Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Delicious festive chocolate cupcakes with green buttercream, candy baubles and chocolate gold stars, to look like Christmas trees!

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword christmas, Cupcake

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 25

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 480kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

175 g Baking spread or butter softened, unsalted
175 g Caster sugar
3 Eggs large
2 tbsp Milk
150 g Self raising flour
25 g Cocoa powder
¼ tsp Baking powder

For the buttercream

200 g Butter softened, unsalted
400 g Icing sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp Milk
Green food colouring

For decoration

12 Chocolate stars I used Dr Oetker
0.5 g Lustre dust I used gold sparkle
Dipping solution or vodka
35 g Small coloured chocolate beans
1 tsp Icing sugar for dusting

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 140C Fan/160C/325F/Gas Mark 3, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases
For the cupcake sponge, mix together the baking spread and caster sugar, ideally using an electric mixer, for 5 minutes until smooth and fluffy
Add the eggs and milk and whisk them in well
Then gently whisk, or fold in, the self raising flour, cocoa powder and baking powder
Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, and bake them for 25-30 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Put them on a rack to cool completely
For the chocolate stars, place them on some baking paper. Mix the lustre dust and dipping solution together to make a gold paint, use a food safe brush to paint the stars. Let them dry, then if needed add a second coat. Leave to fully dry
For the buttercream, mix the softened butter on it's own for a few minutes. Then add the icing sugar, vanilla extract, milk and green food colouring, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes. Decorate with the gold painted chocolate stars, the mini coloured chocolate beans and a dusting of icing sugar
Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days

Video

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cupcakes and unsalted butter for the buttercream.
You can use any cocoa powder for the cupcakes, of course the better quality it is, the better flavour it will have. Also do make sure you are using cocoa powder and not a hot chocolate powder.
For the buttercream I used professional grade food colourings. These types of food colouring not only provide excellent colour results, but they are gel based so they do not make the buttercream sloppy. They are also easily available for purchase online. My favourite brands are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. Other good quality brands are Colour Mill and Americolor.
I decorated the cupcakes with Dr Oetker chocolate stars that I painted gold with lustre dust, and some small chocolate beans. You could make the stars from fondant or melt some chocolate and pipe out a star shape on some baking paper and leave it to set. For the baubles you can use any small coloured sweets or sprinkles.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition