Reindeer Cupcakes
Reindeer cupcakes are moist, fluffy, and full of rich chocolate flavor. These festive Christmas treats are bound to steal the show this holiday season.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
Reindeer Decorations
- 2 tubs chocolate fudge frosting 16-ounce
- 24 vanilla wafer cookies
- Brown and red M&M's for the reindeer's nose
- 48 chocolate-covered mini pretzels
- 48 medium candy eyeballs
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, water, and oil. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy and well combined.
- Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill each liner ⅔ of the way full. Bake according to the cake mix package instructions (approximately 15 minutes at 350°F).
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
- If the top of the cupcake has a domed top, use a serrated knife to trim off the dome and form a flat top. Frost cupcakes with the chocolate frosting.
- Transfer about ½ cup of the frosting to a small Ziploc bag and cut a very small opening in the corner to use it as a piping bag.
- Place one vanilla wafer along the edge of each cupcake (off-center).
- Place two miniature chocolate-covered pretzels above the vanilla wafer to form the reindeer antlers.
- Use the “piping bag” to pipe two small dots of frosting and place two candy eyes at the base of the pretzels and just above the vanilla wafers.
- Pipe a bit of frosting to glue on the M&M nose.
- Pipe a mouth below the nose.
Notes
Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cupcakes as the suggested baking time approaches.
A flat top on the cupcakes is helpful to hold the decorations on one plane; otherwise, they start slipping or look funny at different angles. If you use grocery store frosted cupcakes, I’d recommend taking an offset spatula/knife and just smoothing out the frosting into a flat top.