The Easy Chocolate Christmas Tree Cupcakes

These are the cutest cupcakes you’ve ever seen!  Easy Christmas Tree Cupcakes made with pretzels and a snowy coconut frosting! I made a bunch of these cute “trees” and too them over to my little cousins for them to decorate cupcakes and then stick the trees into them!  They couldn’t get over how adorable they were.  I made these with the help of my favorite cake mix… Pillsbury!

Here’s a video on how I made those cute trees!  You can also make them with regular sized pretzels for mini trees, press them into regular sized cupcakes or even minis for an entire Christmas tree forest!

Here are a few step by step pics for how to make my Easy Christmas Tree Cupcakes! I gave a few tips in the recipe as well.  Depending on how cold or warm your kitchen is the chocolate can harden quickly, so don’t plan on drizzling all the chocolate and then sprinkling.  Sprinkle as you go!  This is a great job for the kiddos to have!  Plus, you can use all sorts of sprinkles to get the same effect.  You don’t need anything fancy to make these trees, not even a piping tip!

The Easy Chocolate Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Ingredients

    Cupcake:

•     2 cups sugar
•     1½ tsp baking powder
•     ¾ cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
•     1¾ cups all-purpose flour
•     2 eggs
•     tsp salt
•     1½ tsp baking soda
•     1 cup milk
•     ½ cup canola oil
•     1 cup boiling water
•     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

   
  Trees:

•     30 pretzel sticks
•     non-pareil sprinkles
•     1 1/4 cup green candy melts

   
 Frosting:

•     1/2 cup butter, softened
•     4 cups powdered sugar
•     2 tsp vanilla
•     6 oz cream cheese or light cream cheese, softened
•     2 1/2 cups shredded coconut

Instructions

1. For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line 30 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Then add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla to the flour mixture. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Add the boiling water and stir until well combined (batter will be thin so do not be alarmed).
6. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 for 22 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. For the trees, melting the candy melts according to package directions. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag.
8. Place the pretzel sticks on a wax paper or parchment paper-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart. Pipe the candy melts over the pretzel sticks in the shape of a tree then immediately top the trees with the sprinkles. Allow the trees to sit until the trees have fully set.

    For the frosting:

1. In the bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese with a mixer until well blended. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar, beating just until combined.
2. Frost cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle immediately with the shredded coconut.
3. Just before serving, use an offset spatula to carefully release the trees from the waxed paper or parchment paper. Push the bottoms of the pretzel trees into the tops of the cupcakes. Makes 30 cupcakes.