school snack for the kids, give these a try.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl or mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture with the greek yogurt.

Pour batter into muffin tin, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

 

Orange Buttercream Frosting

My family’s go-to buttercream icing recipe is always the one from Wilton’s. It’s a classic no-fail icing that is so easy to colour for these fun orange Halloween cupcakes.

 

Printable Version · Makes 1.5 cups of frosting, enough for 12 cupcakes

• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (about 1/2 lb)
• 1 tbsp milk
• yellow and red food colouring

 

In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in yellow and red food colouring until you get the hue of orange you’d like.

Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

 Spread or pipe the icing onto the cooled cupcakes.

 

Chocolate Bats

Making some easy chocolate bats seemed like a fun way to add a little decoration to the Halloween cupcakes. This is a technique that you can use for any chocolate decoration that you’d like to add to a dessert.

 

I used the bat shape from the hanging bats in our front hall two years ago, to make this template for 12 small bats. Place the printed sheet on top of a baking sheet that will fit in your fridge or freezer. Place a piece of waxed paper on top. You’ll be able to see the shape of the bats through the wax paper and trace it with the chocolate.

Melt some chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl. Zap for 1 minute and then stir. Return to the microwave for 30 second increments, stirring in between, until it has all melted. I find that it is best to let it sit for a minute between increments to let the chocolate melt a bit on it’s own in the hot bowl. You can scorch or burn chocolate in the microwave very easily if you over cook it.

Scoop the melted chocolate into a plastic bag and cut off the tip. I started by tracing shape with just the bag of chocolate but I found that I wasn’t getting the details as sharply as I liked.

On my second try, I use the chocolate in the plastic bag to fill in the major areas, but not the details.

Then I used a toothpick to pull the chocolate into the details of the pattern. Place the baking sheet in the fridge or freezer for 30 minutes or until the chocolate hardens up.

Stick the chocolate bats into the frosting.

A fun spooky treat to celebrate Halloween with this weekend!