One of the best parts about the holidays is the creative baked goods that people make. While many people focus their efforts entirely on Christmas cookies, there is a whole other category that often gets completely overlooked — Christmas cupcakes. We’ve gathered 75 of the most amazing ones to share with you today.
Celebrate your holiday spirit this year by trying a few of them out. See if you can reproduce them or try and come up with your own similar ideas. If they end up looking anything like these cupcakes, all of your friends and family are sure to be majorly impressed.
1. Holiday Themes
Each of these cupcakes has a different Christmas theme. One shows Santa going down the chimney and another shows his elf diving into his bag of gifts. Our favorite though is the little snowman.
2. Decorated Ornaments
The rounded tops of cupcakes work perfectly as Christmas tree ornaments. They are better eaten than hung up on the tree though. It might take a little talent to decorate your cupcakes like these, however, we’re confident you can do it.
3. Santa And Rudolph
We love the creative use of almonds and pretzels to make the reindeer’s ears and antlers. Also, Santa’s beard is made of vanilla chocolate chips. We never would have thought of that.
4. Polar Bear Delight
Here we have some vanilla buttermilk cupcakes shaped like polar bears. They make for a great winter treat. Although, they are almost too pretty to eat.
5. Edible Fondant Reindeer
Don’t worry, these are entirely non-toxic. The reindeer is made out of various colors of fondant paste (sugar paste), and the various pieces were stuck together using edible glue. The antlers are covered in edible gold paint.
6. Chocolate Reindeer
Sometimes, simple designs are the best designs. These aren’t as complicated as the other reindeer cupcakes, but they are much easier to make. All you need are some pretzels, vanilla wafers, and M&M’s.
7. Holly Berries
These turned out amazing. The frosting is a brown sugar cinnamon combo and the holly berries are glazed cranberries. Making cupcakes like these shouldn’t be too hard.
8. Pretty Snowflakes
The hardest part about these cupcakes is making the royal icing snowflakes. You have to shape them on a piece of parchment paper first. It takes about a day for them to dry and harden.
9. Ice Crystals
The blue icing provides a great contrast for the white snowflakes on these cupcakes. We love how the pastry chef added sparkles on them. They are both wintery and delicious.
10. Strawberry Brownie Bites
Inside every one of these Christmas tree cupcakes is a hidden strawberry. They provide the underlying shape and structure of the tree. It’s a brilliant strategy.
11. Fondant Art
Here are some more beautiful fondant creations. The mug of hot chocolate and cookies is our favorite. It would take a very skilled baker to create designs like these.
12. Christmas Lights
These ones are supposed to represent Christmas lights hanging outside in the snow. The frosting is a vanilla buttercream and the lights are made out of M&M’s.
13. Candy Melt Trees
The Christmas tree cupcake toppers are made with pretzels, green candy melts, and sprinkles. The snow is shredded coconut flakes. Our mouths are watering just thinking about eating one of them.
14. Grinch Cupcakes
The Grinch is one of the most iconic Christmas movies. Here is a cupcake representation of the movie character. The little hat is made from a strawberry and a marshmallow.
15. Gingerbread Snow Globe
Can you imagine making an actual snow globe out of blown sugar? It can’t be easy to do. However, it sure looks cool. The powdered sugar acts as snow on top.
16. Christmas Presents
Some of them look like presents wrapped with red wrapping paper and big white bows. Others look like Santa going down the chimney. The colors are lovely.
17. Holiday Wreath
In this one, each cupcake represents one tiny portion of the wreath. You’ll need to make a lot of them to complete the design. It requires approximately 80 leaves made out of fondant.
18. Melting Snowmen
These snowmen are melting! Luckily, that won’t affect how delicious they are. The heads are made from marshmallows and the body from icing.
19. Snow-Covered Trees
In the wintertime, the trees might not have leaves, but they are beautiful in their own way. It’s a great cupcake idea. The barren branches are coated with bits of sugar.
20. Polar Scene
We can’t believe how realistic the polar bear looks in this one. It was very carefully done. The blue icing underneath it looks just like ice.
21. Bear Print
On these cupcakes, they only included the polar bear’s footprint. It’s made out of a York peppermint patty. The toes are dark chocolate covered raisins.
22. Winter Wonderland
Most people use white icing to represent the snow, however, the pink looks fantastic too. It is such a magical scene. The trees are literally sparkling.
23. Red Poinsettias
Real poinsettias are technically poisonous. Not these ones though. They are both beautiful and edible.
