When Christmas time comes around, most households start thinking 'cake'. While it's customary to bake regular-size Christmas cakes for the family and to give to friends, there is no reason why this tradition can't be adapted to include cupcakes; in fact, there are many advantages to baking Christmas cupcakes. When you bake several Christmas cupcakes instead of a single Christmas cake, you can make - and eat - several different flavors. That in itself is a great advantage; no decision-making about what to bake this year - just bake everything your heart desires! Virtually all cupcake recipes can easily be adapted to fit into the Christmas holiday theme.
Whatever cupcake recipe you use, you can shape the cupcakes into Christmas holiday forms, such as elf faces, snowmen shapes etc. Or you can simply frost the cupcakes and add Christmas cake decorations on top. Unlike a regular Christmas cake, when you make Christmas cupcakes, you can vary the cake decorations you use; no need to stick with one design. Decorate one batch of your cupcakes with hard sugar candy canes, another with little angel figurine toppers etc. Making cupcakes also allows you to decorate them according to who will be eating them. Use cute Santa designs and Christmas stocking toppers for Christmas cupcakes reserved for children. The teenage crowd usually appreciates both the taste and aspect of Christmas ornate cupcakes and Silent Night cupcakes. For adults, bake cappuccino chocolate cupcakes, almond cupcakes with orange icing or simply use your favorite Christmas cake recipe to make cupcakes. As you can see, replacing one big cake with several different flavors of Christmas cupcakes is an easy way to keep everyone happy.
If you don't want to bake cupcakes in various forms (such as snowman cupcakes), use a basic cupcake recipe, cover liberally with frosting and add seasonal decorative cupcake toppers. You can vary the flavor of a basic cupcake recipe by adding cocoa to make chocolate cupcakes or adding spices such as nutmeg and ginger.
Generally for kids, the fluids to add are fruit juice, milk and vanilla. With adults, you can play around that some more - add some lime and Tequila and you will have little Margarita cupcakes. You can also use chili flakes. Your creativity should come alive here. All the flavors used when making regular cake can be used for Christmas cupcakes. However, as with most things, moderation is key. A good Christmas cupcake is one whose flavors blend perfectly. The vanilla taste, for instance, should not stand out more than the rest of the flavors.
Here is why you should give cupcakes a try during Christmas:
Cupcakes are extremely simple to make. You may use store-bought cake mix for basic cupcakes, search the Internet for great cupcake recipes or simply follow a recipe from a cookbook you trust.
Again, Christmas is a family holiday, and one fun way of getting the whole family together is to have a Christmas cupcake decoration session.
Finally, cupcakes make perfect Christmas gifts for family, friends and business colleagues. Keeping a batch of beautifully decorated Christmas cupcakes at home during the holiday season means you will always have something to give unexpected guests who drop by - or, why not, show your appreciation by giving a special Christmas cupcake to your mailman, milkman etc!
Whatever cupcake recipe you use, you can shape the cupcakes into Christmas holiday forms, such as elf faces, snowmen shapes etc. Or you can simply frost the cupcakes and add Christmas cake decorations on top. Unlike a regular Christmas cake, when you make Christmas cupcakes, you can vary the cake decorations you use; no need to stick with one design. Decorate one batch of your cupcakes with hard sugar candy canes, another with little angel figurine toppers etc. Making cupcakes also allows you to decorate them according to who will be eating them. Use cute Santa designs and Christmas stocking toppers for Christmas cupcakes reserved for children. The teenage crowd usually appreciates both the taste and aspect of Christmas ornate cupcakes and Silent Night cupcakes. For adults, bake cappuccino chocolate cupcakes, almond cupcakes with orange icing or simply use your favorite Christmas cake recipe to make cupcakes. As you can see, replacing one big cake with several different flavors of Christmas cupcakes is an easy way to keep everyone happy.
If you don't want to bake cupcakes in various forms (such as snowman cupcakes), use a basic cupcake recipe, cover liberally with frosting and add seasonal decorative cupcake toppers. You can vary the flavor of a basic cupcake recipe by adding cocoa to make chocolate cupcakes or adding spices such as nutmeg and ginger.
Generally for kids, the fluids to add are fruit juice, milk and vanilla. With adults, you can play around that some more - add some lime and Tequila and you will have little Margarita cupcakes. You can also use chili flakes. Your creativity should come alive here. All the flavors used when making regular cake can be used for Christmas cupcakes. However, as with most things, moderation is key. A good Christmas cupcake is one whose flavors blend perfectly. The vanilla taste, for instance, should not stand out more than the rest of the flavors.
Here is why you should give cupcakes a try during Christmas:
Cupcakes are extremely simple to make. You may use store-bought cake mix for basic cupcakes, search the Internet for great cupcake recipes or simply follow a recipe from a cookbook you trust.
Again, Christmas is a family holiday, and one fun way of getting the whole family together is to have a Christmas cupcake decoration session.
Finally, cupcakes make perfect Christmas gifts for family, friends and business colleagues. Keeping a batch of beautifully decorated Christmas cupcakes at home during the holiday season means you will always have something to give unexpected guests who drop by - or, why not, show your appreciation by giving a special Christmas cupcake to your mailman, milkman etc!
About the Author:
Expert contributing publisher Anya enjoys offering her helpful creative guidelines about home baking. And her crucial hidden-secret is without question her place for looking for cupcake recipes and choc orange cupcake recipe.