Name: Christmas Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 18
Ingredients: 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour (200g); 1 cup granulated sugar (200g); 1/4 tsp baking soda (1g, heaping); 1 tsp baking powder (4g, heaping); 1/4 tsp kosher salt (1g); 3/4 cup unsalted butter (190g, room temperature); 3 egg whites; 1 tbsp vanilla extract (15mL); 1/2 cup sour cream (120g); 1/2 cup whole milk (118mL); 2 lbs confectioners sugar (900g); 1 lb unsalted butter (450g); 1 tsp vanilla extract (5mL); 1 tbsp heavy cream (15mL); 1 pinch salt; 1 tsp whole milk (5mL); red, green, and orange food coloring; gold or silver sugar pearls; rainbow sugar pearls; large marshmallows; 3 tbsp candy melts (black)

These festive Christmas cupcakes decorated five different ways are too cute not to make for your next holiday gathering! Moist and fluffy vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream, this recipe will become a year-round favorite!!

A photo of Christmas cupcakes on a white marble table

I’m going ALL OUT with my Christmas cupcakes this year and making them five different ways! Melting snowmen, poinsettias, Santa hats, Christmas Trees, and wreaths topped with a buttercream bow! You can make any or all of these decorations schemes and I guarantee you’ll love the taste of these cupcakes!

A Couple Tips:

When making that marshmallow snowman make sure to pink a little bit of the surface where the nose will go! That helps it to stick on better 🙂
You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
Add in some crushed candy canes to the batter at the very end for a festive and minty touch.
These decorations can all be made with Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream for a less sweet frosting.

Steps To Make These Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients and the sugar together until they are incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients until combined. The batter may be clumpy but do not worry! Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix them until they’re just combined.
Place cupcake papers in a cupcake pan and distribute the bater evenly into the papers. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
For the buttercream; Sift the confectioners sugar into a bowl and set aside. Cream the room temperature butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add in the confectioners sugar in two batches.
Now add the salt, vanilla, and either the milk or cream depending on which you decide to use. Continue to mix it up until it is nice and fluffy.
Once your buttercream is done, separate it into multiple bowls and add food coloring to create green, red, and a very small amount of orange and brown. Don’t forget to leave some white!

Steps to Decorate a Wreath Cupcake

For the wreaths; Pipe a white base onto your cupcake. I used an 898 tip. You can also just cut the tip of your piping bag and smooth it out with a knife.
In an overlapping motion, pipe the leaves using a 349 tip or a small leaf tip. I would recommend practicing on a flat surface if you’re not comfortable.
Use a 101 tip or a small petal tip to pipe the ribbon on your wreath. Once you’ve piped your wreath, you can decorate it using sugar pearls if you’d like.

Steps to Decorate a Poinsettia Cupcake

For the poinsettia; using a large leaf tip, pipe the green leaves of the poinsettia right on the surface of the cupcake.
To pipe the red leaves, use a medium leaf tip. Pipe a second set of red leaves over the first set to close up that bare spot in the middle.
Finish off by adding the tiny yellow flowers in the middle with a number 3 tip, and there you have your poinsettia!

Steps to Decorate a Melting Snowman Cupcake

For the snowmen; to start off, add a little bit of crumbled up cake from the cupcakes to some buttercream. Mix it up then add orange food coloring. You’re going to mold this together to make the snowman’s nose.
Pipe a white base onto your cupcake and smooth it out with a knife.
Cut off a corner of a large marshmallow and place it at the edge of your cupcake. This is going to be your snowman’s head!
Now you’re going to pop that nose on. Make sure to pinch off the surface of the marshmallow where your nose will attach.
Use the black buttercream to give your snowman arms, a mouth, and eyes.
Finish up by adding the buttons. I used small sugar pearls but dots of buttercream will work too.

Steps to Decorate a Christmas Tree Cupcake

Start off by piping another white base with your buttercream onto the cupcake and smooth it out with a knife or off set spatula.
Spread a small amount of brown buttercream on to replicate your tree stump. With a number 40 star tip, start piping dollops to create your Christmas tree.
You can use any color sugar pears or chocolate pearls to decorate your Christmas tree. I also covered a star shaped sprinkle in gold to put on the top of my tree!

Steps to Santa Hat Cupcake

Use a large round tip (808) to pipe the red body of Santa’s hat. Start with a circular motion at the base and move up while decreasing the size of your swirl to create a cone shape. If you don’t have that piping tip just cut the tip off of a piping bag.
Pipe a dollop of white buttercream on top using a 199 or any medium-sized star tip.
User that same tip to pipe the hat’s brim. You can pipe a bunch or little dollops or move the piping bag around to get an undulating pattern. A final but very optional touch is tipping the white parts of the hat in sanding sugar for some extra sparkle.

If you’ve tried these cupcakes then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!