Christmas is just around the corner! If you’re as excited about the big day as we are, then you’re probably already thinking about the different festive activities you can enjoy with the family.
If you fancy getting creative in the kitchen, we’ve got the perfect Christmas cupcakes for the whole family to get involved with. In collaboration with Kat from thebakingexplorer.com, here’s how guide to baking reindeer cupcakes – simple to make, fun to decorate and absolutely delicious.
It’s all in the preparation…
To make the baking session as fun as possible, it’s best to make sure you’re prepared ahead of time (especially if the kids are helping). We’d recommend giving your kitchen a quick once over – wipe down your surfaces, put any clutter away and have the utensils you need at hand.
Most importantly, make sure your little helpers are ready to get their hands dirty, whisking the cake mixture and decorating once the cupcakes are baked.
Ready, steady… Bake!
For easy to make cupcakes, we’d recommend using Kat’s recipe – simple and really tasty, you can find it here. As a quick summary, here’s what you’ll need and what you need to do:
Kat says: “If you are making the nose from fondant it’s best to do this first so it can dry and harden. Roll out your red fondant on a smooth surface dusted with icing sugar, and cut out circles using a 10mm round fondant plunger. You can also use a small red sweet, like a jelly tot, for the nose if you prefer.”
Whilst the cupcakes are baking and cooling, you can use some of the time to clean up and begin preparing the decoration. It’s important to make sure your cakes have cooled down completely before decorating or the warm sponge will melt your buttercream – which can get pretty messy!
Time to decorate…
Feel free to get creative and design your own decoration, but we love Kat’s super cute reindeer design. Here’s how to do it:
Pipe the buttercream on top of each cupcake, or pop it on with a spoon, then spread it with a palette knife or butter knife to create a flat surface.
Put a chocolate button on the bottom half of the cupcake, then use a dot of buttercream to stick the red fondant nose to the chocolate button (you could use a jelly tot for the nose instead of fondant).
Add the candy eyes to the top half of the cupcake and complete the look with the pretzels – snap them in half to create the left and right antler.
Sit back and dig in…
After the cupcakes have been decorated, take a few photos for your Christmas scrapbook and then start eating! Why not curl up on the sofa and pop a festive film on the TV before you dig in, so you really feel in the Christmas spirit!
Happy eating!
Looking for more Christmas inspiration?
Setting up for a Christmas movie marathon Christmas crafting with the kids Top tips for hosting at Christmas
