Christmas Cupcake Ideas

Use an open star tip and frosting stiff enough to hold a ridge. Pipe a ring around the outside edge, then a smaller ring on top of it, and keep pulling up and inward until you reach a point. Three or four rings make a tree. A tablespoon of Meringue Powder in the buttercream helps the ridges hold at room temperature, and ten minutes in the fridge before the sprinkles go on keeps the tree from squashing when you press.

Use gel color, never liquid, and add less than you think: a deep red keeps darkening for hours after you mix it, so tint it the night before and you will use less. Green behaves and can be mixed on the day. If you would rather keep color out of the bowl entirely, frost white and press Naturally-Colored Sanding Sugars onto the wet frosting. The red and green come from plants, and the color sits on top of the cupcake instead of in it.

Yes, unfrosted. Cool them completely, freeze them in a single layer, then bag them for up to a month. Thaw in the liners on the counter for an hour and frost the day you serve. Cupcakes frosted with American buttercream freeze too, but piped trees, sprinkles and toppers suffer in the freezer, so decorate after thawing. Cream cheese frosting always goes on fresh.

American buttercream, for anything piped or covered in sprinkles. It sets a light crust and takes a tree or a tall swirl without slumping. Cream cheese frosting belongs on gingerbread and eggnog cupcakes for the flavor, but it softens fast, so keep it cold and pipe it last. Whipped cream is the softest of the three and is a same-day frosting. A tablespoon of Meringue Powder gives any of them a firmer set.

Swap a third to half of the cocoa in the recipe for Black Cocoa. The crumb bakes near-black with little to no food coloring, and the flavor goes deep and smooth with that classic sandwich-cookie note. Keep the rest Dutch-Process for its rounded chocolate flavor. If the recipe is built on natural cocoa and baking soda, keep some natural cocoa in the mix, since the soda needs its acidity to lift the batter. A teaspoon of Espresso Powder behind it all makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate without tasting like coffee.

Chill them first. Thirty minutes in the fridge sets buttercream enough to survive the drive. Use a cupcake carrier, or set the liners back into the muffin tin and cover it, so nothing slides. Keep the tin flat on the floor of the car, and pack anything that sticks up, like candy canes, pretzel antlers and sugar-cone trees, in a bag to add when you arrive. Sprinkles and sanding sugar travel fine on their own.