Christmas Tree Cupcakes

These Christmas tree cupcakes will impress everyone around the Christmas table as they look as good as they taste! The recipe is easy, fun, and delicious, with a tender, moist chocolate cupcake and creamy buttercream frosting. It's the perfect festive cupcake to please all your family and friends!

Best Christmas tree cupcake recipe

This easy Christmas tree shape cupcake recipe consists of a moist and tender chocolate cupcake base, rich and silky chocolate ganache filling, and my favorite American buttercream frosting. It's super cute and festive with piped Christmas tree frosting made with green food coloring on 'snowy' ground, but a lot more straightforward to make than you might think.

We use brown sugar and white sugar to add butterscotch flavor from the molasses, and you won't believe how much extra chocolatey flavor you get from using coffee powder in the chocolate cupcakes. Don't skip it!

My traditional buttercream frosting is perfectly balanced in sweetness and has a smooth and creamy texture. It's super fluffy and pipes perfectly, so you can easily decorate the Christmas tree cupcakes.

This is one of my favorite Christmas cakes, and if you love anything Christmas tree-themed, like my puff pastry Christmas tree, you will love these cupcakes!

Katalin's key take on how to make moist cupcakes

I love getting into the science of baking. The key to baking moist cupcakes is using oil rather than butter in the batter. Oil is 100% fat, whereas butter contains both fat and water, which evaporates during baking and can therefore dry out the sponge. Butter also hardens over time, so baking Christmas tree cupcakes with oil keeps them moist for longer, even if stored in the fridge.

Of course, it is also important to follow my step-by-step directions on combining ingredients, weighing everything by the gram, and not overbaking!

I go into more detail on how to bake moist sponge cake in this post; check it out!

Make the chocolate cupcake base

Preheat the oven to 175C / 347 F (no fan) and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake cases.

Whip together the room temperature wet ingredients (both types of sugar, egg, oil, coffee, milk, and vanilla extract) for 1-2 minutes just until combined. I recommend using an electric hand mixer or hand whisk.

Sift the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together in a separate bowl and mix to combine them.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together using a rubber spatula. Work quickly, and do not overmix the batter.

Fill the cupcake cases in the muffin pan ¾ with the batter; do not overfill them, or they will dome or mushroom out of the cases.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean with no sticky batter on it. Do not overbake.

Allow the cupcakes to cool down to room temperature before filling and frosting them and turning them into showstopper Christmas tree cupcakes.

Now make the chocolate ganache cupcake filling - optional

Place finely chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Use high-quality chocolate (avoid cooking chocolate/baking chocolate) with a pleasant taste that is not too sweet.

Heat the heavy cream until it is steaming and starting to simmer, but not boiling. If the cream is too hot, it will burn the chocolate, but it must be hot enough to melt it.

Pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for a minute as it melts. Then, stir to emulsify the cream and chocolate into a glossy ganache. Alternatively, use a stick blender for this stage.

Let the ganache cool for 30 minutes in the fridge before using it to let it thicken.

Make the American buttercream frosting

Ensure the unsalted butter is at room temperature before you begin. This can take around an hour out of the fridge. It is ready when your finger leaves an indent if you press it, but do not melt the butter, or you will end up with buttercream soup.

Use an electric hand mixer to cream the softened butter at medium-high speed for around 3 minutes. It needs to become pale in color and fluffy in texture. You can also use a stand mixer for this stage.

Turn the speed down to low, and add tablespoons of sifted powdered sugar one at a time. Once it is all incorporated, turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed and continue whipping until the mixture becomes light, fluffy, and increases in volume. This takes around 4 minutes.

Finally, add the vanilla extract, salt, and heavy cream and whip for another minute until the buttercream cupcake frosting is smooth and silky. The consistency should be fluffy and perfect for piping, but if it seems too thick, add more cream, a tablespoon at a time. If the frosting is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time.

Remove around a third to a quarter of the frosting for the white, snowy base, and add the high-quality gel or powder food coloring to the rest to make the green frosting Christmas trees.

