How about some pretty Chocolate cupcakes to get you through the week?
These are Chocolate cupcakes (recipe HERE) with Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting (recipe HERE), made extra special with some royal icing snowflakes. I piped on the frosting with a Wilton 1M tip (the tip I use the most often) and added some pretty sprinkles (white non-pareils and silver dragees). I colored the frosting with Americolor brand coloring, in sky blue.
The roayl icing snowflakes are pretty easy to make, and will last a very long time (stored in a airtight container). Make a nice stiff consistency batch of royal icing (recipe HERE) and pipe a snowflake shape onto a piece of parchment paper. Allow to dry completely (this will take about 1 day) before trying to remove from the paper. Be prepared… many WILL break as you try to move them from the parchment paper, so you need to make at least twice as many snowflakes as you think you want. The thicker the line of royal icing you make, and the longer you let them dry, the better your chances of avoiding breakage, but they are still very delicate, and you are bound to have some break.
Happy Cupcake Decorating!
How to Make Snowflake Cupcakes
Snowflake Cupcakes
Ingredients
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa best quality available
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract best quality available
- 1 cup boiling water
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick/8 tablespoons, set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool
- 8 oz cream cheese directly from fridge
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract always use pure vanilla extract if possible
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
Royal Icing
- 4 tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 cups powdered sugar about 1 pound
- 6 tablespoons warm water to start
Instructions
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
- Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
- Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
- Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
- Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes.
- Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
- Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
- Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)
Royal Icing
- Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
- Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring .
- Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.
Hi, I just tried to make snowflakes with royal icing and they don’t look near as great as yours! What size tip did you use? Do you have any other pointers for doing them? Thanks!
I made these cupcakes, snowflakes and all, for one my co-workers last day and they were such a hit! They were absolutely delicious and the frosting was the best part of it! We have this great cupcake shoppe near us at work, and most of my co-workers mentioned that they were better than their famous cupcakes! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a nice comment! So glad you enjoyed these!
Do you put the snowflakes in the fridge or dry them at room temperature?
The royal icing should be allowed to dry at room temperature, and the snowflakes should be stored at room temperature as well.
Do the snowflakes need to dry at room temp or in the freezer? – Thanks
The royal icing should be allowed to dry at room temperature, and stored at room temperature as well.
I make these ever yr, simply the best cupcakes ever! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! I used your recipe to bake cupcakes for my daughter’s Frozen themed party. I’m just an amateur baker so I used some simple snowflake cupcake toppers rather than the royal icing snowflakes. Your cupcakes look beautiful! 🙂 I blogged about my Frozen festivities and included a link to your blog.
http://myriadinspirations.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/diy-frozen-festivities/
Blessings,
Mimi
I was making cupcakes for a Frozen themed birthday party and stumbled onto your site while searching the internet for ideas. They turned out beautifully, and surprisingly I didn’t have any trouble with the snowflakes. I used parchment paper and after a day of drying they just slid right off. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Beautiful!
I finally had success removing the hardened snowflakes from the wax paper. I heated a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 and slid the wax paper and snowflakes onto the back side of the hot cookie sheet. The heat melted the wax and the snowflakes came right off!
What did you use to tint the icing that shade of blue? Love it! it’s just a great design! Thanks.
Hi Ellen, As mentioned in the post, I use Americolor brand food coloring in sky blue. Just one or two drops per the batch of icing is all you need. Happy baking!