Description
Delightful Black Cat Cupcakes featuring rich chocolate fudge cake batter combined with chocolate pudding mix and mini chocolate chips for extra fudgy texture. These cupcakes are topped with a luscious homemade chocolate buttercream frosting, coated with chocolate sprinkles, and decorated with Hershey’s chocolate ears, heart sprinkles, candy eyes, and pocky stick whiskers to create adorable black cat faces perfect for Halloween or any fun occasion.
Ingredients
Scale
Cupcake Batter
- 1 box dark chocolate fudge cake mix
- 1 (3.9 oz.) package chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup chocolate milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Frosting & Decorations
- 1 batch Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate sprinkles (optional, for coating frosting)
- 3 Hershey chocolate bars
- 24 large heart sprinkles
- 48 candy eyes
- 48 chocolate pocky sticks
Instructions
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Pan: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Mix Cupcake Batter: In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, chocolate milk, vanilla extract, salt, and mini chocolate chips. Mix until all ingredients are well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure an even batter.
- Fill Cupcake Liners: Spoon approximately ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner, filling them about ¾ full to allow room for rising.
- Bake Cupcakes: Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a cupcake; it should come out clean when they are fully baked.
- Cool Cupcakes: Allow the cupcakes to rest in the pan for a couple of minutes after baking, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before applying frosting to prevent melting.
- Prepare Frosting: While the cupcakes cool, prepare the Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting according to its recipe instructions.
- Frost Cupcakes: Pipe the chocolate buttercream frosting generously onto each cooled cupcake.
- Apply Chocolate Sprinkles: Pour chocolate sprinkles into a small bowl and dip each frosted cupcake upside down into the sprinkles to coat the frosting thoroughly, creating a textured, sparkly surface.
- Prepare Chocolate Ears: Break the Hershey chocolate bars along the short middle divet, then cut each half into quarters. Cut each quarter into two triangles so each bar yields 8 pairs of ears. Insert two chocolate triangles into the top of each cupcake, positioning them as cat ears.
- Add Cat Face Features: Place one large heart sprinkle onto each cupcake to represent the nose below the ears. Add two candy eyes above the heart sprinkle to complete the cat’s face.
- Add Whiskers: Break the chocolate pocky sticks in half. Insert two halves into each side of the cupcake cheeks to mimic whiskers and complete the black cat look.
Notes
- Ensure cupcakes are fully cooled before frosting to prevent frosting from melting.
- If chocolate sprinkles are unavailable, crushed chocolate chips can be used as an alternative to coat the frosting.
- Storage: Store decorated cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- For a dairy-free version, substitute sour cream with dairy-free yogurt and use dairy-free chocolate chips and frosting.
- The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe should be prepared in advance to allow time for chilling and proper consistency when piping.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 350 kcal
- Sugar: 28 g
- Sodium: 180 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 55 mg