Place each portion of frosting into piping bags fitted with a Wilton 1M piping nozzle star tip.

Assemble the cupcakes and decorate

The cupcakes and the ganache (if used) need to be completely cool before frosting and filling the Christmas tree cupcakes.

Make a small hole on top of each cupcake with a teaspoon and fill them with chocolate ganache. Place them into the freezer for a few minutes to set.

Pipe the white frosting onto each cupcake to make the 'snow' base, then place them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to set.

Now, pipe the green Christmas tree pattern on top of the cupcakes. Dust over some powdered sugar (icing sugar) to give a frosty effect, and add sprinkles if desired before serving.

Read my guide on filling cupcakes to have fun with decorating!

Storing and freezing

The cupcakes are best served fresh. Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Bring the Christmas cupcakes back to room temperature before serving, as the buttercream frosting will harden in the refrigerator.

You can make the chocolate cupcake bases in advance and freeze them until ready to use; because we all need more time at Christmas! Wrap in plastic food wrap and place into ziplock bags.

Read my guide on how to store cupcakes for more tips.

Flavor variations

I sometimes like to add a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg to the cupcakes to give them even more of a festive feeling. You could also add some orange zest, too.

Feel free to swap out the cupcake base with other flavors, for example, the vanilla cupcake base used in my white chocolate cupcakes, or use a different filling, like a caramel filling.

Swap out the buttercream frosting for mascarpone frosting or cream cheese frosting.

You can add extra flavor to the frosting by using 100% pistachio paste or matcha powder to make the Christmas tree cupcake frosting green. But remember that the more you add, the stronger the taste and the color will be.

Ingredient substitutions

Baking is a science, so leaving out or substituting ingredients will impact taste and texture. I cannot provide substitutes for all allergies and diets, but there are some swaps you can try to make this recipe suit you, and my baking guides will tell you more about common baking ingredients.

Try this recipe with almond flour instead of the all-purpose flour to make them gluten-free. You could also try using a good quality, high-fat vegan butter substitute, oat cream, and one of these egg substitutes to make these vegan or dairy-free.

Expert tips

1. Always use room-temperature ingredients in these Xmas tree cupcakes so they properly emulsify.
2. I use 3% whole milk, 82% European-style butter, and 36% heavy cream in all my recipes. Ensure your oil is neutral in flavor, like vegetable oil.
3. We use unsweetened, 100% cocoa powder to make these Chocolate Christmas tree cupcakes. Use Dutch-process cocoa powder; it has a lovely dark color and lower acidity. Make sure the chocolate for the ganache has a high cocoa solids percentage for the best flavor.
4. Make sure the butter is only softened and not melted when you make the buttercream, or it will be a sloppy soup and not frosting. Read my guide on how to soften butter.
5. Mix the powdered sugar into the butter at a low speed, or a sugar cloud will form in your kitchen! And, always sift powdered sugar to avoid lumpy frosting.
6. Use the buttercream frosting within a couple of hours, or place it in the fridge until needed. However, as buttercream hardens in the refrigerator, you will need to leave it on the counter to come up in temperature before it is ready to pipe. You may also need to whip it up again in the stand mixer for a minute.
7. When using food coloring, avoid cheap supermarket liquid food coloring and aim for high-quality gel or powder food coloring that creates a bright color without needing to use a lot of it. Liquid coloring can break the frosting.

What equipment to use

Baking is science, so always weigh ingredients by the gram using a digital scale for precision. Combine your ingredients with an electric hand mixer and bake the cupcakes in a 12-cup muffin pan.

All ovens vary, and baking at the correct temperature is essential to avoid dry cupcakes. I recommend investing in a digital oven thermometer to check your oven is correct.

I decorate my Christmas tree cupcakes by placing the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip.

Try some of my other cupcake recipes

• Mocha cupcakes
• White chocolate raspberry cupcakes
• Cinnamon cupcakes
• Apple pie cupcakes
• Oreo cupcakes

Try some other cupcake frostings and fillings to take your baking to the next level!

Have you tried this recipe?

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