Santa Hat Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes topped with a tall red buttercream Santa hat, a white brim and a soft pompom.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
These chocolate cupcakes wear a tall swirl of red buttercream with a white brim and a soft pompom on top, just like Santa's hat. They look impressive on a holiday dessert table, yet the shape comes from one simple piping trick: circles that get smaller as you go up. Kids love helping with the pompoms.
In the Thermomix® TM7™, the chocolate batter comes together in less than a minute and bakes in the oven while you wash the bowl. Then the butterfly whisk turns butter and powdered sugar into a fluffy buttercream that holds its shape. Color most of it red, keep the rest white, and start piping.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Santa Hat Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
- Prep1 h 30 min
- Cook20 min
- Total1 h 50 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcakes
For the buttercream
To decorate
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with 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. Remove the butterfly whisk.
- Put about one third of the buttercream in a piping bag with a 1 cm (3/8 in) round tip: this is the white. Stir red gel coloring into the rest in a bowl and put it in a piping bag with a 1.5 cm (5/8 in) round tip.
- Pipe a thick white ring around the edge of each cupcake for the brim. Pipe the red on top in a tall swirl, making each circle smaller and pulling up to a point about 5 cm (2 in) high.
- Top each hat with a mini marshmallow for the pompom; for a fuzzy look, dab it with buttercream and roll it in sanding sugar or coconut first. Chill 15 min so the shape sets.
Tips
- For a deep red, use gel coloring, add it a little at a time and let the buttercream rest covered for 1 hour: the color gets darker as it sits.
- Bake the cupcakes a day ahead and keep them covered at room temperature. The buttercream keeps 1 week in the fridge; let it soften, then whip 30 sec/speed 3.5 with the butterfly whisk before piping.
- Decorated cupcakes keep 3 days in a tall airtight container in the fridge. On a warm day, keep them cold until 20 minutes before serving so the hats stay tall.
