This is one of the simplest Christmas Cupcake recipes I have ever made. This recipe is especially good at that time of year when you have very limited time and you want to make something that tastes amazing, looks impressive and everyone will love.
I can never decide how to decorate and so I made a few different styles.
Here is how it’s done….
I love chocolate so I can’t go past a rich chocolate mud cupcake. Follow the simple chocolate mud cupcake recipe included below.
Once baked, the top of the cupcakes will look like this. Whilst you might assume from this picture that the cupcakes are dry, that’s not the case. They’re actually rich and moist inside. For some reason the top of the chocolate mud cake always looks like this when I bake them.
To make the icing, cube butter at room temperature then mix on high for two minutes or until fluffy. Then add icing sugar and milk gradually, blending well after each addition.
I’m indecisive when it comes to choosing icing flavours, so I thought why not do both chocolate and vanilla icing for my Christmas cupcakes?
Split icing evenly into two bowls. For chocolate icing add cocoa and melted chocolate. For the white icing add 10 drops of Wilton white icing colour to make it extra white. If you don’t have white icing, colouring 1/2 a cup of melted white chocolate will also help to whiten your icing.
Now to decorate… loving these Christmas colours. Here are the decoration styles I created using just these four toppings.
So there you have it, the easiest Christmas Cupcakes you will ever find!
- 3 cups plan flour
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2.5 cups of caster sugar
- 200 grams (7 ounces)
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup melted dark chocolate buttons
- 250 grams (9 ounces) butter
- 600 grams (21 ounces) or 4 cups pure icing sugar
- 60 ml or ¼ cup full cream milk
- 1 tablespoon cocoa
- 150 grams (10.5 ounces) dark chocolate
- 150 grams (10.5 ounces) white chocolate or 4 drops of white icing colouring
- Don't forgot to buy some lollies for decoration. For my decoration I used red and green M&M's, silver cachous, red sprinkles and grated white chocolate.
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 Fahrenheit)
- Line cupcake tray with cupcake papers
- Melt chocolate buttons
- Sift together all dry ingredients including plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and cocoa
- In a separate bowl cream room temperature butter and sugar together on high until light and fluffy (approx 2 mins)
- Add vanilla extract to the butter and sugar then mix until combined
- Add ¼ of the dry mixture to the butter and sugar bowl along with a ¼ of buttermilk, continue this until all ingredients are combined
- Mix in melted dark chocolate and stir until all combined
- Prepare to add mixture to cupcake baking tray. For best results use ice cream scoop that can level off the mixture into even scoops but if not available simply spoon mixture in evenly.
- Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean
- At least one hour prior to making icing remove butter from fridge. This will ensure butter is at room temperature and easy to work with
- Ensure cupcakes are completely cooled before icing
- Melt dark and white chocolate and set aside to cool
- Cube butter and place in bowl. Beat on high until light and fluffy
- Add sifted icing sugar one cup at a time along with a third of the milk and beat on high until well combined
- Split mixture evenly into two separate bowls
- For the white icing mix in melted white chocolate on low speed or 5 drops of Wilton white icing colouring
- For chocolate icing add sifted cocoa powder and mix until well combined then mix in melted dark chocolate on a low speed
- Decorate cupcakes immediately after icing then refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour to set