Gorgeous Snowflake Cupcakes Topped with a Peppermint Pattie
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Who could say no to one of these gorgeous Snowflake Cupcakes, covered in sprinkles and topped with a Peppermint Pattie? Not me! The winter-themed cupcakes are delicious to eat and surprisingly simple to make. They would look amazing on a party dessert table, and would also make a delicious edible gift for someone special.
This post is part of Create the Holidays (formerly Create Christmas) – a series of festive recipes, crafts, printables, and more on The Purple Pumpkin Blog!
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Snowflake Cupcakes
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions, to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required and understand the steps and timings involved.
As with most of the highly decorated cupcakes that I shared on The Purple Pumpkin Blog, the cupcakes are made using a box of cake mix, but you can use your favorite cupcake recipe if you prefer.
The frosting is super easy to whip up, and then it’s just some (okay, a LOT) of sprinkles and the snowflake topper.
The topper is made using a York Peppermint Pattie which has a snowflake piped on using a tube of ready-made white icing.
These pretty cupcakes are perfect for the winter holidays or Christmas, and would also work well for a Disney’s Frozen-themed party too!
If you’re an experienced cake maker you can probably jump straight to the recipe at the end of this post and get baking! But if not, please read through the steps as I’ve got lots of tips and suggestions along the way!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may have some baking ingredients in your kitchen already – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed to make these cupcakes have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online.
Cupcakes & Frosting Ingredients
- Box of Vanilla Cake Mix – the usual additional ingredients are changed to butter, milk, and eggs to enrich the cake mix.
- Powdered Sugar – known as Icing Sugar in the UK.
- Pure Vanilla Extract – always buy the best you can afford, it really does make a difference!
- Blue Sprinkles – there are sprinkles inside the cupcakes as well as on the frosting!
Decorating Ingredients
- York Peppermint Patties – American dark chocolate enrobed peppermint confection. If you can’t source these where you live, you could use a chocolate-covered cookie instead. In the UK (or elsewhere) you could use chocolate peppermint cremes.
- Tube of White Icing – to pipe the snowflake design on the Peppermint Patties. Some tubes come with a piping tip fitted, or make sure you have a tip that fits the tube. Use a small round tip.
- Winter Sprinkles – you can use any sprinkles that you like! Make a mix of your own with different single sprinkle types, or buy a ready-made festive mix. Whatever you use, you will want about 2 cups to decorate the cupcakes. We use a mixture of blue, purple, pink, white, and silver sprinkles.
Cupcake Decorating Equipment
- Large Piping Bag – you can use disposable or reuseable, your choice.
- Large Star Tip – for example, Wilton 1M
Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).
Snowflake Cupcake Recipe Tips
Cupcake Making Tips
- These cupcakes are made using a box of cake mix – the flavor is enriched by using butter, milk, and eggs, instead of the usual oil, water, and eggs.
- You can use winter-themed cupcake liners to bake your cupcakes in if you like or stick to a complementary color.
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners. Fill them about three-quarters full.
- The cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cupcake Frosting Tips
- When making the frosting you want the end result to be creamy, smooth, and for it to hold a stiff peak. You may have to adjust the amount of powdered sugar and cream slightly to achieve the consistency you need.
- These cupcakes are double-frosted, for the first layer, pipe a thick ring around the edge of the cupcake and dip into a bowl of sprinkles to cover completely. Then add a swirl of frosting on top of the sprinkle layer.
- SPRINKLES! Speaking of sprinkles, use any type you like in this recipe – you’ll need about 2 cups of them to cover the cupcakes.
- You will need a large piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
- If you feel like you are going to be making a lot of cakes and cupcakes in your future, I think it is worth investing in a set of piping tips so that you know you always have the right ones on hand for a recipe.
- Do not overfill the piping bag with frosting, and make sure you squeeze the frosting down the bag to expel any air bubbles.
- If you are not confident with your piping skills you can practice on some parchment paper first and scoop the frosting back into the bag to use on the cupcakes.
More Christmas Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more holiday cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
How Do I Make Snowflake Cupcakes?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Snowflake Cupcakes
These pretty cupcakes are perfect for the winter holidays or Christmas, and would also work well for a Disney's Frozen-themed party too!
Ingredients
For the Snowflake Topper
- 22 York Peppermint Patties
- 1 tube white icing with small round tip
For the Cupcakes
- 1 box of vanilla cake mix
- ½ cup of softened unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup blue sprinkles
For the Frosting
- 1½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 4½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5-7 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups Wilton Christmas Wonderland Sprinkles
Instructions
- Unwrap the Peppermint Patties and lay them out on a cookie sheet.
- Use the white icing to pipe a snowflake to the front of each one. Set aside to dry.
- To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners and set aside.
- Using an electric handheld or stand mixer, place the cake mix, butter, milk, and eggs into a large bowl and mix until combined and smooth.
- Fold in the blue sprinkles.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the cupcake batter between the liners - about three-quarters full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. - Leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- To make the frosting, use an electric stand or handheld mixer and add the butter, powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla to the bowl.
- Beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth and stiff peaks form.
- Transfer the frosting into a large piping bag fitted with a star tip.
- Pour the sprinkles into a bowl and stir to mix.
- Pipe a thick ring around the edge of each cooled cupcake and dip into the sprinkles to cover.
- Pipe a swirl of frosting on top of the sprinkles layer.
- Place a decorated Peppermint Pattie into each cupcake.
- Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 22 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 606Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 98mgSodium: 203mgCarbohydrates: 72gFiber: 1gSugar: 55gProtein: 3g
This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!
- Appetizer: Spicy Chicken Satay Recipe with a Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Soup: Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup with Cannellini Beans
- Main Dish: One-Skillet Honey Applesauce Pork Tenderloin
- Side Dish: Simple Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Beverage: Naughty Elf Cocktail
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!
The Create the Holidays series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog features free printables, crafts, recipes, and more for Christmas and the Winter Holidays. Check out Create the Holidays (formerly Create Christmas) from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.