It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!
Growing up my family had a tradition of putting the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving Eve. That night is one of the best nights of our year! We all look forward to it, so much!!
Around mid-October leading up to Thanksgiving we begin to brainstorm about what colors we want to use to dress up our tree for that year...I know some people think we go overboard, but it is seriously so much fun! We all throw ideas out and eventually we end up settling on THE official color scheme - then, mom goes out and grabs every ornament and accent she can find that fits the theme, along with some ribbon to make her famous tree topper!
This year, we decided on mixed metallics - silver, gold and rose gold!! The tree came out so beautiful! While looking at it I was inspired to make a Christmas tree treat...but instead of making it the typical green tree with red ornaments, I thought I'd make it a little more glam by going all white with the cupcake, frosting, and tree and adding some colorful sprinkle "ornaments" for a fun pop of color. I also threw in some shaved coconut "snow" and baked my delicious white cake batter to make the cupcakes...these came out perfect!
Ingredients
For the Cake:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 cups cake flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 C buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Pinch of salt
For the Topper - Christmas Tree and Snow:
White candy melts
Small pretzel stick
Mixed color Sprinkles/Nonpareils
Shaved coconut
Buttercream frosting
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a mixing bowl combine butter and sugar. Mix together until creamy and white in color. Add in eggs, one a time and mix until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl sift together cake flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add in cake flour mixture and buttermilk to the sugar, egg and butter batter, alternating between the two - always begin and end with the flour. Add vanilla and almond extract and mix well.
5. Add cupcake liners to a muffin pan and using an ice cream scooper, fill each with one scoop of batter. Bake in oven for 22-25 minutes. Once fully baked let them cool completely before generously topping with buttercream frosting.
6. Dip cupcakes in a bowl filled with shaved coconut and set aside.
7. Line a baking pan with parchment paper (tape down edges to keep it secure). Place a pretzel stick on the parchment paper.
8. Melt your candy melts in the microwave at 30 second intervals, remembering to stir after each interval. Continue until fully melted.
9. Place candy melts in a piping bag and cut off the end - the opening should be small, but large enough for the candy to ooze out without a problem.
10. Starting at about halfway up the end of the pretzel, draw a 2 inch line from left to right. Continue making your way up the pretzel from left to right making each new level a little shorter than the last and end with a perfectly centered point.- your candy melts should form a rough triangle, this is your Christmas tree! While the candy is still wet add your assorted "ornaments" aka sprinkles and/or nonpareils. Set them in the refrigerator for 5 minutes. Once they have set, remove from the refrigerator and gently peel them off the parchment paper - they should come right off with ease. Lastly, stick the pretzel into the center of the cupcake and gently but firmly press down to hold it in place.
Enjoy!
Comments