Making this chocolatey Vampire Bat Cake for my son, I learned that a cake doesn’t have to be really complicated to be really cute.
Decorating Cakes for the Family
Scouting was a big part of our life when my boys were young. Their Cub Scout pack was large and its activities were a regular part of our schedule. As their den leader, my husband took care of most of the Cub Scout support functions. Once in a while, though, they called on me to help.
More often than not my help involved making something in the kitchen. The den met at our house and I often provided snacks for their weekly meetings. I also made a dish for the annual Blue and Gold dinner. Then, from time to time, I was called on to meet other food related requests – like baking a novelty cake for the October cake auction.
No problem. I have always loved novelty cakes. When I was a little girl I would watch my mother make fabulous birthday cakes that looked so good I could hardly stand to wait for the party to eat them. I remember her baking a lamb cake in a cast iron mold, a dog cake, and even a Humpty Dumpty cake for one birthday. She had a vintage cylinder style decorating kit and enjoyed using it to make her kitchen creations look special.
Super Cute Halloween Fun
When I was a little older I began making cakes with Aunt Hen. She was always trying recipes and baking something delicious. When she decided to try cake decorating, we ordered a decorating set from Wilton. After that we enjoyed looking through their catalogs and dreaming of the cakes we would make. I still have the decoration set we ordered back then tucked away in my kitchen pantry.
I have such fond memories of those cakes that I continued to get the Wilton Yearbook of Cake Decorating for years. When my son told me that he needed a cake for his Cub Scout cake auction I immediately pulled out some old Wilton Cake Decorating Yearbooks and started looking for ideas of what I could make. In the 1988 issue I found just the thing on page eighty, a cute Vampire Bat Cake. It didn’t require anything too fancy. All I needed was an 8-inch round layer of cake, one cupcake, some icing, a decorating bag and a couple of decorating tips. I was pretty sure I could pull that off.
I made the cake and it turned out to be a great experience all around. The guys took it with them to the Cub Scout event and they came home happy. The Cub Scout Pack made some money in the live auction where that cute Vampire Bat Cake sold for top dollar. What’s more, I felt appreciated as I learned that a cake doesn’t have to be really complicated to be really cute. If you’d like to try making one of your own here’s how you do it…
To make a Vampire Bat Cake you will need:
- An 8-inch round layer cake pan and a 6-oz Pyrex custard cup
- Batter for an 8-inch round one-layer cake – I used the recipe for Less-Mess Chocolate Cake. The recipe for Sunflower Chocolate Cake is another good choice. Both of these recipes are for an 8-inch one-layer cake. Or you can use the recipe for a Basic Box Mix Pound Cake and bake cupcakes with the extra batter.
- A 16.5″ x 8″ cake board – This cake is long and narrow. To assemble the cake, you will need a stable serving board that is approximately 16.5″ x 8″ in size. If you don’t have a cutting board or other platter to use you can make one. Cut a sturdy piece of cardboard into a 16.5″ x 8″ rectangle. Then tear a piece of aluminum foil long enough to cover it. Turn the board upside down and tape the foil in place.
- Frosting – divided into chocolate and vanilla portion – I used a modified version of Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting (recipe below) to give the Vampire Bat Cake a hint of fiery flavor. You can use Buttercream Frosting if you prefer, or another frosting suitable for cake decorating.
- A decorating bag and coupler
- Decorating tips for round, star and hair piping (I used #6, #17 and #233)
- Optional: M&Ms or other candy to use for the bat’s eyes
Steps to Assemble a Bat Cake
When the cake is cool cut the 8-inch round cake in half. Position the two halves side by side with the rounded edges together at their ends. This will form the bat’s wingspan. The cupcake will sit on top of the cake where the wings come together to form the bat’s head.
Note: This cake can be very crumbly. For that reason I first iced the cake with a thin layer of frosting called a crumb coat. A crumb coat serves as a primer, stabilizing the crumbs and sealing in the cake’s moisture.
When the crumb coat is dry to the touch, add a second layer of orange frosting on top smoothing the surface with a butter knife or offset decorating spatula. After the second coat of frosting the edges will look more even, with hardly any dark crumbs showing through.
How to Decorate a Cute Vampire Bat Cake
Mark the scallops in the bat’s wings by using a 3 – 3.5 inch diameter drinking glass or teacup turned upside down and gently pressed into the icing evenly along the straight edge of the bat’s wings.
Fit a decorating bag with a round tip (I used a #6) and fill the bag with the chocolate frosting. Pipe an outline over the scalloped markings and around the rounded side of the wings to outline the edges.
Use the same tip to pipe a dotted border at the bottom edge of the cake, if desired.
Change to a star tip with a size #17 or larger opening, and fill in the area between the outlined edges of the wings.
Position the bat’s head cupcake on top of the cake, Covering the line where the wings come together. Using the grass or hair decorating tip, #233, cover the cupcake with frosting.
With a separate pastry bag filled with a small amount of orange or white frosting and fitted with a round tip (or Ziploc baggie filled with a few tablespoons of frosting and with the lower 1/4 inch of the corner trimmed away) pipe ears, and fangs as in the picture.
