White Chocolate Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Create a festive forest on your dessert table with these adorable White Chocolate Christmas Tree Cupcakes. A white chocolate lover's dream, wrapped in a perfectly festive cupcake! Follow my simple step-by-step piping guide to turn ordinary buttercream into magical, snow-dusted Christmas trees!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 190 g (1 ¼ cups + 3 tbsp) white chocolate
- 110 g (½ cup) unsalted butter
- 180 g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) caster sugar
- 215 g (1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp) plain (all purpose) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 125 g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) yoghurt (I use Greek)
How to decorate Christmas cupcakes
- 175 g (1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp) white chocolate
- 200 g (¾ cup + 3 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 200 g (1 ½ cups) icing (powdered) sugar
- 0.125 tsp salt
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Line the cupcake tin with cupcake cases then set it aside. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F whilst preparing the cupcake mixture.
- Melt the white chocolate in a small bowl. I do this in the microwave in short bursts, stirring in between each heating until smooth. Set the melted white chocolate aside to cool slightly. Separately in a jug, mix together the eggs and yogurt.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt, beating until the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Add ¾ of the wet mixture into the dry and mix to combine. The mixture will be thick. Tip in the remaining wet ingredients and beat until completely mixed in. Pour in the cooled white chocolate and beat to combine all the ingredients until smooth. Turn the mixer speed to high and beat for 30 seconds until really pale and fluffy.
- Spoon or scoop the cupcake mixture evenly between the cases, filling no more than halfway full, then bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes until springy to touch and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Leave them to cool for ten minutes in the tin, then remove the Christmas tree cupcakes to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
How to decorate Christmas cupcakes
- Place the white chocolate in a heat safe bowl and heat to melt the chocolate, stirring so it does not burn on the bottom. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Cream just the butter until light, fluffy and really soft. This normally takes me about 4-5 minutes. Your patience will be rewarded, I promise!
- Add half the sugar to the whipped butter and beat to combine. Once mixed together, add in the second half of the sugar and salt and beat again to combine. Drizzle in the white chocolate, mixing on a low speed until fully incorporated. Beat the white chocolate buttercream for 3-4 minutes until wonderfully airy and light.
- When the buttercream is ready, give is a really good mix around using a spatula before transferring to a piping bag fitted with your piping nozzle. Holding the piping bag upright, pipe a blob of buttercream in the middle of the cupcake to create the bottom layer of the white chocolate Christmas tree decoration. Pipe two more blobs this way on top of the first one, getting smaller with each one so it looks like layers of a tree.
- Decorate the white chocolate buttercream Christmas tree with ball sprinkles. I used red and silver as my tree decorating theme, but you could use whichever colours you wish. Sprinkle with some icing sugar "snow". Enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure all your tools and ingredients are prepared before you start mixing. Line the cupcake tin with cupcake cases, preheat the oven and get all the ingredients out ready to use. It is so much more enjoyable to bake when there is no stress of forgotten or not enough ingredients!
- Take time to read through the recipe so you are familiar with what steps come next. Another stress buster!
- Melt the chocolate, both for the cupcakes and the buttercream, as the first thing you do when making each respective element of these cupcakes. Doing this means the butter in both the cupcakes and the buttercream will not melt from the heat of warm chocolate. This is important to give you the best results for these Christmas tree cupcakes!
- If you feel the white chocolate frosting is a little yellow, add the tiniest bit of purple food colour to it and mix through. Start with a little colour and add more until you achieve the white tone you are looking for. Be careful though: too much and the buttercream will have a purple hue!
- Have a little practice on a plain piece of parchment paper when it comes to piping the white chocolate buttercream. The technique used here is a little different, so takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's a really fun way to decorate cupcakes!
- If you have a really steady hand, go ahead and place the sprinkles on the "tree" by hand. However, you may find it easier to use a pair of tweezers to place the decorations on the buttercream tree, both for accuracy and not ruining your beautiful piping!
- The final sprinkle of icing sugar is totally optional, but I love the effect it has on the cupcakes! If you have some, you could also use a little edible glitter for extra sparkle. Very festive!
Nutrition
Calories: 415kcal