Do you ever wonder how people make such neat looking, crafty type of things for holiday parties? I do. But short of taking it all apart or asking a lot of questions, sometimes it all remains a mystery.
Well, with the help of teaspoon YOU can be the envy of everyone else with this easy to make Cupcake Christmas Tree. You will need to make your favorite cupcakes in a mini size cupcake pan and then frost with buttercream frosting that has been tinted green. Instructions are below, including a buttercream frosting recipe from Food Network. The rest of the decorations are up to you to suit your decor or theme.
Have fun!
Cupcake Christmas Tree
1 box of cake mix made into mini cupcakes
Peppermint extract (optional)
Buttercream frosting
Cake decorating tools
Green Food Coloring
Toothpicks
Colorful Candies (I used rolos with red and gold packaging)
4×9 inch Styrofoam cone
I used chocolate cupcakes for this, and I also added a teaspoon of peppermint extract. I like mint everything and the holidays make it more acceptable so I add it to whatever I can! Any kind of cupcakes you want will work for this- just keep them mini!
Buttercream Frosting
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or peppermint)
- 1 tablespoon whipping cream
In your mixer, use the whisk to mix together the sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until fully blended together, then beat for another 3 minutes on medium speed. Add vanilla (or peppermint extract if you want your frosting minty too) and cream and beat for 1 more minute. You can add more cream if necessary, but this frosting needs to be a little thicker since it has to stay on a slanted cupcake.
And how to assemble this masterpiece you ask?
Lots of toothpicks! Stick a toothpick through the cupcake and start sticking them into the foam, from the bottom, then work your way to the top.
And put a little frosting beneath the cone so that it stays nicely put on your plate.
Dye your frosting with food coloring to get the green you like and get your cake decorating tips out. Once the cupcakes are placed on the cone, start frosting! Again, from the bottom to the top. From here, you can decorate as you wish. I added some white sugar balls to the cupcakes and stuck in some colorfully wrapped rolos to the white spaces that you could see on the cone still.
I topped it off with a gold paper star that I cut out and then I had a beautifully edible Christmas tree!