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It’s National Cupcake Day today! I just love cupcakes! They are the perfect pre-portioned amount of cake. Plus, there are so many fun ways to decorate them like these Chocolate Christmas Tree Cupcakes.
To celebrate this delicious food holiday and have a simple from scratch chocolate cupcake for you, but by all means use a box mix in it’s place. However, this recipe really is just about as easy as making a box mix.
Then you make these easy but oh so cute mini Christmas trees to top these cupcakes with. All you need is some pretzel sticks, green candy melts (which you can pick up at a craft store or even Walmart), and non-pareil sprinkles.
The chocolate cupcakes get topped with white frosting and shredded coconut followed by the mini trees. Now you have a snowy forest of mini Christmas trees!
I also have 13+ other delicious cupcake recipes from the #celebratingfoodholidays bloggers that I team up with each month to celebrate food holidays with. You are gonna have an amazing collection of cupcake recipes after looking at this round up! Happy National Cupcake Day!
Real Mom Kitchen
5 from 1 vote
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Calories
Ingredients
Cupcake:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Trees:
- 30 pretzel sticks
- 1 ¼ cup green candy melts
- non-pareil sprinkles
Frosting:
- ½ cup butter softened
- 6 oz cream cheese or light cream cheese softened
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 ½ cups shredded coconut
Instructions
For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line 30 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Then add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla to the flour mixture. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the boiling water and stir until well combined (batter will be thin so do not be alarmed).
Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 for 22 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
For the trees, melting the candy melts according to package directions. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag.
Place the pretzel sticks on a wax paper or parchment paper-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart. Pipe the candy melts over the pretzel sticks in the shape of a tree then immediately top the trees with the sprinkles. Allow the trees to sit until the trees have fully set.
For the frosting:
In the bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese with a mixer until well blended. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar, beating just until combined.
Frost cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle immediately with the shredded coconut.
Just before serving, use an offset spatula to carefully release the trees from the waxed paper or parchment paper. Push the bottoms of the pretzel trees into the tops of the cupcakes. Makes 30 cupcakes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Recipe adapted from Just a Taste.
Celebrating Food Bloggers Cupcake Recipes (all pictured above)
Santa Hat and Holly Wreath Cupcakes from Jamie Cooks It Up!
Churro Cupcakes from The Baker Upstairs
2 Ingredient Lemon Cupcakes from Yummy Healthy Easy
Smore Cupcakes from Ashlee Marie
Mint Chocolate Cupcakes + How to make a Boxed Cake Mix Taste Better from Butter with a side of Bread
Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes from Life Made Simple
More Recipes from Real Mom Kitchen
Perfect Cake Mix Cupcakes
Basic White Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream
Red Velvet Angel Food Cupcakes with Whipped Cheesecake Frosting
Chocolate Peppermint Twist Cupcakes
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Biscoff Buttercream
Pistachio Cupcakes
Dulce de Leche Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes
Cream Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Gingerbread Cupcakes
More Cupcake Recipes from the #celebratingfoodholidays Bloggers
Mint and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes from Jamie Cooks It Up!
Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling from Jamie Cooks It Up!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes from Jamie Cooks It Up!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes from The Baker Upstairs
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes from The Baker Upstairs
Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes The Baker Upstairs
Red Velvet (Beet) Cupcakes from Yummy Healthy Easy
Strawberry Soda Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting from Yummy Healthy Easy
Maple Bacon Cupcakes from Ashlee Marie
Snickers Cupcakes from Ashlee Marie
Rootbeer Float Cupcakes https://butterwithasideofbread.com/2016/05/rootbeer-float-cupcakes-sun-sizzle-cookbook-review/
Red, White & Blue Swirl Cupcakes from Butter with a side of Bread (you could make red, white, and green swirl cupcakes for Christmas)
Berries & Cream Cupcakes from Butter with a side of Bread
Banana Cupcakes with Lemon Marshmallow Frosting from Butter with a side of Bread
Pina Colada Cupcakes from Life Made Simple
Cherry Almond Cupcakes from Life Made Simple
