Christmas Tree Cupcakes

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Christmas Tree Cupcakes made with a chocolate sponge base, green vanilla buttercream frosting and sprinkles, a delicious and indulgent Christmas dessert to enjoy during the whole of the festive season. It's a quick and easy to make treat made with easily-available ingredients - the chocolate sponges are moist and chocolatey, while the buttercream is rich and smooth with sugar decorations that resemble baubles. A fantastic family-friendly dessert!

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Cooling Time1

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: International

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 310kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

125 g plain flour (1 cup)
25 g cocoa powder (2 tbsp)
150 g granulated sugar (¾ cup)
85 g butter (3 oz)
2 eggs
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream frosting

400 g icing sugar (confectioners' sugar, 3 ¼ cups)
200 g soft butter (1 cup)
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon green food colouring
40 g sprinkles ( ¼ cup, to resemble baubles)
12 star-shaped sprinkles ( the decorate the top of the cupcakes)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

To make the cupcakes, add the milk and butter to a pan set over a medium heat, and allow the butter to melt.
Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the butter is melted and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar, and use a hand mixer to beat everything together until the mixture triples its volume.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, add the vanilla extract and milk mixture, and use a spatula to mix everything into a runny batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 holes of a muffin tin that had previously been lined with paper or silicone cases.
Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave the cupcakes to cool down completely.
To make the buttercream, add all the ingredients to a blender and blitz everything to a smooth paste.
Use a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle to decorate each cupcakes.
Decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles for the baubles and palce a star-shaped sprinkle at the top.

Video

Notes

Do not refrigerate the cupcakes, otherwise the buttercream will harden too much and the sponges will dry out.
The best way to store them is at room temperature in a large enough cake tin - mine have kept well for 4 days already and they still look and taste yummy!
Make sure the cupcake sponges have cooled down completely before piping the buttercream on top, otherwise you risk the buttercream melting and ending up with a right mess.

Nutrition