Do you know what I love about the holidays? It’s the perfect excuse to indulge in sweets and treats – and to bake plenty of cupcakes. Whether it’s for a party or just for fun, these 30+ adorable Christmas cupcakes will bring plenty of cheer this year.
30+ Easy Christmas Cupcakes to Bring Cheer this Year
1. Snow Globe Cupcakes
How cute are these little snow globe cupcakes? They’re so creative, and even the snow globe top is edible. Sugar Hero shows you how to make these globe toppings using gelatin sheets and balloons to shape them. You can fill each globe with figurines and fake trees.
There’s no recipe for the actual cupcakes here, but you can use this tutorial to bake delicious vanilla cupcakes 👇:
2. Gingerbread Cupcakes
These adorable gingerbread cupcakes are easy to make and almost too cute to eat. The cupcake recipe calls for blackstrap molasses and classic holiday spices like ginger and cinnamon.
Top with a tasty buttercream frosting and cute gingerbread man sugar decorations.
3. Christmas Tree Cupcake
There’s so much to love about these cupcakes. The mix of espresso powder and cocoa powder creates a rich, velvety chocolate flavor. The frosting is super easy to make and looks so festive with its star and holiday sprinkles. If you’re not a fan of chocolate cupcakes, I’m sure you could easily use your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe and add the green tree frosting all the same.
4. Santa Legs Cupcakes
How creative are these cupcakes? If their adorable design wasn’t enough to convince you to make them, the Nutella filling should be. To make the Santa legs, you’ll need a few toothpicks, mini marshmallows and black and red food coloring. The recipe walks you through every step of making these cute cupcakes.
5. Polar Bear Cupcakes
These polar bear cupcakes may be the cutest thing on this list. I love that they’re so easy to make, too. The fondant icing makes it easy to create the nose and eyes. Shaved coconut is the perfect choice for creating the bear’s fur. The base is just a simple vanilla cupcake using basic baking ingredients.
6. White Chocolate & Orange Reindeer Cupcakes
These reindeer Christmas cupcakes not only look adorable, but they taste great, too. They’re also vegan, so everyone can enjoy them. The marmalade filling takes the flavor over the top, but it’s the adorable reindeer face that will catch everyone’s eye. To make them, you’ll need red and black fondant for the eyes and nose and pretzels for the antlers.
7. Present Cupcakes
These adorable treats are perfect for the holiday season. Each one looks like a wrapped present, bow and all. Use your favorite, tried-and-true recipe to bake your cupcakes. Top with white frosting, and then use red and green frosting to create ribbons. Add confetti sprinkles and finish with a novelty bow ring or use silicone fondant molds to make edible sugar candy bows.
8. Pecan Pie Cupcakes
Pecan pie cupcakes may not be the cutest thing on this list, but they’re one of the tastiest. The butter pecan cupcakes and brown sugar cream cheese frosting are to die for. Top with little pieces of candied pecans to take your presentation to the next level.
9. Holiday Lights Cupcakes
These adorable cupcakes look like a string of Christmas lights. While they look complicated, they’re super simple to make. A swirl of fudge and strategically placed M&Ms are all you need to create your string of lights.
You’ll need to bring your own cupcake and frosting recipes to the table, but you can follow the steps from A Worthy Read to create the decorative lights.
10. Whimsical Pink Winter Wonderland Cupcakes
How gorgeous are these cupcakes? It’s all about the frosting and the sprinkles – and your technique.
To create snowflake toppers, you’ll need white fondant and a snowflake fondant cutter.
Here’s a tutorial on how to decorate these beauties:
11. Candy Cane Cupcakes
Peppermint and chocolate are the perfect pair during the holidays, so these cupcakes are sure to be a hit. But the peppermint frosting is the real star of the show here. The peppermint flavor combined with the red food coloring and crushed peppermint piece toppings make these cupcakes a feast for the eyes and stomach.
12. Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
These cupcakes look like a mug of hot chocolate. I love that the recipe uses pudding mix and hot cocoa to truly make it taste like hot chocolate, too. You’ll love the marshmallow buttercream frosting, and the mini marshmallows and chocolate syrup complete the hot cocoa look.
Related: Easy Christmas Treats – 25+ Recipes to Wow Your Guests
13. Peppermint Candy Cane Cupcakes
These adorable candy cane cupcakes have pink-and-white swirled frosting, topped with crushed peppermint and Andes Peppermint Thins.
The recipe is easy to follow, and the buttercream frosting is SO good.
14. Hot Cocoa Cupcake Mugs
These cupcakes always make the list of the cutest and most creative Christmas cupcakes. How could they not? The candy cane “mug handle” and marshmallow topping make these adorable cupcakes look like mugs of joy.
Plus, the cupcake recipe calls for hot cocoa mix and cake mix, so you know it’s going to be rich and delicious.
15. Baileys Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Take pumpkin spice season into the holidays with this cupcake recipe. Top each pumpkin cupcake with a scrumptious Baileys pumpkin spice frosting, chopped pecans and a cinnamon stick. The Cake Blog gives you step-by-step instructions on how to decorate these cupcakes to make them the star of the show at your gathering.
