Mimi's Organic Eats » Recipes » Christmas » Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

High Altitude • Christmas | Published December 3, 2024 by Mimi Council

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These Christmas Tree Cupcakes are festive and simple! Light and fluffy chocolate cupcakes are finished with peppermint cream cheese frosting and decorated with simple Christmas trees for the perfect holiday treat.

If you’re looking for more holiday desserts, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like Gingerbread Snack Cake, Easy Christmas Present Brownies, or Eggnog Sheet Cake.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Decorations
Tools Needed
Step by Step Instructions
Baker’s Tips
FAQ’s
Craving More?

I love this recipe because it’s an easy Christmas dessert that is both delicious and festive! If you know me, then you know I don’t usually like decorating that much because dessert is just going to be eaten! But I understand the need and want for festive desserts around the holidays!

These chocolate peppermint cupcakes are an easy Christmas dessert that’s incredibly festive, but also easy! I don’t think decorating should take a ton of time, especially during this time of year. These Christmas tree cupcakes are simple and elegant, perfect for any holiday party!

This is dessert number three in my series of using leftover pumpkin to create Christmas desserts! So, reduce food waste and use up that leftover pumpkin from Thanksgiving in this recipe. Try my other two holiday recipes so far that use up leftover pumpkin, Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies and Eggless Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookies. And, I have two more recipes coming!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Chocolate and Peppermint: These chocolate peppermint cupcakes are an iconic holiday flavor with cool mint and rich chocolate all wrapped up in one little cupcake!

Naturally Colored: I use organic ingredients like strawberry powder and matcha to color these Christmas tree cupcakes — naturally! You’ll feel good about serving these to friends and family this holiday season.

Cream Cheese Frosting: There’s nothing better than cream cheese frosting with chocolate cake. The combination of chocolate and peppermint with the tangy cream cheese frosting is a true holiday treat!

Festive AF: I love that these Christmas Tree Cupcakes are both festive and easy! All you need is a little tree and a few sprinkles for these cupcakes to be holiday party worthy!

Easy and Simple: If you’re timid about decorating or just don’t like to spend that much time (like me) then you’ll love this easy Christmas dessert as the decorating is easy and simple! And if you’re a beginner decorator, these cupcakes are a great please to start.

Ingredients

Butter: I use Organic Valley Salted Butter.
Cane Sugar: I use organic cane sugar in these cupcakes.
Vanilla Extract: My favorite is Simply Organic, make sure to use a high quality organic vanilla extract that you like.
Pumpkin: I use organic pumpkin puree, this is a great way to use up leftover pumpkin! This is my secret ingredient in this recipe. Using pumpkin in cupcakes makes them extra moist, fluffy, and tall (even at high altitude!).
Eggs: I use organic large eggs.
Milk: Make sure to use organic whole milk.
Pastry Flour: I use organic pastry flour, but you could also use cake flour if that’s easier to find.
Cocoa Powder: I use organic Dutch cocoa powder as I really prefer the flavor and richness of this versus natural.
Baking Powder: I use baking powder as it provides the best crumb for a slower rise dessert, like cupcakes. For more info on the Difference Between Baking Soda and Baking Powder, check out my post!
Salt: I use a fine sea salt. 
Cream Cheese: I use Organic Valley Cream Cheese for the cream cheese frosting.
Powdered Sugar: I use organic powdered sugar in the frosting, be sure it’s sifted.
Peppermint Extract: I use organic peppermint extract in the cream cheese frosting for a cool and creamy mint frosting with a little tang.

Decorations

Food Dyes: I use organic food dyes for these cupcakes. I’m using Suncore Foods Organic Green Dye for the green and Organic Strawberry Powder for the pink.
Sprinkles: I use a mix of India Tree sprinkles here. I’m using their Nature’s Colors line which is free of artificial dyes and made using plant based dyes. I use India Tree Nature’s Colors Blue Decorating Sugar, India Tree Nature’s Colors Snowflake Sprinkles, India Tree Nature’s Colors Nonpareils, and India Tree Nature’s Colors Bright Red Sprinkles.

Tools Needed

Scale: Always use a digital food scale for the best result.
Stand Mixer: I use my stand mixer for this for ease, but if you prefer you can use a hand mixer too.
Cupcake Pan & Liners: You’ll need one cupcake pan and cupcake liners.
Cupcake Scoop: I use a cupcake scoop, but you can just use a spoon if you don’t have one too.
Piping Bag: You’ll need a piping bag to pipe the cupcakes and also smaller piping bags for decorating.
Decorating Tips: I use just 3 decorating tips for this recipe. I use Ateco tip #808 for the cupcakes. Then I use Ateco tips #21 and #6 for the Christmas trees.

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Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners.

Step 2

To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and there are no butter chunks.

Add the pumpkin, egg, and milk and mix to combine completely. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix to combine.

Add the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and sea salt in that order and mix to combine into a smooth batter. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue mixing until the batter is smooth and uniform.

Step 3

Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake pan, filling the liners three-quarters full.

Bake for 20 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely in the pan.

Step 4

To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract. Mix on low until combined and then speed mixer up to high and mix for 2 to 3 minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Step 5

Add a small amount of frosting into 3 different bowls. This doesn’t have to be a lot, only a few tablespoons each is all you need. One of them can have even less (this one will be the chocolate one for the tree trunks).

Add the cocoa powder into the bowl with the least amount of frosting and stir to combine completely. Transfer to a piping bag with no tip, and just cut a small hole.

Add the matcha powder and strawberry powder to the other two bowls and stir to combine completely.

Fit one piping bag with Ateco tip #21 and add the green frosting. Add Ateco tip #6 to another piping bag and add the pink frosting.

Step 6

Add the remaining bulk of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with Ateco tip #808. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 7

Pipe dollops of frosting onto each cupcake, this does not have to be perfect. Now, my favorite part is to turn over the cupcakes and press them onto the prepared parchment paper lined baking sheet. This will make the cupcakes flat and smooth.

Continue to do this with all the cupcakes, then place the baking sheet in the freezer for at least 30 minutes or until the frosting has set and you can easily pull the cupcakes off the parchment paper and you have a smooth top. If you find there area few holes in your frosting, run a cake spatula under hot water and use it to smooth the tops (see video).

Step 8

Using either the green or pink frosting, pipe a zig zag triangle starting at the top of each cupcake and working your way down. Using the cocoa piping bag, pipe a small line for the tree trunk. You can also do rosettes or dollops with each color too, mix it up!

Decorate the tops of the trees with any sprinkles you like, this is the fun part, mix it up!

Baker’s Tips

Make sure your butter and cream cheese are room temperature for this recipe. It really helps if the cream cheese is room temperature as you’ll avoid it seizing up and forming little clumps and instead will have a very smooth frosting.
I use peppermint extract in the frosting, but this is optional. If you don’t want chocolate peppermint cupcakes you can just replace that with vanilla extract instead or even almond extract.
Make sure to store these cupcakes in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting.

FAQ’s

Can I use unsalted butter?

Yes, just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the batter and a little to the frosting to your liking.

What if I don’t have the decorating tips or piping bags?

You can actually make these without the decorating tips. For frosting the cupcakes you can just use a large zip bag and cut a hole, that would be very similar to the Ateco 808 tip. And for the trees, you can just do the one kind as Ateco tip #6 is just a round one, you can just use a small zip bag and cut a hole too. This recipe is pretty flexible!

How should I store these?

Make sure to store in the fridge because these have cream cheese frosting.