Eggnog Cupcakes

Christmas time is the perfect time for fun festive goodies! Our Eggnog Cupcakes are a fun way to celebrate the season and are a great sweet treat for Christmas dessert. They're made with an eggnog flavored cupcake batter and a homemade eggnog buttercream frosting, plus cute festive decorations.

Not only are they delicious, especially for eggnog lovers, they're fun to make. They pair perfectly with a hot cup of slow cooker hot chocolate.

From melting snowman cupcakes to chocolate covered pretzel sticks, we are always in the kitchen whipping up treats this time of year. We love giving homemade chocolate candy as gifts to teachers or bringing reindeer cupcakes to class parties. You can find this kids' holiday charcuterie board on our appetizer table every year and this eggnog cake being devoured for dessert.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup eggnog (store-bought or homemade)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

* To use store bought boxed cake mix, replace the water needed in the instructions with eggnog.

Eggnog Buttercream Frosting

• ⅓ cup (75g) butter, softened
• 1 ¾ cups (225g) powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon eggnog
• Green food coloring

Optional Decorations

• Sprinkles
• dark chocolate (¼ cup)
• marshmallows
• shredded coconut (2 tablespoons) 

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with a hand mixer for 5 minutes or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add eggs, vanilla extract, eggnog and beat until well integrated. 
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon over the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined, making sure not to over mix.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners, filling each about ⅔ full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. While the cupcakes cool make the buttercream frosting. Beat the softened butter for five minutes by hand or three minutes in an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Sift the powdered sugar over the butter and continue beating until a buttercream with a sandy and thick consistency forms, adding eggnog by half a spoonful at a time and continuing to beat until the desired consistency is reached. (I added a tablespoon and beat for a few seconds, and a silky but very firm buttercream formed) If the buttercream feels too stiff, more eggnog can be added, and if it is too runny, more sifted sugar can be added.
7. Then, set aside a small portion of the buttercream (three tablespoons) and place it in a small bowl, add a few drops of green food coloring and mix. Continue adding coloring until you achieve the desired color.

How To Decorate

You can decorate your eggnog cupcakes in various festive designs. Or, skip the decorations and keep it simple by only frosting with the eggnog buttercream icing.

Snowman Cupcakes

1. Pipe white buttercream in circles on the cupcake and place a marshmallow in the center.
2. Melt dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and using a toothpick, draw the eyes and mouth. Press an orange sprinkle to simulate the snowman's nose. You can then sprinkle some grated coconut on top.

Christmas Wreath Cupcakes

1. Pipe a small amount of white buttercream onto the cupcakes. You might need to cut the tip of the cupcake to make it flat and even. Spread the buttercream with a spatula until it is smooth and even.
2. Using a small piping tip, pipe green buttercream to create a wreath and then, decorate with sprinkles.

Christmas Lights

1. Pipe a small amount of white buttercream onto the cupcakes.
2. Melt dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and using a toothpick, draw on the white buttercream the wiring creating fun shapes to simulate tangled Christmas light strings.
3. Then place colorful sprinkles to simulate Christmas lights along the drawing before the chocolate cools so the sprinkles stick.

Christmas Tree

1. Pipe a small amount of white buttercream onto the cupcakes.
2. Using a small piping tip, pipe green buttercream onto the cupcake to form a Christmas tree. Then, decorate with sprinkles to simulate Christmas ornaments and use melted dark chocolate to draw the trunk.