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Create a festive Santa cake design by arranging cupcakes into the shape of Santa’s face and decorating them with buttercream frosting. Use red frosting for the hat, swirls of white for the beard and trim, and frosting accents to bring Santa to life—perfect for a fun and easy holiday treat!
These Santa pull-apart cupcakes are a fun and festive way to make an easy Santa cake! These Christmas cupcakes are sure to bring holiday cheer to your celebrations! With his jolly face and bright, fluffy icing, these cupcakes will be a hit at any Christmas gathering. Follow this step-by-step guide to create a festive and fun pull-apart cupcake display. Here’s how to bring Santa to life in cupcake form!
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Can I use homemade cupcakes for this Christmas pull-apart cake?
We used cake mix for this easy cupcake cake, but you can substitue your favorite homemade cake recipe! Same for the frosting. Just use homemade or store bought!
One of our easy favorite frosting to make combines 2 sticks of unsalted softened butter, 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, 2 tsps of vanilla extract, 1-2 TBSP of milk and dash of salt. Blend or mix on medium to high speed for 5-7 minutes until fluffy!
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Santa Pull-Apart Cupcakes – Ingredients
- 24 cupcakes (baked and cooled, using your favorite cake mix)
- Beige or light tan icing (you can mix your own using yellow and brown gel colors with a dot of red for warmth)
- Red icing
- White icing
- Black icing
- Piping bags
- Small and large star piping tips
How to make an easy Santa Cupcake “Cake”
Step 1: Bake and Cool Your Cupcakes
Start by baking your favorite cake mix into 24 cupcakes according to the package instructions. Once baked, allow them to cool completely before decorating.
Step 2: Arrange Your Cupcakes
Once the cupcakes have cooled, arrange them in sort of a diamond shape without the pointy sides. This will form the shape of Santa’s face. (See image for example).
Step 3: Frost the Cupcakes
- For the center cupcakes, use beige or tan icing to create the skin tone of Santa’s face. We used an offset spatula to smooth the icing for this.
- Pipe a small red circle towards the bottom center of the beige icing for Santa’s mouth using red icing.
- Using white icing and a small star tip, pipe around the bottom half of the cupcake arrangement to form Santa’s fluffy beard.
- Use a small star piping tip with red icing to pipe the top half of Santa’s face to form his iconic red hat.
Step 4: Add Santa’s Hat Details
Switch to a large star piping tip with white icing to pipe a fluffy rim along the bottom edge of the red hat. Then, pipe a small rosette at the tip of the hat to make a pom-pom!
Step 5: Create Santa’s Facial Features
- Use the small star tip and white icing to pipe his mustache and beard around the red mouth.
- Pipe a small round nose just above the mustache using beige icing.
- Pipe two eyes using black icing.
- Add a touch of white icing with the small star tip to pipe Santa’s eyebrows.
Final Thoughts
These Pull-Apart Santa Cupcakes are the perfect festive treat for any holiday gathering! Whether you’re hosting a big family dinner or having a cozy Christmas celebration, these cupcakes will add a sweet and jolly touch to your table. Easy to serve and a joy to eat, they’re sure to spread Christmas cheer! Enjoy creating and sharing these merry cupcakes with your loved ones this holiday season.
Santa Pull-Apart Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 24 cupcakes (baked and cooled, using your favorite cake mix)
- Beige or light tan icing (you can mix your own using yellow and brown gel colors with a dot of red for warmth)Red icingWhite icingBlack icingPiping bagsSmall and large star piping tips
- Red, white and black icing
- Piping bags
- Small and large star piping tips
Instructions
- Step 1: Bake and Cool Your Cupcakes Start by baking your favorite cake mix into 24 cupcakes according to the package instructions. Once baked, allow them to cool completely before decorating.
- Step 2: Arrange Your Cupcakes Once the cupcakes have cooled, arrange them in sort of a diamond shape without the pointy sides. This will form the shape of Santa’s face. (See image for example).
- Step 3: Frost Your Cupcakes For the center cupcakes, use beige or tan icing to create the skin tone of Santa’s face. We used an offset spatula to smooth the icing for this.Pipe a small red circle towards the bottom center of the beige icing for Santa's mouth using red icing.Using white icing and a small star tip, pipe around the bottom half of the cupcake arrangement to form Santa’s fluffy beard.Use a small star piping tip with red icing to pipe the top half of Santa’s face to form his iconic red hat.
- Step 4: Add Santa’s Hat Details Switch to a large star piping tip with white icing to pipe a fluffy rim along the bottom edge of the red hat. Then, pipe a small rosette at the tip of the hat to make a pom-pom!
- Step 5: Create Santa’s Facial Features Pipe a small round nose just above the mustache using beige/tan icing. Pipe two eyes using black icing. Add a touch of white icing with the small star tip to pipe Santa’s eyebrows.
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Agnes Hsu is a mom of three and has been inspiring parents and kids to get creative with easy activities and family friendly recipes for over 10 years. She shares her love for creative play and kids food to her 2MM+ followers online. Agnes' commitment to playful learning and kindness has not only raised funds for charity but also earned features in prestigious nationwide publications.