A few simple candies turn ordinary cupcakes into festive Holly Topped White Cupcakes! Perfect for the holidays and scrumptious enough to make all year long!

Holly Topped White Cupcakes on a white rectangular platter

Holly Topped White Cupcakes

My family was delighted that today’s Christmas Week theme was cakes. I make tons more cookies than cakes, so this white cupcake recipe was an extra special treat. To make sure Katie would eat them, I took the safe route and dug up my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe and topped them with vanilla buttercream…she is not a chocoholic like her brothers and dad. Then to make them festive, I added a simple garnish of red M & M’s and slices of green candied fruit.

Since this recipe makes 14, I made 12 full-sized cupcakes and about 8 mini cupcakes. The small ones took about 14 minutes in the oven…and were perfect to go with my afternoon tea. A less guilty, two-bite pleasure. The two taste testers in the house gave these their seal of approval! Bill even requested that I make these again for his birthday in April…the ultimate endorsement.

More Christmas Sweets

Welcome to day #3 of Christmas Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita’s Cocina. Today’s theme for Christmas Week is “Peppermint Surprise.” Make sure you visit all the participating bloggers today to see what special dish they whipped up for you.

 

Holly Topped White Cupcakes topeed with frosting and M&Ms

Crème Bouquet Flavoring for Cakes

A couple of weeks ago, my sweet friend, Veronica, of Veronica’s Cornucopia, sent me a wonderful flavoring called Crème Bouquet. When it arrived, Katie and I both took a deep whiff and were enveloped with a scent that reminded Katie of petit fours…her favorite treat from a local bakery.

We’d unlocked the secret to the unique flavor of their white cakes and icing. I was instructed to use it sparingly to start with, but the 1/8 teaspoon probably wasn’t quite enough. It’s a totally optional ingredient, but you might enjoy adding it to your next batch of vanilla or cream cheese icing. It’s quite inexpensive but has a short shelf life, so buy it in small quantities. Thanks, again, Veronica!!!

 

Holly Topped White Cupcakes | Perfect sweet treat any time of year!

Holly Topped White Cupcakes

Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 3 minutes
Yield 14 cupcakes

Sweet, tender white cupcakes decked out for Christmas with a simple candy topping.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • ¾ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:

  • 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup shortening (like Crisco)
  • 3 1/2-4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • I teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8-1/4 teaspoon Crème Bouquet, optional

Garnishes:

  • Red M & M's
  • Green jellied candy slices

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl between additions. Mix together milk, lemon, and vanilla. Add half this mixture to the batter.
  5. Mix until just blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add half the dry ingredients and mix in well, followed by the remaining milk mixture, then the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions.
  6. Divide batter into 14 or so spots in the muffin tins. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes (mine took 23 minutes) or until the tester inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 10 minutes then remove to a rack to finish cooling.
  8. To make the icing, beat butter and shortening until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix till smooth. Slowly add milk till icing reaches spreading consistency. Add flavorings and mix well.
  9. Ice cupcakes as desired. Top each with 3 red M & M's and 2 slices of jellied candies to decorate.

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookbook

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

14

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 769Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 248mgCarbohydrates: 136gFiber: 0gSugar: 132gProtein: 2g

Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.

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