24. Shiny Christmas Bulbs
It’s amazing how shiny they were able to get these Christmas ornament cupcakes. They were all painted with edible gold paint. The pastry chef is definitely a professional.
25. Simple Trees
Sometimes, all you need is a couple of different colors of frosting to make a cool Christmas tree treat. The snow is made of white icing and the trees from green. Each one is adorned with little candies.
26. Christmas Forest
These trees are slightly more complex. Every cupcake actually has an entire forest of Christmas trees on it. There is even a little gingerbread man hanging out at the base of them.
27. Santa In The Chimney
Santa is coming to your house soon. As soon as he is done going down this chimney, he’ll be back on his sleigh and off to visit the next family. He might even bring you one of these specialty cupcakes.
28. Candy Cane Forest
Here we have another magical Christmas forest. The trunks of the trees are made out of candy canes. The trees are made from ice cream sugar cones coated in sugar.
29. Snowman Family
These little snowmen are so much fun. They look just like the ones we used to build as kids. They aren’t fancy, but they are authentic.
30. Grinch Face
The Grinch looks extra mischievous on these cupcakes. His face is all twisted up into an evil smirk. Each one is completely unique too.
31. Icy Snowflakes
Everyone makes snowflake cupcakes a little differently. These ones use a vanilla cake with a light blue cream cheese frosting. They look delightful.
32. Easy Snowmen
Making the cupcakes into a face of a snowman is probably the simplest technique to use. Just top them with crystalized decorating sugar and add chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth. The nose is a butterscotch chip.
33. Wreaths And Hollies
These cupcakes are a mix of wreaths and holly leaves. Both types look like they would taste great. The chocolate icing beneath the hollies looks so rich.
34. Simple Holly Leaves
Here is another way of making holly leaf cupcakes. They set the fondant leaves on top of the white icing. They are both simple and elegant.
35. Rudolph And Friends
These reindeer cupcakes almost look like cartoons. They are super cute. We love the idea of using chocolate-coated pretzels.
36. Holly Plants
We’ve seen a lot of holly leaf cupcakes, but this is the first time that we’ve seen anyone do a whole holly plant. They are very fancy. Plus, they are dusted with a healthy portion of edible glitter.
37. Unique Hollies
Here is another rendition of the holly leaves. They are different from all of the rest. They used a little gold berry set on top of a bit of icing and covered them in powdered sugar.
38. Gingerbread People
Gingerbread cookies are absolutely delicious, but how about gingerbread cupcakes? It’s a
fantastic idea. The molasses flavor of the gingerbread mixes great with the cream cheese topping.
39. Ornament Designs
These ones are completely original. They were baked to look like orange Christmas ornaments. Every one of them has a different fun design applied to them with edible paint.
40. Santa Hats
Making Santa hat cupcakes is pretty straightforward. A swirl of red icing surrounded by some splashes of white is all it takes. The cupcake is made out of sugar cookie dough and red food coloring.
41. Mint Christmas Tree
The chocolate reindeer is pretty cool, but the chocolate mint Christmas tree is our favorite. Mint is a very wintery flavor. It is the perfect choice.
42. Candy Wreaths
Here is a fun take on Christmas wreaths. They are made using little green candies. At least, that is our best guess as to what they are.
43. Mrs. Claus Cupcake
A lot of people make Santa Claus cupcakes. However, Mrs. Claus generally gets forgotten. She is the driving force behind the jolly old man and deserves some more recognition.
44. White Snow
It really isn’t Christmas unless there is snow on the ground. That’s what people who live in northern climates all agree on. However, even if it isn’t a white Christmas, you can still make snow white cupcakes.
45. Winter Theme
These chocolate chip cupcakes have some beautiful toppings on them. They are both chic and refined. We love the icy blue color.
46. Realistic Trees
These Christmas tree cupcakes turned out lovely. They really captured the essence of the Douglas Fir. It is the classic tree used to celebrate the holiday.
47. Tall Hats
There is nothing like making Santa hats that are twice as big as the cupcake itself. They are definitely a little top-heavy. However, that’s part of the allure.
48. Caramel Reindeer
The red ribbon tied around the reindeer’s necks really make these extra cute. They are also toffee flavored. There is nothing better than caramelized sugar.
49. Tree Technique
Each little squeeze of icing represents a branch of the Christmas tree. It’s a simple technique that looks awesome. Even kids could probably help make these.
