Oh, the humble cupcake. Not only is it a classic delicious party treat, but it’s also basically a blank canvas – the decorating opportunities are endless! We’ve scoured the internet and found not only the most delectable recipes that taste just like Christmas, but also a variety of fun and easy ways to bring the festive spirit to your dessert table.
Recipe Ideas
Choc-peppermint Cupcake
INGREDIENTS
For the chocolate cupcake:
- 200g butter
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup milk
For the peppermint buttercream icing:
- 250 butter, softened
- 500g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 200g white chocolate, melted
- ½ tsp peppermint essence
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180C, and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cases. (We love to use red and white to go with the Christmas-candy cane theme).
- Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. One at a time, at the eggs and beat well before adding in the flour, cocoa powder and milk in batches.
- Divide the mixture evenly among paper cases, and place in oven
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer entered in the centre comes out clean. Set aside on a wire cooking rack until at room temperature.
- For the icing, use the electric mixer to beat the butter until very pale and has a fluffy texture. In batches, add in the icing sugar and milk gradually. Add the melted chocolate and beat again, and finally add the peppermint essence. Beat until combined.
- Using a piping bag, pipe the buttercream over each cupcake and decorate with a candy cane – or, check out the adorable decoration options below!
Gingerbread Cupcake
INGREDIENTS
For the gingerbread cupcake:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 and ⅓ cup self raising flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground allspice
For the cream cheese icing:
- 225g cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 3 cups icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180C, and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cases.
- Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. One at a time, at the eggs and beat well before adding in the milk, molasses and vanilla. Beat on medium speed, scraping down the edges, until combined.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt and spices. With the electric mixer on a low speed, gently add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly among paper cases, and place in oven
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer entered in the centre comes out clean. Set aside on a wire cooking rack until at room temperature.
- For the icing, use the electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Switch to high speed for 2 minutes, or until you reach desired consistency. Add more icing sugar if you wish for thicker icing.
- Using a piping bag, pipe the cream cheese icing mixture over each cupcake. Decorate with mini-gingerbread men, or check out the adorable ideas below.
Decoration Ideas
Christmas Bauble Cupcake
Source: Yourcupofcake.com
What you’ll need:
- Rolos (or you could use Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups)
- Smarties or M&Ms, separated into colours
Simply ice your cupcakes and smooth the surface with a butter knife or spatula. Use the rolo as the top of the bauble, and use the different coloured decorations to create fun Christmas bauble designs.
North Pole Cupcake
Source: The-girl-who-ate-everything.com
What you’ll need:
- White buttercream icing
- Dessicated coconut or white edible glitter
- Piping bag and nib
- 12 candy canes
- 12 red smarties
- Additional icing (we use simply an icing sugar and water mixture to create a glue)
- 12 printed or handwritten ‘North Pole’ cards
Using the piping bag and buttercream icing, frost your cupcakes in a swirling pattern.
Dust with dessicated coconut and/or edible glitter for that wonderful winter-magic look!
Mark the candy canes at about 7-10cm long on the straight edge. Using a sharp knife, begin carving into the candy cane at this point. It will soon become weak enough to break.
Using the additional icing mixture, place a red smartie on the top of each candy cane, and a ‘North Pole’ sign on the front.
With the smartie upright, stick the candy cane poles into each cupcake. Voila – now Santa won’t get lost on his way home!
Christmas Tree Cupcake
Source: Lydiabakes.co.nz
What you’ll need:
- Thick buttercream icing, coloured green
- Piping bag and tips: star shape works well
- Yellow fondant
- Small star cookie cutter
- Coloured cachous pearls
This one is a little more complicated than our other designs, so you may want to practice before Christmas day!
Fill your piping bag with green icing and, spinning the cupcake as you go, slowly squeeze the icing through and layer up until it creates a Christmas tree shape.
Using the star cutter, cut into the yellow fondant. Place the star atop the tree. Decorate with coloured cachous pearls as Christmas baubles and fairy lights.
Alternate: For a simpler take on this, create Christmas bauble cupcakes. Simply pipe green icing around the perimeter of the cupcake, and decorate with cachous pearl ‘baubles’. You could even make a bow out of red liquorice too!