Christmas Lights Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes with a white buttercream swirl wrapped in a string of colorful candy Christmas lights.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
A string of Christmas lights wrapped around a white swirl of frosting makes these chocolate cupcakes the brightest thing on the dessert table. The wire is a thin line of black buttercream and the bulbs are colorful candy-coated chocolates set on their edge. Baking them in red liners makes the colors pop even more.
The Thermomix® TM7™ mixes the chocolate batter in less than a minute and the oven does the baking. With a clean bowl, the butterfly whisk whips a white vanilla buttercream; a few spoonfuls, darkened with cocoa and black gel coloring, become the wire. The decorating is simple enough for kids to help place the bulbs.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Christmas Lights Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
- Prep1 h 25 min
- Cook20 min
- Total1 h 45 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcakes
For the buttercream
For the wire and lights
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with red paper liners.
- For the cupcakes, place the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the mixing bowl and mix 10 sec/speed 4.
- Add the egg, milk, oil and vanilla and mix 15 sec/speed 4. Add the hot water and mix 10 sec/speed 3, scrape down the sides with the spatula and mix 5 sec/speed 3 more. The batter will be thin.
- Pour the batter into the liners, about 2/3 full, and bake in the oven 18-20 min, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool 5 min in the pan, then completely on a rack, about 45 min.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl. For the buttercream, insert the butterfly whisk, add the butter and whip 1 min/speed 3.5. Add half the powdered sugar, put the measuring cup in place and whip 1 min/speed 3.5.
- Add the rest of the powdered sugar, the cream, vanilla and salt and whip 1 min/speed 3.5. Scrape down the sides and whip 30 sec/speed 3.5 more, until pale and fluffy.
- Move 4 tbsp of the buttercream to a small bowl and stir in the cocoa and black gel coloring until very dark. Spoon it into a small piping bag with a small round tip, or a zip-top bag with a tiny corner snipped.
- Put the white buttercream in a piping bag with a large open star tip and pipe a tall swirl on each cupcake. Pipe the black line around each swirl in loose loops, like a string of lights.
- Press 5 or 6 candy-coated chocolates on their edge along each wire, mixing the colors, and pipe a tiny black dot where each one meets the wire.
Tips
- Black buttercream darkens as it rests, so mix it first and let it sit covered while you pipe the white swirls. Starting with cocoa means you need less coloring.
- Shortcut: a tube of black decorating gel from the baking aisle works for the wire.
- Candy coatings can bleed color onto the frosting in the fridge, so add the lights up to a few hours before serving. Frosted cupcakes keep 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
