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Christmas Tree Cupcakes are the treat that makes the whole dessert table look decorated, red velvet cupcakes wearing tall green frosting trees with sprinkle ornaments and a gold star, and the December we brought them to the school party, Maddie personally starred every single tree. If you like an edible forest theme, our Christmas tree meringue cookies are the crunchy companion.
The magic is one simple trick, a fluffy cream cheese frosting tinted green and piped in a tapering swirl.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 0 minutes (frosting and decorating)
- ⏳ Total Time: 15 minutes plus baking the cupcakes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 cupcakes
- ⚡ Calories: 111kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting over soft red velvet
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy piping, honestly simpler than the faces on our Christmas Oreo balls
Quick Answer
Bake and cool 12 red velvet cupcakes. Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth, add vanilla, then mix in powdered sugar a half cup at a time and whip for 3 minutes until fluffy. Tint the frosting green, pipe it onto each cupcake in a tall tapering swirl like a tree, then decorate with nonpareil sprinkles as ornaments and a yellow star sprinkle on top.
Jump to:
- Christmas Tree Cupcakes Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Christmas Tree Cupcakes
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Christmas Tree Cupcakes FAQs
- Other Recommended Christmas Dessert Recipes
- Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cream cheese frosting holds the tree. The 2 to 1 ratio of powdered sugar to cream cheese and butter whips into a frosting stiff enough to stand tall in a piped swirl without slumping.
- The 3 minute whip matters. Beating on high after the sugar goes in fills the frosting with air, that fluff is what makes the tree look soft and branch-like instead of dense.
- A tapering swirl reads as a tree. Piping a wide ring first and spiraling smaller as you lift creates the cone silhouette, one continuous motion, no sculpting.
- Gel color keeps the pipe stiff. A few dabs of gel deliver deep evergreen without adding liquid, watery color would soften the frosting and blur the swirl lines.
- Cold cupcakes, room temp frosting. Fully cooled cupcakes keep the frosting from melting at the base, while room temperature frosting pipes smoothly without air pockets.
- Sprinkles go on immediately. The frosting surface skins over as it sits, adding the ornament sprinkles right after piping means they stick without pressing dents into your tree.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They turn one piping motion into a showstopper, if you can swirl soft serve, you can build these trees.
- The red velvet under green frosting is peak Christmas color, same palette energy as our red velvet blossom cookies on the same tray.
- Kids can do the decorating, hand over the sprinkles and star placement and every tree gets a personality.
- It is the kind of no fuss win that pairs beautifully with our christmas tree christmas cupcakes on a busy week.
- It is the kind of no fuss win that pairs beautifully with our vintage christmas jello salad on a busy week.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our apple pie cupcakes.
Key Ingredients
Two components build the tree, a red velvet base and a fluffy tinted frosting, plus the fun stuff on top.
- Red Velvet Cupcakes: The trunk situation. Use your favorite recipe or a box mix, the deep red crumb against the green tree is the whole Christmas color story. Chocolate or vanilla cupcakes work too.
- Cream Cheese and Butter: Equal partners in the frosting. Cream cheese brings the tang that keeps it from being too sweet, butter gives it the body to hold a tall piped tree shape.
- Powdered Sugar: Added slowly, it sweetens and stiffens the frosting until it pipes clean swirls that stay put.
- Green Food Coloring: Gel coloring gives you a deep evergreen without thinning the frosting, liquid drops need more volume and can soften the pipe.
- Star Sprinkles and Nonpareils: The ornaments and the star on top, a yellow star sprinkle turns a green swirl into an unmistakable tree.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Same tree, different forest, this decorating idea flexes across flavors and skill levels.
- Any base cupcake: Chocolate, vanilla, or gingerbread cupcakes all wear the tree beautifully, red velvet just wins on color.
- Buttercream version: Swap the cream cheese frosting for classic buttercream if you need the cupcakes to sit out longer at a party.
- Snowy trees: Dust the piped trees with powdered sugar for a fresh snowfall effect.
- Ornament upgrade: Use mini M&Ms as oversized ornaments, pressing them gently into the branches.
- Full cookie forest: Pair them with our Christmas tree meringues for a two-texture tree platter.
- For another spin on this idea, try our christmas tree pull apart bread next time.
- For another spin on this idea, try our 4th of july cupcakes next time.
- In the mood for something different? Our cherry cupcakes recipe scratches a similar itch.
How to Make Christmas Tree Cupcakes
- Bake 12 red velvet cupcakes from your favorite recipe or a box mix, and let them cool completely on a wire rack. Warm cupcakes will melt the frosting, so do not rush this.
