Tis the Season Cupcakes

There’s nothing like candy canes at Christmas and they’re even better as part of a cupcake. I’m calling these Tis the Season Cupcakes because they’re just so festive! They have a 2-tone red and green cake base, vanilla candy cane buttercream frosting, and a sprinkling of extra candy canes on top. I’ve made so many doctored cake mix desserts, but this recipe is my absolute favorite. There’s no extra peppermint in the cake base, but feel free to add it. The frosting and candy cane topper gives them the extra pop of peppermint flavor while still preserving that classic vanilla taste. I added a cute little candy cane decoration on top making them the perfect Christmas cupcakes!

THE STORY: I made these two-tone cupcakes last year, but I wanted to simplify them a bit and focus on the flavor. Candy canes have such a strong taste, that I decided to only use them in the frosting/topping. Side note, my favorite flavor of candy canes is the Hershey’s mint which is a mint/chocolate flavor. They’re really pretty too because they have an added green stripe. The combo in these cupcakes is more of a focus on the sweet and creamy vanilla with the background of peppermint. I chose the name “Tis the Season” because to me these are the epitome of Christmas. Classic colors and flavor with alternating shiny cupcake liners…they’d be the first that I’d grab at any Christmas party.

TIPS: I mentioned this in the recipe below, but if you’re adding the candy cane pieces on top be sure to do it right before serving. Sometimes they have a tendency to bleed into the frosting. Also, use a larger piping tip because the candy cane pieces will get stuck if you use a small tip.

SPRINKLE OF CREATIVITY: Want to mix it up? If you’d like, leave out the candy canes all together and make classic vanilla frosting. Add a mini Christmas cookie, sugar decon, or sprinkle of crushed sugar cookies. If you’d like a chocolate base, swap out the vanilla pudding and cake mix in the recipe for chocolate. Then you can use the chocolate-mint candy canes that I mentioned above!

Tis the Season Cupcakes

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• Author: Taryn Camp

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Foil liners like these- Holiday Cupcake Liners

Candy Cane Decorations like these- Sugar Decor

• 1 box of white cake mix
• 1 box of instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Red and Green food coloring- I love the gel food coloring from Chefmaster
• 2 sticks of salted butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3–4 tbsp heavy cream
• 2–3 tbsp crushed candy canes
• Extra candy cane pieces + candy cane decor

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and fill a cupcake pan with holiday liners. This recipe will make 24 cupcakes.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Put half of the batter in a separate bowl. Tint one bowl with red food coloring and the other with green.
3. Using a small cookie scoop, fill each liner with a scoop of green. Then top it (or side by side) with red. The cupcakes should be filled 2/3 of the way. Once they’re all filled, tap on the cupcake pan to flatten the cupcake batter.
4. Bake according to the package directions and let them cool completely.
5. After they’ve cooled, prepare the frosting. Beat the butter until smooth. Add in half of the powdered sugar and mix. Then add in the rest of the sugar, vanilla, and cream. Mix until completely smooth, then add in the candy cane pieces. Turn the mixer on for a few seconds, just enough to incorporate them throughout the buttercream.
6. Using a piping bag and an open star tip, add a swirl of frosting to each cupcake. Any larger tip would work and I used this one. These are the piping bags I use as well.
7. Add a sprinkle of candy cane pieces to each cupcake and a little candy cane decoration. ****NOTE: if you aren’t eating these cupcakes right away, do not add the candy cane pieces on top. They’ll “melt” and color the frosting. Add them before serving or leave them off and just add the little decoration.