Time: 1 hour 50 min.
Complexity: average
Servings: 20-25

This cupcake Christmas tree will wow your guests with its originality, beauty, and amazing taste. To assemble it, you'll need a foam cone to hold the cupcakes. Bake mini cupcakes, cover them with buttercream frosting, and sprinkle them with green sprinkles. Before serving, attach them to the cone with toothpicks to create a beautiful tree. Decorate the sweet tree with candy canes, gilded cranberry baubles, and any edible decorations of your choice, and place it in the center of your holiday table to impress your guests.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• Paper cupcake liners for mini cupcakes
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 0.5 cups vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup of boiling water

Butter cream

• 8 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature
• 450 g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-4 tbsp. whole milk

Christmas tree

• Green sprinkles
• 1 small styrofoam cone, 28 cm tall (available at craft stores)
• 30-40 toothpicks
• 10 small candy canes
• 0.5 cup fresh cranberries
• Gold leaf
• Gold and red ribbon for curls
• Sugar, for snow

Substituting ingredients
Measuring containers used

1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Recipes with similar ingredients

sugar, premium flour, cocoa, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, almond extract, butter, powdered sugar, confetti, lollipop sticks, cranberry

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Preparation:

Step 1
• Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 2-4 mini-muffin tins with paper liners (you can bake the cupcakes in multiple batches if needed). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs and milk and mix until combined. Add the vegetable oil, vanilla, and almond extracts and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and add boiling water, mixing until smooth. Fill the mini-muffin tins 2/3 full with the batter. Bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tins.
Step 2
• Butter cream: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of milk and mix until smooth. Add the milk a little at a time until the frosting is thick but spreadable. Using a flexible spatula, spread the frosting onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before assembling the tree.
Step 3
• To assemble the Christmas tree, sprinkle a thick layer of green sprinkles onto a plate. Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the sprinkles. Tie ribbons around the candy canes and curl them using the blade of a pair of scissors. Step up 2.5 cm from the bottom of the cone and insert toothpicks in a circle, 4 cm apart, so that they stick out from the cone by at least 2.5 cm. Place the cone on a serving platter. Make the bottom ring of cupcakes by placing the bottoms of the cupcakes on the toothpicks in the cone so that they are frosting-side out and lying sideways on the platter. Step up 2.5 cm from the first row of cupcakes and insert another row of toothpicks in a circle, 4 cm apart, arranging them in a staggered pattern. You will have fewer cupcakes in the second row; Trim the cupcakes if necessary to fit the space. Continue piping cupcakes onto toothpicks. Continue up the cone to create a cupcake tree, with one cupcake perched on top.
Step 4
• Serve the tree within one hour, or refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Insert candy canes into the foam core and attach gilded cranberries with frosting. Sprinkle sugar on a serving platter around the tree. To gild the cranberries, roll them on a sheet of gold leaf.

Votes: 1

Author of the recipe - Gale Gand is an American pastry chef and co-owner of the Chicago restaurant TRU.