- Cream the cream cheese and butter together with a hand mixer until completely smooth.
- Add the vanilla, then add the powdered sugar a half cup at a time until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Beat on high speed for 3 minutes, until the frosting is light and fluffy. Tint it evergreen with gel food coloring, adding a little at a time until the shade is right.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star or round tip. Pipe a wide ring around the edge of each cupcake and spiral inward and upward, tapering to a point, so each swirl looks like a tree.
- Immediately decorate each tree with nonpareil sprinkles as ornaments and press a yellow star sprinkle onto the top point. Serve and enjoy the forest.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Cool the cupcakes completely, even 10 minutes of residual warmth will slump your trees into green puddles.
- Use gel food coloring, a few dabs give deep evergreen color, liquid coloring thins the frosting and the swirls lose definition.
- Chill the frosting 10 minutes if your kitchen is warm, slightly cool frosting pipes the crispest tree ridges.
- Practice one swirl on parchment first, scrape it back into the bag, and adjust your pressure before committing to a cupcake.
- A large open star tip makes branch-like ridges automatically, if you only have a round tip the trees read smooth and snow-drifted, also cute.
- Star goes on last, immediately. The frosting surface sets fast, and a star pressed into set frosting leaves cracks.
- Double up for gatherings. Serve it alongside our homemade birthday cupcakes and watch both disappear.
- Double up for gatherings. Serve it alongside our grinch cupcakes recipe and watch both disappear.
- Make it a full spread. Our red velvet cupcake rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our Christmas sandwich cookies and our Christmas fudge.
They travel well in a cupcake carrier, pipe and decorate at home, and the sturdy frosting survives the ride to the school party intact.
Store frosted cupcakes covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days because of the cream cheese, and let them sit out 20 minutes before serving so the crumb softens.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes FAQs
A stiff cream cheese frosting is ideal for Christmas tree cupcakes, the 4 ounces cream cheese, half stick butter, and 2 cups powdered sugar in this recipe whip into a frosting that holds a tall piped tree. Classic American buttercream also works and stands up better at room temperature.
A large open star tip, like a 1M or 6B, gives Christmas tree cupcakes those ridged, branch-like swirls. A large round tip makes smooth snow-covered trees. Either way, pipe a wide ring at the edge and spiral upward to a point to build the cone shape.
Yes. Bake the cupcakes a day ahead and store them airtight at room temperature, and make the frosting up to 3 days ahead in the refrigerator. Let the frosting soften and re-whip it briefly before piping. Decorated Christmas tree cupcakes hold beautifully in the refrigerator overnight.
Soft frosting usually means the butter or cream cheese was too warm, or liquid food coloring thinned it. Chill the frosting for 15 minutes and re-whip. If it is still loose, beat in more powdered sugar a quarter cup at a time until the swirl holds its shape.
With cream cheese frosting, yes, Christmas tree cupcakes should be refrigerated if they are sitting out longer than about 2 hours. Store them covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, and bring them to room temperature for 20 minutes before serving for the best texture.
Red velvet is the classic base for Christmas tree cupcakes because the red crumb against green frosting is pure holiday. That said, the green trees look great on chocolate, vanilla, funfetti, or gingerbread cupcakes, use whatever your crowd loves or whatever box is in the pantry.
Building the full holiday tray? Our cream cheese mints tuck perfectly between the trees.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Cream the cream cheese and butter together using a hand mixer.
- Add the vanilla, add the powdered sugar in 1/2 Cup at a time until fully incorporated.
- Beat on high speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Thanks!!
2 batches is enough for me, but I don’t pile on the icing. If you like A LOT then make an extra batch, thanks!
Was 2 batches of frosting enough for 24 cupcakes or do you need more since using a lot of frosting to make the trees? Thanks!
You can add any food coloring to the basic cream cheese frosting recipe I have listed. Use as much as you need to achieve the color you would like. Just add a couple drops at a time, a little tends to go a long way!
How did you get this green color for the frosting? What did you use and how much dye?
Love cream cheese frosting…such a simple and seasonal treat. Thanks for sharing this with us on Weekend Bites.
I never would have thought of using Red Velvet cake for the cupcakes – nice touch! I pinned your meringue recipe this week with plans to make it with my kids. Visiting from #sitsblogging
I’d love for you to share your recipe with my readers at my Motivation Monday Party open Sunday night at 6:30 pm
That topping would be AWESOME! I love the idea of doing them as just meringues too! YUMM!
beautiful job!