Cupcakes Topped with White Chocolate Snowflakes
I love these pretty little things! Somewhere I saw a photo of chocolate cupcakes with royal icing snowflake toppers and had to recreate them for a holiday party. I think the delicate snowflakes are a step up from the usual stacked marshmallow snowman cupcakes (yes, those are cute too). I decided to skip the step of making royal icing and just melt some white chocolate chips to pipe into snowflakes. These would also be really pretty on red velvet cupcakes or even on top of chocolate frosting.
While it may seem like a lot of steps, the snowflakes and frosting can be made up to 3 days ahead.
Makes around 24 cupcakes
White Chocolate Snowflakes
*Can be made a few days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
1 bag white chocolate chips
1 cookie sheet
wax paper
2 snowflake clip art tracing sheets (Google “snowflake clip art” and copy/paste the image(s) you like into a Word, Photoshop, etc document. You may have to resize until snowflakes are the desired size.)
Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Let cool, but not harden. Pour into a a pastry bag with a #4 tip or into a ziploc bag with a tiny bit of a corner cut off. Place snowflake clip art under wax paper on a cookie sheet. Pipe white chocolate over each snowflake. Let harden in refrigerator.
If you want your snowflakes to be shimmery like mine, dust with edible pearl dust (available at craft stores) or sprinkle with the regular decorating sparkles from the grocery store while wet.
Chocolate Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery
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2 cups all-purpose flour
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
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1 cup granulated sugar
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1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
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4 large eggs, at room temperature
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6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
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1 cup buttermilk
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.
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In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
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Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting also from Magnolia Bakery
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1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
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6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
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1/2 cup milk
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2 teaspoons vanilla extract
LOVE the piped snowflake cupcake toppers!!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing how to make the snowflakes, it was just what I was looking for!
tried the snowflakes today….they look beautiful! thanks for sharing!
I am baking a cake for a school winter frolic week competition and these snowflakes are perfect for my design!! Thanks so much:)
I love love love the chocolate snowflakes and I am having a Winter “ONE”derland birthday for my daughter in about a week. I tried to make a few of the snowflakes just to see how difficult they were and it was a bit of a disaster. I don't know what I did wrong. I let it cool but then the chocolate seemed to thick and would not flow from the bag easy. So I heated more and tried again not letting it cool as much and I burnt my hands and it still wasn't working that well. Please help. I would really love to use these for her birthday cause I think they are absolutely adorable.
Oh my gosh. I have to say i am kinda embarrassed. I realize what I did that made things so difficult for me. I was using candy melts instead of actual chocolate. I just retried everything this time using the chocolate chips and it was so easy and they look absolutely wonderful!!!! I am so excited and I can't wait to use them on top of the cupcakes at my daughters first birthday. I am hoping to actually freeze the ones I made today so that I can save them for a couple weeks and use themthen. But even if the freezing doesn't work they were really easy to make and absolutely lovely. Thank you for a beautiful and great idea.
I am making these for my husband's work party. Jessica, I am really glad that you mentioned that candy melts didn't work for you because I would have done the same thing. Thanks for saving me a couple bucks and another trip to the store!
Very nice cake recipe