For eyes, place orange M&Ms, Reeses’ Pieces, or other candies on the bat’s head and dot with chocolate icing for pupils. Alternately, pipe the eyes with frosting too.
Happy Halloween!
Vampire Bat Cake with Hot Chocolate Frosting
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy8
servings1
hour30
minutes35
minutes2
hours5
minutesA chocolatey cake covered in spicy Hot Chocolate Frosting makes a cute novelty just spooky enough for a Halloween celebration.
Ingredients
- Vampire Bat Cake
Batter for an 8-inch round cake, I used Less-Mess Chocolate Cake
- Hot Chocolate Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder (or a mixture of ground chipotle and ancho chile powders)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Directions
- Bake the Cake
- Prepare the batter for Less-Mess Chocolate Cake as directed, mixing it in an 8-inch round pan.
- Following step 4, when the batter is mixed but before you put it in the oven, scoop enough of the batter into a Pyrex custard cup to fill it about half way. (I used about 1/3 cup of batter.)
- Place both the 8-inch round pan and the custard cup filled with batter in the oven on the center rack. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. The cupcake will take approximately 20 minutes while the 8 inch cake will take approximately 35 minutes. Remove each from the oven when done.
- Let both cakes cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Remove from pans and let rest on the wire rack until completely cool.
- Prepare the Frosting
- Beat cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and mix well.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Continue mixing until the frosting is fluffy and spreadable.
- Remove 1 1/2 cups of frosting and tint it orange, if desired.
- In a medium bowl combine the chile powder, cinnamon, espresso powder, salt, vanilla and cocoa powder. Add this mixture to the remaining frosting and continue mixing until incorporated. Add a little milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed, until the frosting is a consistency suitable for piping.
- Assemble & Decorate
- When the cake is cool cut the 8-inch round cake in half. Position the two halves side by side with the rounded edges together at their ends to form the bats wingspan.
- Use the orange frosting to ice the sides of the bat cake and at least the lower half of the wings with a thin crum coat of frosting. When the first coat of frosting is dry to the touch, add a second layer of orange frosting on top, smoothing the surface with a butter knife or offset decorating spatula.
- Mark the scallops in the bat’s wings by using a 3 – 3.5 inch diameter drinking glass or teacup turned upside down and gently pressed into the icing evenly along the straight edge of the bat’s wings.
- Fit a decorating bag with a round tip (I used a #6) and fill the bag with the chocolate frosting. Pipe an outline over the scalloped markings and around the rounded side of the wings to outline the edges. Use the same tip to pipe a dotted border at the bottom edge of the cake, if desired.
- Change to a star tip, with a size #17 or larger opening, and fill in the area of the wings.
- Position the Bat’s Head cupcake on top of the cake, where the wings come together. Using the hair decorating tip, #233, cover the cupcake with frosting.
- With a separate decorating bag filled with a small amount of orange or white frosting and fitted with a round tip (or Ziploc baggie filled with a few tablespoons of frosting and with the lower 1/4- inch of the corner trimmed away) pipe ears, eyes and fangs. Alternately use candy pieces to decorate as desired.
Thanks, Lyndsay. Glad you stopped by!
This is SO CUTE!!! The best bat cake I've seen on the internet! ^__^
Thank you so much for this post. My soon to be 5 year old has a birthday coming up and she loves bats . We are doing a bat themed birthday and since it is so unusual and I don't want to pay upwards of 100-200 dollars for a cake, this is amazing !!
I just made this cake and it was a huge hit! Thank you for the idea. Also want to thank you for the very detailed instructions. It made it so simple to do!!!
My son just requested a bat cake for his fifth birthday next week. I googled an idea and up came your site. Lifesaver! I'll totally be using this idea. Thank you!
My son wanted a bat birthday cake- well, he is 7 after all, and I looked for a design- your won hands down ! The cake is cooking in the oven as we speak I can't wait to make it !
How adorable. And so profesh-looking too. Niiice. 🙂
Wow! That looks amazing.
Wow what an awesome looking cake!!
Hi Lisa – I’ve tagged you and left an award for you on my site. I enjoy your postings so much. Stop by when you have a minute to pick up your award.
What an adorable cake. You are such a good cake decorator! My mom cake decorates so I understand all the work involved. Your frosting sounds terrific too!
I need a cake for the cake bake too-actually I need two, I’m sure this was a beautiful entry!
I love the Bat cake. It looks like fun to make. Also the side-bar pictures are so great. The food looks delicious.
that’s amazing, lisa–it actually looks furry! and the kicker is that it’d be delicious too–lovely recipe and idea!
I’m love this cake!! It’s just so adorable and creative!
That’s absolutely beautiful! And scary, too, of course–a piece of Halloween art.
I bet your bat cake was the hit of the auction. What ghoulie and ghostie wouldn’t love it!
I vant to suck the blood–oops, frosting–off that cake! Adorable. I can’t believe all the work that went into it! The finished product looks amazing, though, and glad it was a success!