The CUTEST Christmas Cupcakes! These Reindeer Cupcakes steal the show at every party and with a red nose they can be Rudolph Cupcakes!
Cute Christmas Cupcakes… Rudolph the red nosed cupcake!
You’ll notice I made my own candy eyes using M&M’s but you can always just buy candy eyes at the grocery store in the baking aisle! Back when I made these the first time, candy eyes were only sold at specialty stores like Michales and Hobby Lobby, but today candy eyes are in most grocery stores which is a BIG win! I love using them at Christmas and Halloween. These Rudolph Reindeer Cupcakes are always a huge hit with kids because they’re easy and fun to make AND best of all they turn out like the picture! I love using simple store-bought items to make my little desserts come alive because it sets you and your kids up for success. No pinterest fail memes for this recipe!
A decorating tip with kids: Put all the decorating ingredients like the vanilla wafers, red M&M, brown M&M’s, mini pretzels and candy eyes in a cupcake pan (muffin tin). Each ingredient can be in different “wells” so they stay separated. You could also place them in cupcake wrappers on a plate. When I do my kids decorating classes I try to keep everything as organized as possible because it seems to keep the kids a little more tidy too.
Look at the adorable Rudolph! You could make 12 Rudolphs of just one to lead the pack!
Cute Reindeer Cupcakes
You can use a scratch recipe for the cupcakes but I tend to leave the flour, sugar, and everything else in the pantry and just pull out a good-ole cake mix.
There are 16 days until Christmas! I wrapped a pile of presents and sent out family Christmas cards, now I just need a tree! I’ll confess I’ve been watching Christmas movies since mid November and still going strong every night with a cup of hot chocolate. Thanks to Netflix, the Lifetime and Hallmark channels I will never run out of cheesy Christmas romances full of mistletoe, perfect snow and flying reindeer.
These aren’t something new, there have been a lot of posts on blogs about these cute cakes. But I couldn’t seem to find a really good how-to post, so I thought I’d offer my take on them. Now, there are a few ways to do the pretzel antlers but I like this way because it’s the most simple and really easy to pack and deliver to friends and family.
I used Nilla Wafers (or store brand) for the muzzles, brown M&M’s for the noses, and white chocolate mint M&M’s for the eyes with a dot of melted chocolate.
I hope you love these cute Christmas cupcakes as much as my family does! Enjoy them at home and at your holiday party this year!
Reindeer Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 box devil's food cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 C. oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 C. milk or buttermilk
- 1/2 C. sour cream
Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 C. butter
- 1/3 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2-3 C. powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp. milk
Pretzles, for antlers
Nilla Wafers, for muzzles
Brown M&M's for noses (some red for Rudolph)
White Mint M&M's for eyes
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, vanilla extract, milk and sour cream until smooth.
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4. Stir in cake mix.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Let cool.
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7. Chocolate frosting: Beat butter. Add cocoa powder, 2 C. powdered sugar and milk. Slowly add more powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
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8. Prep reindeer "faces" by using frosting to stick brown M&M's on Nilla Wafers (some red for Rudolphs if you want). Melt down a few chocolate chips, put in a small plastic bag, snip off the tip to make a mini piping bag and "dot" little eyeballs on the white M&M's to make eyes.
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9. Frost cupcakes.
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10. (See photos below) Place Nilla wafers with M&M's on cupcakes, then place pretzels above. Use a little frosting to stick on 2 eyes and there you go!
Rudolph!
These are seriously so cute and easy for anyone to make!
Adorable! I know what I will be making for my son’s class before winter break 🙂
So cute, I think I would want all rudolph lol
That actually makes it easier because you only need to buy one bag of M&M’s, the chocolate mint ones!
So cute!!! You are always so creative!! I love how the recipe is simple but the results are spectacular!
keep everything as organized as possible because it seems to keep the kids
I love it!!! <3
This is something my 9 year old can do with me. I think I just found the cupcakes to make for this year!
So cute,clever, & creative!! Thank you for all your great stories &
lovely sweets & recipes!
Jackie
I will probably end up buying the candy eyes they sell at some stores for the eyes, so I could cut out one additional step. This might cause the reindeer to be “bug-eyed” though. They are so cute I now have (another) holiday treat that my girls will love to help me make
Oh good! Yes, there a bunch of ways to make the eyes, so do what’s easiest for you!
Too cute.
Just finished making a little over 50 of these with my 4 year old for my students and for her class! They are so cute, but man that was a lot of little reindeers! lol
Oh that’s adorable! You made a whole herd of reindeer!
Do you use regular sized Nilla wafers or the mini ones? We are making these tonite–so cute!
I used regular sized ones (I just got the store’s generic brand to save a little money)
Thanks for sharing such creative idea!! My family and friends love them 🙂
How many cupcakes does this recipe make?
20-24!
Thank you!! I am making these for Christmas – very excited!
You are so creative… *.*
Love your cupcakes. Should I bake at a lower temperature or shorter time when using dark muffin tins? I’ve burned many cupcakes.
My tins are dark! I bake mine for only 13 minutes, but I’m also in Utah where the altitude changes how long things bake for!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for this! I have seen this many places, but you laid it out so well that even I can make them!
These are adorable. What size M&M’s did you use?
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What can I use instead of M &M’s?
Looks like such a cute cupcake. I want to make these for my Grandson’s birthday. Can you make these in advance without the pretzels and wafers going soft sitting in the icing?
It’s beautiful and delicious. I have followed your page and applied the cake recipes with great success. Simple re-implementation. I don’t think I can make cakes. Thank you for sharing the article.
Love the idea. Would be helpful to have a yield so the reader knows how many cupcakes to expect.
Hi! I’m trying to make these and I’m having trouble getting the white m&M’s to stay. Any tips?
The candies are so pretty.