Join Fresh Dish Foodie, Whitney, in the kitchen as she shows you how to add an extra cute touch to your holiday treats with Reindeer Cupcakes.
To know when your cupcakes are ready, use the toothpick test! Stick your toothpick into the center of the cupcake, pull it out and if there’s only a few crumbs attached - they’re ready to come out.
Decorating is the most fun part of this recipe. Use vanilla wafers for the nose, candy eyeballs, pretzels for the antlers and don’t forget the nose. Use a red candy coated chocolate piece for a Rudolph cupcake or brown to make the rest of the reindeer that pull Santa’s sleigh.
Get the full recipe below:
Ingredients:
24 foil baking cups
1 package (16.5 ounces) Devil’s Food cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
4 large eggs
1¼ cups whole milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
24 vanilla wafers
48 candy eyeballs
48 mini pretzel twists
24 candy coated chocolate pieces
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 standard-size muffin pans with baking cups. In large bowl, beat cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, milk, and oil with mixer on medium speed 2 minutes; with rubber spatula, scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Fill baking cups 2/3 full with batter.
Bake 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool cupcakes in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on wire rack.
In large bowl, beat butter with mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar; beat until light and fluffy, scraping bowl occasionally. Add vanilla extract; beat until combined. Add melted chocolate; mix on low speed until well incorporated, scraping bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes or until frosting is creamy. Makes about 3½ cups. Frost top of each cooled cupcake with 2 tablespoons frosting.
Place 1 vanilla wafer slightly off-center on 1 side of each cupcake; add 2 eyes above each wafer. For antlers, press bottom sides of pretzel twists into frosting over each eye. For nose, dot wafer with frosting and press candy coated chocolate piece into frosting.
