Ugly Christmas Sweater Cupcakes

I love the idea of a Ugly Sweater Christmas Party and when I was looking into all the cool Ugly Sweater decorations, Invitations and gifts, it dawned on me why not make some Ugly Sweater Cupcakes.

These were so much fun to make and you can make them as Ugly or pretty as you like. What I love about these is you can used your favorite cupcakes recipe or even a box recipe there is nothing fancy about them but when you decorate them you will be so impressed with yourself.

Ingredients

Here is everything you will need to make these Ugly Cupcakes:

• 24 cupcakes; you can use your favorite box mix or your favorite cupcake/cake recipe

• Green frosting

• White frosting

• Red and Green M&M’s

• Fun Christmas sprinkles (I used red & white candy canes, yellow stars, candy reindeer with red noses, and Christmas trees and red stockings)

• Wilton #16 piping tip

• Wilton disposable piping bag

There is no right or wrong way to decorate these Ugly Sweater cupcakes. You can make them however you like. You could change the icing to red for some or even white and add loads of fun Christmas Sprinkles.

How to make these Ugly Christmas Sweater Cupcakes

Lay out the cooled chocolate cupcakes and generously frost all 24 cupcakes using the green frosting. 

Then you can attach the Wilton #16 piping tip to the disposable piping bag and fill it with white frosting. 

Then you can gently squeeze the frosting from the piping bag making a ‘Y’ shape on each cupcake. 

Time to decorate and get as ugly as you can, give each cupcake 2-3 red or green M&M’s along the bottom of the ‘Y’. 

Lastly, decorate both sides with fun Christmas shaped sprinkles, we used candy canes, Christmas tree and reindeer head sprinkles.

Repeat with all cupcakes, probable best to do them all at once so green icing goes on them all first, then the white icing as a “Y” then decorate as you please.

Recipe notes and tips

While the recipe is straightforward, it is always nice to have a few different tricks and tips to make things easier. So here are some of the recipe notes and tips to help you out:

• Always leave the cupcakes to cool completely before adding the frosting and decoration. The longer the better. If the cupcakes are too hot the frosting will melt and create a big mess. 
• If children are helping, make sure they are supervised when using a stand or hand mixer. 
• Make sure you store the cupcakes in an airtight container to ensure maximum freshness. 
• If you are making these cupcakes for an event or special occasion, a great tip is to make the cakes a day before. If you leave the frosting till the last moment they will look amazing and taste like perfection. It will save you a lot of time when preparing for the party. 

Variations to try

Like with many recipes there will always be variations to try. Here are a few suggestions. 

• You could always make this vanilla flavored if you wanted. The same recipe would apply except you would need to buy a vanilla cake mix and use your best vanilla cupcake recipe instead. This could be a great alternative, or you could do a batch of each. The frosting and Christmas decorations will still look great. 
• If you want a different theme then follow the same process for the cake recipe and choose a different color and theme for the decorations as I said above you can change the icing color to red or white. This could serve as the perfect basis for many creations in the future for different get-togethers. 

FAQs

Like with any recipe, there are often questions that need answering. I thought I would share some of the common questions here, but if you have any comments or questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch directly. 

Can it be made ahead of time?

A great tip is to make these cupcakes ahead of time. This is because they can be fiddly with the frosting. So if you are making them for a specific event you could make these the day before, or even just leave the frosting until you need them and just get to the cooling stage. 

How should I store the Ugly Sweater cupcakes?

If you do need to store these cupcakes, the best way would be in an airtight container at room temperature. They should last a few days stored that way, although, they likely won’t last too long. 

Can I freeze the Ugly Christmas Sweater cupcakes after they are cooked?

If you do plan on freezing these cupcakes it would be best to do so after the stage of cooking and before you frost them. This is because the frosting and decoration won’t do too well in the freezer, but the cake mixture itself will. 

Enjoy your homemade Ugly Christmas Sweater Cupcakes!