3D Royal Icing Halloween Bat Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote

If you've got the time to start a day ahead, these 3D Halloween Bat Cupcakes are fun to make, highly customizable, and impressive!

Prep Time1 15

Cook Time22

Total Time1 37

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Halloween

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 186kcal

Author: Marie Porter

A day or two before assembling the cupcakes, make your bat wings using the royal icing, tinted black.
See instructions in post for how to make them.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
Line 3 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pudding mix in a large bowl (if using an electric mixer), or the bowl of a stand mixer set with a paddle attachment.
Carefully add buttermilk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla to the bowl of dry ingredients, mixing on medium speed until smooth.
Use food colouring to tint batter black.
Divide batter among prepared muffin pans. Bake until knife inserted into center of batter comes out clean - about 20-22 mins .
Allow to cool to cool to room temperature, before decorating.

Prepare either Swiss meringue buttercream or American buttercream, following the applicable recipe.
Once the frosting has come together, tint desired color(s). Set aside.
Frost cupcakes: spoon or pipe your frosting on top of each cupcake.
You can use a coupler and a star tip if you like, I usually just cut the end off my piping bag and do a basic swirl.
Very gently place a pair of “Bat wings” into the top of a frosted cupcake.
Repeat with remaining bat wings and cupcakes.

Nutritional information doesn’t include the frosting, as that will depend on which recipe you go with.

* The pudding mix can be skipped, if you're a purist. It makes the cake extra moist and the recipe really... fool proof.

** If you do not have buttermilk, stir 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 ½ cups milk, and let sit for 5 minutes.