The holiday festivities are about to get a whole lot better with these Christmas Tree Cupcakes! Made with waffle cones, green candy melts, and M&M candies, you have the perfect ingredients to make a fun treat!
Sometimes you just want to make something that is a little more festive! You can totally do that with these Christmas Tree Cupcakes! The kids and adults will drop their mouths in surprise when you bring these cupcakes out to be enjoyed!
Christmas Tree Cone Cupcakes
The best part of Christmas is the holiday spirit, and what better way to celebrate than with a batch of festive cupcakes? These cute little treats are perfect for any occasion or as a gift for family members. They’re also quite easy to make, so you’ll have plenty of time to whip up one last dish before your guests arrive!
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy To Make – These easy cupcakes come together quickly and they are even fun to make!
Easy To Find Ingredients – All these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store, and won’t break your budget.
Kid-Friendly – Not only are these cupcakes festive but the kids can get into the action and help make their own cupcakes.
Ingredients
You don’t need a lot of ingredients to make these festive cupcakes. And, the kids can help make their own. Gather around the table and spend some time this holiday season with your family while decorating your own Christmas Tree cupcakes.
- sugar or waffle cones
- green candy melts
- coconut oil or vegetable shortening
- Mini M&M candies
- Star sprinkles
- cupcakes
See the recipe card below for quantities.
How to Make Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Follow the directions below and you will have these Christmas Tree Cupcakes ready in no time at all.
Prepare a baking sheet with waxed paper. In a microwave-safe bowl, place the green candy melts. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Continuing heating in 30-second increments, stirring well after each. If the candy melts overheat or are not smooth enough to pour, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut oil or vegetable shortening and stir well.
With your hand inside the cone, spoon the green over the cone. Tap gently to allow the excess to drip back into the bowl
While the green candy melts are almost dry but still wet, press the candies and sprinkles into the cone.
Place on the prepared baking sheet to dry. When ready, place one cone on each cupcake.
Substitutions
Don’t have everything you need on hand to make this recipe? Here are some of my favorite tried and true.
- Green candy melts – If you don’t have any green candy melts, then you can always utilize green food coloring.
- Skip the cone – Not everyone can enjoy the deliciousness of the cones, in that case, you can skip the cone and just pipe out the frosting onto the cupcakes!
- Sprinkles – Feel free to use whatever sprinkles you have on hand to decorate the tree. You can even use different colors of frosting to help you decorate the tree!
When it comes to recipes, sometimes you just need to be creative. These substitutions will help you be super creative in your Christmas Tree Cupcake making adventures.
Christmas Tree Cupcakes Decorating Ideas
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Powdered sugar – Use a little powdered sugar to make the tree cupcakes look like they have snow on them.
- Fondant ornaments – You can take these cupcakes to the next level by adding fondant ornaments. These can be handmade if you’d like to add a little “fun” to the cupcake trees!
- Put candy in the cone – Take these cupcakes to the next level by adding a little candy in the waffle cone before you add frosting.
Check out these Snowflake Cookies that you can also make around the holidays!
Equipment
You only need four kitchen tools to help you make these festive and fun Christmas Cupcakes.
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- spoon
- microwave-safe bowl
Storage
The trick to storing these cupcakes is you need to find a container big enough to hold the whole cupcake.
Store the entire cupcake in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for 1 week or less.
Tips
Let the kids help! While letting the kids do the hard work may not result in the prettiest cupcakes, it’s a fun way to let them get practice in with baking.
Make sure you have parchment paper available for this recipe. You’ll need a place for the cones to dry before you add them to the cupcake.
Use any type of cupcake that you prefer. Want to make it easier? Use store-bought frosted cupcakes and save yourself some work!
FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
With your hand inside the cone, spoon the green over the cone. Tap gently to allow the excess to drip back into the bowl.
You will want the frosting to NOT be totally dry, while you press the candies onto the cone.
So, you won’t be able to freeze these cupcakes with the cones on them. However, you can freeze the actual cupcake and then add the “Christmas tree” part later!
More Christmas Recipes
Do you enjoy Christmas recipes? Try these delicious recipes:
Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Want to make this delicious recipe? Print the recipe card below, or toggle on Cook Mode to prevent your screen from going dark. Not ready to cook this recipe yet? Pin this recipe so you can find it later.
Want to pin this recipe from your cell phone? Turn your phone horizontally and a red Pin and blue Facebook button will appear on the left-hand side of the screen. How easy is that?
Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- spoon
- microwave-safe bowl
Ingredients
- 12 sugar or waffle cones
- 1 bag green candy melts
- 2 to 4 teaspoons coconut oil or vegetable shortening
- Mini M&M candies
- Star sprinkles
- 12 frosted cupcakes homemade from your favorite recipe or store-bought
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet with waxed paper.
- In a microwave safe bowl, place the green candy melts. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Continuing heating in 30-second increments, stirring well after each. If the candy melts overheat or is not smooth enough to pour, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut oil or vegetable shortening and stir well.
- With your hand inside the cone, spoon the green over the cone. Tap gently to aow the excess to drip back into the bowl.
- While the green candy melts are almost dry but still wet, press the candies and sprinkles into the cone.
- Place on the prepared baking sheet to dry. When ready, place one cone on each cupcake.