50. Snowmen Wearing Hats
The hats on these snowmen are a whole lot of fun. They were made with half of an Oreo and topped with red frosting. You can eat the cream out of the middle of the Oreos while you make them.
51. Christmas Unicorns
We aren’t entirely sure what these ones are. However, they look pretty cool. They are likely Christmas unicorns covered in some snow.
52. Fondant Gingerbread Man
This cute gingerbread man was made out of fondant. If you have a little artistic talent, you can make these too. Although, it’s not going to be easy.
53. Christmas Shapes
These would be perfect for your next Christmas party. Everyone would love them. Just roll out the icing and cut the appropriate shapes.
54. Eggnog Cupcakes
They were made with a rum cream cheese frosting. The tiny Christmas trees are a nice touch. Not to mention, eggnog in cupcake form is a fun and original idea.
55. Spiral Trees
There are dozens of different techniques for making Christmas tree cupcakes. This individual just piped out the icing in a spiral. It is a solid strategy.
56. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
One of the best parts about these Rudolph cupcakes are the baking cups. The design is very Christmasy. We’ll definitely be seeking out wrappers like this if we bake cupcakes this year.
57. Marshmallow Men
Marshmallows are the perfect medium for building snowmen. They stack just like snowballs do. You can use pretzel sticks to stick them together, then, of course, place a chocolate on top as a hat.
58. 2D Tree
One of the simplest ways to make Christmas tree cupcakes is to just pipe the design on flat. It’s much easier than making 3D Christmas trees. Yet, they still look just as good.
59. Creative Wreath
These are unlike any of the cupcakes we’ve seen so far. It’s a mix of all of the holiday themes. All together they form a wreath, but individually there is a snowman, a Santa, candy canes, and more.
60. Goofy Snowman
This isn’t a traditional snowman, but it’s certainly fun. The face is pretty hilarious. If you have kids in the family, snowmen like this one would be a big hit at the yearly holiday celebration.
61. Mini Gingerbread People
The little gingerbread cookies were placed on top of the cupcakes. Then they were covered with a whiskey caramel frosting. We would love to sample one of them.
62. Decorated Gingerbread
This person did a similar thing with their gingerbread cupcakes. However, they decorated them too. The best ones are the two in front with the mustaches!
63. Chai Spice Trees
These are chai-spiced cupcakes. The trees are made out of a Baileys chai buttercream frosting. We can only imagine how delicious they must taste.
64. Oh Deer
Here are some more cartoonish reindeer cupcakes. The antlers were made out of melted chocolate wafers painted onto parchment paper with a toothpick. You can buy the little sugar eyes at the store.
65. Tree Selection
Choosing a tree is one of the hardest parts of Christmas. You want it to be big but not too big. And it needs to be in a perfect cone shape. No one wants a Charlie Brown tree.
66. Candy Cane Rudolph
These don’t look like the classic reindeer, but everyone knows exactly what they are. The two candy canes serve as the antlers and a red M&M is used as the nose.
67. Chocolate Presents
Every one of these chocolate cupcakes is topped with a little chocolate. Each chocolate looks like a Christmas present. It is a simple way to turn chocolate cupcakes into Christmas cupcakes.
68. Gingerbread And Trees
These ones were made with gingerbread spices. It gives a nice golden color to them. They were then topped with green icing.
69. Icicle Cakes
It’s very neat how they were able to give the appearance of icicles hanging off of the top of the cupcakes. They are even slightly transparent. It’s very authentic.
70. Vegan Pistachio Cakes
The edges of these vanilla cupcakes are lined with crushed pistachios. They were topped with white icing and little trees. You might be interested to learn that they are also entirely vegan!
71. Santa Outfit
Some cupcakes just show Santa’s belt. They are simple, but everyone knows exactly what they are. No one else wears an outfit like that.
72. Tasty Trees
Everyone has their own unique spin on the class Christmas tree cupcake. These ones look relatively straightforward to make. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t super tasty!
73. Outdoor Tree
This one has a completely different style. The tree looks like it is actually outdoors. It is icy and covered in snow.
74. Little Snowmen
The cupcake makes up the body of the snowman and the marshmallow serves as the head. The nose was made out of orange fondant. No, it’s not actually a real carrot.
75. Christmas Colors
There is no fancy design on these Christmas cupcakes. However, they do have all of the classic Christmas colors. There are red and white sprinkles, and a little green tree sprinkle on top.
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