Need some cute Christmas cupcakes for your upcoming holiday festivities? In this post, I will teach you how to make 6 fun and easy Christmas cupcake designs and the supplies you need to make them!
Easy Christmas Cupcake Designs
Christmas cookies may be one of the most popular Christmas desserts, but these Christmas cupcakes are perfect for the holidays!
- Recipes – For these cupcakes, I used my moist chocolate cupcake recipe with vanilla buttercream frosting. You can use any type of cupcake to make these Christmas designs.
- Coloring buttercream frosting – To tint the vanilla buttercream frosting, I highly recommend using gel food coloring. Gel food coloring is highly pigmented so a little goes a long way! It also does not change the texture or the flavor of the frosting. My favorite brands are Americolor and Chefmaster.
- Storing the cupcakes – After you decorate the cupcakes, the cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container or cupcake box in the refrigerator for up to 5 days! The cupcakes are best enjoyed at room temperature so the frosting becomes soft and creamy.
More Christmas cupcakes!
If you are interested in baking some delicious Christmas cupcake recipes, check out my recipes for these delicious treats that have the flavors of the holidays!
- Gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
- Peppermint mocha cupcakes
- Hot cocoa cupcakes
- Cranberry orange cupcakes
- Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes
1. Christmas Tree Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- White vanilla buttercream frosting
- Green vanilla buttercream frosting
- Piping bags (2)
- Ateco 807 round piping tip
- Parchment paper
- Ateco 869 French star piping tip
- Christmas nonpareil sprinkles
- Yellow star sprinkles
How to make Christmas tree cupcakes
- Use a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 807 round piping tip to pipe a swirl of white vanilla buttercream frosting on the top of the cupcake. Invert the cupcake and gently press the frosting into a small piece of parchment paper. Chill the inverted cupcake in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment paper from the top of the frosting.
- Use a large piping bag fitted with an Ateco 869 French star piping tip and filled with green buttercream frosting. Hold the piping tip perpendicular to the cupcake and in the center of the cupcake. Pipe a dollop of buttercream in the center of the cupcake, lift up, and ease off pressure.
- Directly on top of the first buttercream mound, repeat the process, creating a slightly smaller mound of green buttercream for the middle section of the tree, and repeat making a smaller mound for the top of the tree. Ease off pressure and lift the piping tip up to create a point.
- Sprinkle on Christmas nonpareil sprinkles and add a star sprinkle to the top of the tree.
2. Santa Hat Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- Red vanilla buttercream frosting
- White vanilla buttercream frosting
- Piping bags (3)
- Ateco 869 French star piping tip
- Ateco 807 round piping tip
- Wilton 4B star tip
How to make Santa hat cupcakes
- Use a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 869 French star piping tip to pipe a swirl of white vanilla buttercream frosting on the top of the cupcake. Start in the center and swirl out to the edges. Chill the cupcake in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
- Use a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 807 round piping tip and filled with red buttercream frosting to create an “ice cream swirl” on top of the white swirl of buttercream. Start in the center, swirl the red buttercream toward the edge of the white buttercream and then up to create a swirl. Chill for an additional 10 minutes.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 4B star tip with white frosting. Pipe a small dollop of white buttercream on top of the red swirl.
3. Christmas Wreath Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- White vanilla buttercream frosting
- Green vanilla buttercream frosting
- Piping bags (2)
- Ateco 807 round piping tipParchment paper
- Wilton 4B star tip
- Red pearl sugar sprinkles
How to make Christmas wreath cupcakes
- Use piping bag fitted with an Ateco 807 round piping tip to pipe a swirl of white vanilla buttercream frosting on the top of the cupcake. Invert the cupcake and gently press the frosting into a small piece of parchment paper. Chill the inverted cupcake in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment paper from the top of the frosting.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 4B star tip filled with green buttercream frosting to create the wreath. Hold the piping bag and tip perpendicular to the cupcake. Pipe small mounds of green buttercream around the outside edge of the cupcake applying pressure to the piping bag and easing off pressure while pulling up.
- Decorate the wreath with red pearl sugar sprinkles.
4. Christmas Swirl Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- White vanilla buttercream frosting
- Red vanilla buttercream frosting
- Green vanilla buttercream frosting
- Plastic wrap
- Piping bags (4)
- Wilton 1M piping tip
- Christmas nonpareil sprinkles
How to make Christmas swirl cupcakes
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a flat surface. Pipe a line of red buttercream frosting onto the plastic wrap. About an inch away from the red buttercream, pipe a parallel line of green buttercream onto the plastic wrap. Then, pipe a line of white buttercream between the red and green buttercream frosting. Add an additional thick layer of white buttercream frosting on top of the red, green, and white buttercream.
- Fold the plastic wrap over the frosting to create a “log” of buttercream. Twist the ends to secure the buttercream. Snip the end of the plastic wrap on one side and insert the cut side of the buttercream log into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip. Twist the top of the piping bag so the buttercream fills the piping tip.
- Create an “ice cream swirl” style design on the cupcake. Start in the center of the cupcake, swirl outward to the edges of the cupcake. Then, swirl upward in smaller circles and pull the piping tip up to create a point.
- Sprinkle the cupcakes with Christmas nonpareil sprinkles.
5. Christmas Light Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- White vanilla buttercream frosting
- Black buttercream frosting
- Piping bags (2)
- Wilton 1M piping tip
- Wilton #2 round piping tip
- Colorful sprinkles
How to make Christmas light cupcakes
- To make the buttercream swirl, use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip and filled with white buttercream frosting. Create an “ice cream swirl” style design on the cupcake. Start in the center of the cupcake, swirl outward to the edges of the cupcake. Then, swirl upward in smaller circles and pull the piping tip up to create a point.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #2 round piping tip with black buttercream frosting. Pipe a swirl of black buttercream around the white buttercream swirl, started toward the bottom of the swirl and working your way up to the top of the swirl.
- Add large, colorful sprinkles to the black piping to create the appearance of Christmas lights.
6. Snowflake Cupcakes
What you will need to make this design
- Light blue vanilla buttercream frosting
- Piping bags (2)
- Wilton 1M piping tip
- White candy melts
- Parchment paper
- White sprinkles
- Silver sprinkles
How to make snowflake cupcakes
- To make the buttercream swirl, use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M piping tip and filled with light blue buttercream frosting. Create an “ice cream swirl” style design on the cupcake. Start in the center of the cupcake, swirl outward to the edges of the cupcake. Then, swirl upward in smaller circles and pull the piping tip up to create a point.
- Sprinkle white sprinkles and silver sprinkles onto the light blue buttercream swirl.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, add white candy melts. Heat the candy melts in the microwave in 30 second intervals stirring in between until melted and smooth. Pour the melted white candy melts into a piping bag with a very small cut at the tip.
- Pipe a snowflake shape onto a piece of parchment paper. Allow the candy melts to cool and firm up. Gently remove the candy melt snowflakes from the parchment paper and add to the buttercream swirl.
These easy Christmas cupcake designs are so much fun to make and eat for the holiday season! It is a great way to get kids involved in baking and having fun in the kitchen! Feel free to be creative with colors, sprinkles, and designs!
Be sure to snap a picture and tag #cakemehometonight or @cakemehometonight on Instagram so I can see your easy Christmas cupcake designs!
Did you make this recipe or want to see more? Make sure to leave your review below and tag me on Instagram @CakeMeHomeTonight so I can see your creations!