16. Pink Champagne Cupcakes
The holidays are a reason to celebrate, so do it in style with these pink champagne cupcakes. They are so easy to make, too. Just grab a box of your favorite vanilla cake mix, a bottle of pink champagne and some red food coloring for the frosting. You’ll be using pink champagne instead of water to give these treats its unique flavor. Top with gold sprinkles.
17. Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cupcakes
These cupcakes are topped with adorable chocolate-covered pretzel Christmas trees, sprinkles and a delicious chocolate frosting that has pieces of pretzel in it. The Cake Blog shows you how to make the pretzel trees and the frosting step by step.
18. Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Any time of year is a good time of year for caramel apples. These cupcakes embody that fall flavor that we all love. The caramel whipped cream is the true star of this recipe, but it takes a little work to make it. Top each cupcake with a little slice of apple (treated with lemon to keep it from browning).
19. Gingerbread Cupcakes
Fifteen minutes is all it takes to prep these gingerbread cupcakes, and they’re filled with flavor thanks to the ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice, light brown sugar, molasses, milk, flour and a handful of other ingredients are used to make the cupcake mix.
You’ll then make a cream cheese frosting out of four simple ingredients.
Related: 22 Delicious Christmas Food Ideas for Your Party This Year
20. Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes
Peppermint cupcakes like these look amazing and taste good, too. For this recipe, you’ll add in dark cocoa powder, instant espresso or hot coffee, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, peppermint hard candy, vanilla extract, heavy cream and candy cane.
Chocolate ganache is also drizzled on the top, making these cupcakes look even better.
21. Maple Bacon Cupcakes
If you don’t mind about an hour of prep time, you can make these maple bacon cupcakes. A stand mixer will save you a ton of time because you’ll need to mix all of the ingredients together for both the cupcake base and buttercream frosting.
Top with salted caramel sauce (the author has a link to their own delish recipe) and crumbled bacon.
22. Hot Cocoa Cupcakes With Marshmallow Cream Icing
Hot cocoa and marshmallow – what’s not to like? The author opted to make brownies instead of a traditional cupcake base, but it’s 100% up to you if you want to go this route. Add mini marshmallows and a cute candy cane on top, and you have an adorable hot cocoa cupcake that tastes as amazing as it looks.
23. Chocolate & Custard Cupcakes
The Pin does not do these cupcakes justice – at all. Cute, frosting-filled delights like these with polar bear heads are always hard to pass up. Dessert sauces can include custard or chocolate fudge, but you can also go with something exotic, such as Matcha.
You’ll fill the center of the cupcakes with a creamy custard, but be prepared to spend 40+ minutes in the kitchen prepping these.
24. Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Salted caramel Christmas cupcakes are perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth and you’ll make them from scratch, starting with a cocoa and vinegar mix that you’ll whisk together. Using a hand mixer, you’ll beat together butter, sugar, oil, eggs, and finally, add in your cocoa mix.
Later on in the recipe, you’ll beat caramel sauce into the frosting, drizzle some on top, and top with mini pretzels.
25. Snowflake Holiday Cupcakes
Does the snow make you think of Christmas? If it does, you’ll appreciate this snowflake cupcake recipe that has a “royal icing snowflake” on top made from eggs, cream of tartar, vanilla and powdered sugar.
And when looking at the majestic frosting with its purple hue, you can recreate this look with some purple food coloring and white sugar sprinkles.
26. Pink Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Pink cupcakes look so chic, and you’ll find plenty of recipes for making the pink frosting, or you can buy it premade if you wish. Add in candy pearls, which are small balls of sugar, and add adorable Christmas trees on top of the frosting to complete the look.
27. Polar Bear Cupcakes
Oh my! These polar bear cupcakes are beyond adorable, and all you need to transform your cupcakes into this polar bear style is:
- Shredded coconut flakes
- Candy eyes
- Black pearls (edible)
- Candy confetti
- Mini marshmallows
28. Sparkly Cupcakes
Deep blue frosting, like in these cupcakes, is an art to make, and it’s clear that the author has some serious baking skills. You’ll need to be creative for the frosting and use decorating brushes to paint on the tree, holly and other fine details.
29. Mini Egg Nog Cupcakes
Mini egg nog Christmas cupcakes are as cute and tasty as they sound. You’ll use white cake mix for the cupcake base, but it’s the frosting made with butter, eggnog, vanilla, ground nutmeg and powdered sugar that really makes these cupcakes unique.
You’ll need a mini cupcake pan for this recipe.
30. Reindeer Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes are already delish and easy to make, but you can spruce them up even more with edible candy eyes, chocolate antlers (which you’ll learn to make with melting chocolate) and a cute red nose made of icing.
Related: 25+ Cutest and Most Creative Christmas Cupcakes to WOW Your Guests
31. Gingerbread Cupcake
Gingerbread men – or women – go perfectly together on Christmas. And this year, why not make smaller versions of your gingerbread people and place them in the icing of your favorite cupcake recipe?
It almost looks like the gingerbread cookie was dancing on the icing and got stuck in it – how cute!
