Easy Christmas Cupcakes

Make easy Christmas cupcakes with this delicious cupcakes recipe and decorating tutorial. Learn to make moist and fluffy cupcakes decorated with simple buttercream swirls and fondant stars and a generous fill of red and green sprinkles for true festive treats!

The cupcakes recipes is adapted from my moist vanilla cupcakes recipe. They are very easy to make and produce most wonderfully moist and fluffy cupcakes.

The only additional ingredient I have in these Christmas cupcakes is the sprinkles. Not only are the sprinkles used to decorate the cupcakes, I have also added them in the cupcake batter.

And since these are for Christmas, I choose sprinkles in red and green. So my cupcakes have lovely specks of red and green all over, inside and out!

The Christmas cupcakes are decorated with a simple swirl of buttercream and bright red, fondant star toppers.

For more Christmas treats, check out my easy Christmas cake decoration, Christmas reindeer cupcakes, Christmas cheesecake, Christmas tree cupcakes, Christmas sprinkle cookies and snowflake cookies.

🧾Supplies Required

For the Cupcakes:

• Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt - mix and sift these together to aerate.
• Butter - I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add an extra small pinch of salt to the batter.
• Granulated sugar - this fine sugar is recommended over coarse sugar as coarse sugar takes longer to dissolve and tends to leave sugar speck on the surface of the cupcakes after baking.
• Eggs - use large, room temperature eggs.
• Milk - Keeps the cupcakes soft and moist. Use room temperature milk. Both full cream and low fat milk will work.
• Vanilla extract - for flavoring and aroma.

For the Buttercream:

• Butter - Use salted butter. Salt enhances the taste of the buttercream. Make sure the butter is not too cold or too soft. It should be soft but firm when pressed.
• Powdered sugar - sift first before using as it tends to be lumpy.
• Vanilla extract - for flavoring.
• Milk (optional) - only use if the buttercream is too stiff. Always add in small amounts and increase as needed.

For the Decoration:

• Christmas themed sprinkles - I used sprinkles mix with combination of red, green and white sprinkles.
• Red fondant for the star toppers

*Refer to the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and exact quantities. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*

👩‍🍳How to Make

Step 1: Bake the cupcakes. Preheat oven and place cupcake liner into a cupcake tray.

Add butter and sugar into a large bowl (image 1)and cream both until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium high speed for approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl constantly.

Add in the eggs (image 2). Start with one egg, beat it well until you do not see any traces of egg before adding the next egg. Beat again until all traces of the eggs are no longer visible.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt into the creamed mixture (wet ingredients) in 4 batches (image 3). Alternate the flour mixture with milk. Fold these in until well incorporated.

Next, add vanilla and sprinkles (image 4). Give the batter a quick mix until it's all smooth.

Scoop or spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake casings, and fill each casing to about two thirds full (image 5). The cupcakes will rise quite substantially when baking so it is important not to overfill the casings.

Bake the cupcakes until well risen and golden brown in color (image 6). Remove from the oven and let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing them onto a wire rack to cool.

As soon as the cupcakes turn just slightly warm, cover them in a container and let them continue to cool down, covered. Let them cool completely before decorating.

Step 2: Make the fondant star toppers. Knead and roll some red fondant to about half a centimeter thickness.

Use a star cutter to cut the stars out (image 7). Insert a toothpick at the ends of each star. Let them set in a horizontal position until they are ready to go onto the cupcakes (image 8).

Note: These stars can also be made a few days in advance.  

Step 3: Make the buttercream. Cream butter until soft. Add the powdered sugar and mix brief with a spatula to moisten the sugar before creaming with the beaters. Beat until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract (image 9) and continue to beat until it is well incorporated. If the buttercream is stiff, add some milk and mix well (image 10).

Step 4: Decorate the cupcakes. Fit a piping bag with a large star tip (I used tip 1M) and fill it with the buttercream. 

Pipe large stars onto each of the cooled cupcakes (image 11).

Sprinkle the top generously with Christmas themed sprinkles (image 12).

Attach one red fondant star right in the center of your buttercream stars (on top of each cupcake) (image 13). And that completes the decoration on the Christmas treats. 

💭FAQs

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📖Recipe

Easy Christmas Cupcakes

Moist and fluffy Christmas cupcakes with cheerful sprinkles inside and outside. These cupcakes are so pretty and full of festive cheer!

5 from 31 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Decorating Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Author: Priya Maha

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Metric - US Customary

For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ▢ 190 g self raising flour
• ▢ 100 g butter
• ▢ 175 g granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 140 ml milk
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 60 g red and green sprinkles

Buttercream Frosting

• ▢ 150 g butter (salted)
• ▢ 300 g powdered sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream (optional)

Decoration

• ▢ Sprinkles
• ▢ Fondant stars

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 170°Celsius. Prepare cupcake liners.
• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, for approximately 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl constantly.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt into the creamed mixture in 4 batches, alternating each batch with milk. Start and end with the flour. Mix until the flour is well incorporated.
• Fold in the vanilla extract followed by the sprinkles.
• Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes until the cupcakes are well risen and have turned golden brown.
• Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing them onto a wire rack to cool further.
• Keep the cupcakes covered as soon as they turn warm and let them continue to cool down, covered.
• To make the buttercream, cream the butter until fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar, a little at a time.
• Add vanilla and continue beating until the buttercream is light and fluffy. Add milk if it is too stiff.
• Frost the cupcakes only when they have completely cooled down. Fill buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a star on top of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles and attach a red fondant star in the center.

Notes

1. When mixing the cupcakes batter, cream the butter and sugar for a good 3 minutes and scrape the bowl half way through for light and fluffy cupcakes.
2. Do not overmix the batter after adding flour. This is prevent your cupcakes from becoming tough.
3. Make sure sprinkles are the last ingredient to go in. And even then, mix them into the batter quickly until they are just incorporated. Mixing them for too long will cause the colors to bleed and get mixed up.
4. Keep to the baking time and do not over bake to keep their moist texture.
5. The sprinkles on these Christmas cupcakes tend to bleed into the buttercream if you leave them in warm temperature, so they are best added before serving.
6. The star toppers for these Christmas cupcakes are made of fondant and can be made ahead of time. Simply store them in a dry place (do not refrigerate).

Nutrition

Calories: 201kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 117mg | Potassium: 22mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg

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