Black Cat Cupcakes are chocolatey from bottom to top. They are festive and easy to decorate; you can never go wrong with a cute black cat!
These Black Cat Cupcakes are the perfect dessert for any Halloween party! Not to mention, they are fun and easy to make with kids. If you need a school treat idea, a buffet dessert for your soirée, or just an easy, ghost-friendly treat, these cupcakes are the way to go.
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Personally, I love making my cakes and frosting from scratch. However, if you’re in a crunch, there is nothing wrong using a cake mix. I do love a good cake mix!
For this recipe I make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, but you can also make these cupcakes with my Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting or my Extra Rich Milk Chocolate Frosting, all depending on what flavors you are going for. You are covering the frosting with chocolatey brown sprinkles so pretty much any chocolate frosting will do.
Cupcakes and frosting made from scratch are awesome, but using a cake mix is delicious, and easy too!
The first step to making these cupcakes is to bake them! Let the cupcakes cool, and while they do, make the frosting and get your decorations together.
When making my Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting you want to make sure your butter and cream cheese are just at room temperature. To be honest they can both be kind of cold, but you run the risk of getting clumps of butter or cream cheese not mixed in. I like to beat my cream cheese first, then add the butter. I find the cream cheese gets mixed in better this way. Add your cocoa next so that it gets perfectly incorporated into the cream cheese and butter. If you prefer you can sift it into the confectioners’ sugar, but I like skipping that step.
Follow these easy steps for making the perfect chocolate cream cheese frosting for the black cat cupcakes.
How to make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl until creamy
- Stir in cocoa
- Add sugar one cup at a time, mixing well
- Beat in vanilla and milk
- Stir until smooth
Decorating cakes and cupcakes feels like a grand idea, but sometimes the finished product doesn’t always look as polished as I’d like. The beauty of these Black Cat Cupcakes is that they will turn out great, despite any possible lack of decorating experience.
Decorating black cat cupcakes is easy for home-baking with kids!
I used chocolate sprinkles to cover the frosting, giving the little black cat cupcakes a furry look. The eyes are the cut bottoms of yellow gumdrops and the ears are chocolate melts (try the quality chocolate disks as a tasty alternative to melts) or squares cut into triangles. By turning the cut side of the gumdrops up, you get automatic, sticky glue for the licorice eyeballs. Squinty little slits of licorice laces make the eye centers and the whiskers. Make sure to cut the whisker ends on a diagonal so they are pointy!
How to decorate Black Cat Cupcakes:
- To make eyes, cut an 1/8-inch-thick slice off the larger end of two gumdrops, add a small piece
of licorice lace to the cut side of each slice - To make ears, cut chocolate bar into triangle shapes with a paring knife
- To make whiskers, cut licorice lace into 1½ -to 2-inch lengths
- Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting and coat generously with chocolate sprinkles
- Insert ears into the icing of each cupcake
- Add eyes and whiskers
- Pipe a frosting nose using a #4 plain tip
I’m excited for you to try these cute cupcakes, and for you to wow your guests at your Halloween party. If you are looking for other fun Halloween cupcake recipes, try my Polka Dot Halloween Cupcakes or my Pumpkin Marshmallows on Cupcakes.
Black Cat Cupcakes are chocolatey from bottom to top. They are festive and easy to decorate; you can never go wrong with a cute black cat!
- 1 recipe Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting recipe below
- 24 small yellow gumdrops
- Black licorice laces
- 12 standard-size baked chocolate cupcakes
- 1 cup chocolate sprinkles
- 24 chocolate Candy Melts
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 8- oz pkg cream cheese softened
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa sifted
- 1 lb 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tbsp milk
- Fit a piping bag with a #4 plain tip and fill with ¼ cup frosting; set aside. To make eyes, cut an 1/8-inch-thick slice off the larger end of each gumdrop; add a small piece of licorice lace to the cut side of each slice. For ears, cut chocolate coating dots into triangle shapes with a paring knife. Cut licorice laces into 1 ½-to-2-inch lengths for whiskers.
- Frost cupcakes; coat generously with chocolate sprinkles. Insert ears into the icing of each cupcake, add whiskers and eyes and pipe a frosting nose.
In a mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy, about 2 min. Sir in cocoa. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing well. Beat in vanilla and milk and stir until smooth. Can be refrigerated up to one week; bring to room temperature and stir before using.
Using a cake mix or store-bought cupcakes makes this an easy and fun project for kids.
Recipes by Tara Bench, original published in Ladies’ Home Journal Oct/09. Photography Hallie Burton. Food Styling Joyce Sangirardi. Prop Styling Lynsey Freyers.
Mary Bench says
May 6, 2019 at 12:30 pmCutest little cats I’ve ever seen!