Black Cat Cupcakes

Here’s a black cat everyone will be glad crossed their path: our purrfect-for-Halloween chocolate cupcakes in festive holiday colors.

Ingredients

• ¼ tsp. tylose powder, such as Wilton
• ½ cup black fondant, such as Wilton Decorator Preferred
• 1 (15.25 oz.) pkg. dark chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup oil
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips, chopped
• 2 cups butter (1 lb.), at room temp.
• 1 (16 oz.) cont.Marshmallow Fluff
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, from 2 (16 oz.) pkgs.
• 1¼ tsp. orange extract
• Orange concentrated food coloring
• Light corn syrup
• Black edible glitter
• Orange decorating sugar
• Green jumbo rainbow nonpareil sprinkles
• Purple confetti sprinkles
• Green, purple and black jimmies
• 12 marshmallows, halved
• 5′ licorice laces, cut into 2½”-long pieces

Instructions

1. Line baking sheet with wax paper. Knead tylose into fondant. Between two sheets of wax paper, roll out fondant to 1/16″ thickness. Using 1¾” and 1¼” heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut out 24 hearts of each size. Transfer to baking sheet; dry overnight. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners. On low speed, beat cake mix, 1 cup water, eggs, oil and cinnamon until blended, 30 seconds; on medium, beat 2 minutes. Evenly divide batter among liners; sprinkle with chopped chocolate chips. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer from pans to racks; cool completely. 
2. On medium, beat butter until fluffy, 2 minutes. Add Fluff; beat until blended. On low, gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar, then extract. On medium-high, beat until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Tint orange with food coloring. Transfer ⅓ cup frosting to disposable pastry bag; snip ⅛” hole from tip; reserve. Transfer remaining frosting to disposable pastry bag fitted with ½” plain tip (such as Wilton #2A).
3. Lightly brush half of larger hearts with corn syrup; sprinkle with edible glitter. Pipe thin border of frosting along edges of remaining large hearts; for ears, pipe frosting triangles on small hearts. Sprinkle borders and ears with orange sugar. For faces, with corn syrup, attach nonpareils, confetti and jimmies to small hearts; let dry. Attach small hearts to large hearts with frosting; refrigerate until set, 15 minutes. Pipe frosting on cupcakes; sprinkle with jimmies. Top cupcakes with cats, placing marshmallow halves behind for support if necessary. For tails, insert licorice.