There are many cute Christmas cupcakes we have been loving on Pinterest. Here are a few of our favourites that the kids can help decorate.
Marshmallow Snowman Cupcakes
You’ll need:
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 marshmallows
- Vanilla frosting
- Black icing
- Funfetti or sugar pearls to decorate
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180c and line a muffin baking pan with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract.
- Stir in milk, then add the rest of the ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt), and mix until just combined but do not over mix. The batter won’t be very thick, sort of runny and that’s okay.
- Pour the batter into liners, and bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. When completely chilled, decorate with the vanilla frosting and put a marshmallow on each cupcake.
- Draw faces and arms using the black icing, and make buttons out of the sprinkles/funfetti.
Recipe: Little Sunny Kitchen
Bauble Cupcakes
You’ll Need:
- 24 cupcakes, baked, in cupcake liners
- 24 Reese’s miniature cups
For the Frosting: (Makes about 3 cups)
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 5 Tbsp butter
- 5 Tbsp evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- Red, blue, and green icing pens (or color your own homemade frosting)
Method:
- Combine frosting ingredients and beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. (If necessary, add more powdered sugar to thicken the mixture, or more evaporated milk to thin the mixture.)
- Place about 3/4 cup of frosting into two small bowls (3/4 cup per bowl.) Mix a few drops of red and a few drops of green food colouring into their respective, separate containers, until you get the desired colours you want. Use the remaining 1 1/2 cups of white frosting to frost the tops of the cupcakes.
- Place the red and green food colouring into separate piping bags, or into two ziplock bags with a small whole cut into the corners. Decorate cupcakes with an ornament design.
- Place the Reese’s miniature cups inside the cupcake liners to complete the top of your ornament.
Recipe: Tastes Better from Scratch
Cupcake Christmas Tree
You’ll Need:
- For the cupcakes
- 200g butter, softened
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 200g self-raising flour
- 2 tbsp milk
For the icing:
- 300g butter
- 525g icing sugar
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- Green food colouring
- Sweets, to decorate
- Large white chocolate star, to decorate
- Edible gold spray
Method:
- Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line the muffin tin with the muffin cases. Put half the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl, and beat until pale and fluffy. Add one egg and mix well. Add half the flour and milk, and mix with a spatula until combined. Use 2 teaspoons to distribute the cake mixture evenly among the cases and bake for 12 mins until risen and golden, and a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat to make another batch of 24 mini cakes.
- While the cakes are cooling, make the icing. Put the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and food colouring, and blend again until evenly coloured. Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Once the cakes have cooled, use a skewer to make a small hole in the base of each cake. To decorate the cakes, pipe blobs of green icing over the surface of each one.
- Now you’re ready to start assembling your Christmas tree. Paint the foam cone all over with green paint and leave to dry – don’t worry about it being too neat. Push the cone into the pot. To build the tree, push a cocktail stick into the base of each cake and press it into the cone. Continue until the cone is covered in cakes, trying to keep them as close together as possible. You may have some left over, which you can serve alongside the tree.
- Spray the chocolate star gold and put on top of the tree, then decorate the rest of the tree with sweets.
Recipe: BBC Good Food
For more Christmas cooking inspiration, head to our Pinterest page!