Batman Cupcakes

It's simple... we bake the Batman...

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that The Dark Knight Rises comes out tomorrow (technically at 12AM tonight) and I wanted to celebrate by making these awesome --and I swear very simple -- cupcakes. I knew I wanted to pipe the chocolate bat symbols, so for the rest of the baking part I was super lazy. 

 Ingredients

1 box Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix

12oz Diet Sierra Mist (or other light soda)

1 can Vanilla Icing

1 bag Wilton Dark Chocolate Candy Melts

Silver Sugar Sprinkles

That's right--this is all that I used for the cake: 

1. Mix the soda and the cake mix together and bake for about 20 minutes (dependent on how full you fill your tins). The cake will come out as a little dense but incredibly moist. And don't worry, the cake won't taste like lemon-lime, the vanilla in the cake mix is far too strong. Note: If you want a chocolate cake, just combine it with Coke Zero or Diet Coke

This is what it'll look like, but stir it enough and it will come out smooth!

2. While the cupcakes were cooling, I went online and found the bat symbol that I liked the most and pasted it into Word and printed it out. I placed it on a cookie sheet and placed a bit of parchment paper over it like this: 

3. For the chocolate, I used Wilton candy melts that I picked up at Michael's (where I work during the summer while school is out). If you've never used these before, they are an absolute necessity for my kitchen. They come in so many colors and are so easy to use! They make chocolate covered pretzels, cookies, candy, garnish, etc. very easy. And, you can use a 50% coupon from Michael's or A.C. Moore and get a whole bag for about $1.50. I made 19 bats for my cupcakes and I used barely 1/4 of the bag. 

4. Melt the chocolate in a microwavable bowl, stirring about every 20 seconds until it is smooth. I used a Wilton decorating squeeze bottle to trace the bats with chocolate. I simply melted the chocolate in a separate bowl and poured it into the squeeze bottle. Wilton says you can melt the chocolate in the bottle itself, but I wouldn't recommend it. 

5. To trace the symbol, do the outline first and then fill it it. Don't be afraid to make these pretty thick with chocolate, it'll make them more sturdy when they re-solidify. 

Look how easy!

6. Pop the bats in the freezer and then ice the cooled cupcakes. I use a pastry bag with a special icing tip, but you can just as easily use a knife and spread on the icing yourself. I also put some sprinkles on my cupcakes. I was going for a gritty-industrial look with some silver sugar sprinkles, but you can't really see them in the pictures. Oh well, I didn't call myself a haphazard baker for nothing. 

7. After the cupcakes are iced, simply pop the chocolate off the parchment paper and place it on the cupcake! If you lack air conditioning like I do, I'd stick the cupcakes back in the fridge to keep the chocolate from softening. 

And there you have it! Easy, yummy, and awesome batman cupcakes! 

The cupcake we deserve, but not the one we need right now...