Recipe: Christmas Tree Cupcakes {Coles Packet Cake Mix Hack}

Summary: How gorgeous are these Christmas tree cupcakes? I love how the silver and minty green look so vitagey and sweet. They may look fabulous but they are so easy to make. Just a simple cupcake swirl with a glittery start cupcake topper. I think I got my cupcake topper in Target but anyway that sells party or cake supplies will have something similar or you could always make your own. I love the look of these trees as they are but there is a world of festive sprinkles and mini sugar decorations you could add as decorations to your trees. And if piping stresses you out, trust me you can do it! I have a super old video that shows how I do my swirls with a 1M piping tip and a disposable piping bag. If you would like to practise, just pipe some swils on clean baking paper and once you are happy, just scrape the icing back in the bowl. I went with plain vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream but you could mix it up, I have a whole list of cake mix hacks in various flavours at the bottom of this post. If you are travelling with these, I reccomend a cardboard cupcake box. They are a couple of dollars at the cake supply store and you never have to worry about taking a container home – plus it’s a lovely presentation. You can also get cupcake boxes that hold other quantities (6, 4, 2 or a single cupcake) if you would like to give these as gifts or share them at several events. 

Ingredients

• 1 Coles 75c vanilla cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 3 tblsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Frosting & Toppers

• 250g salted butter, softened
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2-3 tblsp milk
• Green food colouring
• 12 star cupcake toppers

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper patty pan liners.
2. In a large bowl, add the cake mix followed by the eggs and sour cream, vanilla and oil. Whisk together until smooth and glossy. Divide the batter between the 12 patty pans.
3. Bake for 15-18 minutes (mine are always perfect at 17 mins) or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a rack before frosting.
4. To make the frosting: Add the softened butter to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a bowl & electric beaters) and beat until the butter is pale.
5. Add half the icing sugar and half the milk and vanilla and beat on low until incorporated. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat on low until incorporated. Add food colour and beat on high for at least 5 mins, until smooth and fluffy.
6. Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip and top with toppers