Super Cute & Easy Santa Hat Cupcakes

It’s Christmas time, which is my very favorite time of year, so I’ve been coming up with tons of fun holiday treats to share with my kids. From Christmas parties to random afterschool snacks, we’ve been having the best time finding new ways to change up our favorite recipes to have a Christmasy twist. So of course, I had to pop in today and share this super cute and easy Santa Hat Cupcake recipe that my kids and I worked on yesterday.

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This recipe skips red food dye (a nightmare for sensory sensitive kids) and instead relies on a fresh and delicious strawberry to give it a pop of color!

While we made our chocolate buttermilk cupcake from scratch, no one will know if you use a boxed chocolate cake mix – the most important thing is that you make that delicious buttercream frosting from scratch. It’s non-negotiable.

Seriously.

If chocolate’s not really your thing, you could easily make these cupcakes using our gingerbread cupcakes recipe or even our natural strawberry vanilla cupcake recipe.

What You Need to Make Santa Hat Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the vanilla buttercream:
1 cup butter, softened
3-4 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch salt
2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Strawberries (can use red frosting instead), green trimmed

How to Make Super Cute & Easy Santa Hat Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a muffin pan with themed cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

For the frosting:

Place softened butter into a bowl and beat in 2 cups of icing sugar. Add 2 Tablespoons heavy cream and vanilla.

Add remaining icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a 2D Wilton tip, or other preferred large piping tip.

Swirl the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, starting in the center – moving outwards and then back in and up, being careful not to give the frosting too much height.