If you’re looking for Christmas cupcake ideas, look no further than these Grinch cupcakes. They’re not just cute and festive, they’re also super delicious. Featuring a light and moist vanilla cake with a bright green color and a mound of buttercream frosting, these cupcakes are sweet and fun for the holidays. The cupcakes have a surprise filling that doesn’t require any effort to make, but it makes the cupcakes extra fun. The cake is tender and fluffy, and the buttercream is smooth and sweet. These cupcakes are full of nostalgia and are perfect for spreading some holiday cheer!
Grinch cupcakes are super simple to put together and are great for beginners since the decorating isn’t super detailed. All you need is a piping bag, but even a Ziploc bag with one corner cut off could work for making your little Grinches. These Christmas cupcakes come together super fast and make a great treat for school holiday parties or just for a bit of holiday fun around the office.
Christmas is such a fun time of year to bake new recipes to share with family and friends. Christmas tree cheesecake cups are the perfect festive dessert for the end of your Christmas dinner. Christmas rocky road fudge is great for sharing at a cookie swap or for packaging up as an edible present for the candy lover in your life. Or, if you’re looking for something super easy, these no-bake cheesecake strawberry Santas are adorable and so simple to make.
Why You’ll Love Grinch Cupcakes
- Perfect for beginners and experts: These cupcakes are easy and fun and are great for bakers of all skill levels.
- Surprise Inside: Who doesn’t love a sweet surprise? When you bite into these cupcakes, you’ll discover a hidden Lindor truffle that adds an extra layer of yumminess.
- Adorable and nostalgic: If you grew up loving the Grinch, you know how nostalgic and fun these cupcakes will be at your next holiday gathering.
Ingredients for Grinch Cupcakes
- Lindt Truffles: Lindor truffles are made by the Lindt brand. They are a layer of hard chocolate that surrounds a smooth and creamy filling. They are delicious to eat on their own, and they make an excellent filling for these cupcakes. Lindor truffles come in all kinds of flavors, but I like the milk chocolate ones for these cupcakes.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk makes these cupcakes extra moist and flavorful.
- Food coloring: Green, yellow, black, red
- Unsalted Butter
- Pantry ingredients: Flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, powdered sugar
Helpful Tools
Piping bags and tips
Cupcake tin and liners
How to Make Grinch Cupcakes
Step 1: Make the cupcake batter.
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, beating with each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Dye the batter green.
Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin. Place a Lindor truffle into the center of each cupcake. Bake the cupcakes until domed and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.
Step 2: Make the buttercream.
Beat the butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.
Divide the buttercream and dye red, green, yellow, and black, leaving some buttercream plain white.
Place the dyed buttercream into piping bags with tips or into Ziploc bags.
Step 3: Decorate the cupcakes.
Pipe enough green buttercream onto each cupcake to cover it, then pipe a slightly smaller red mound on top to make the Grinch’s hat. Create the trim and pompom of the hat with white, the eyes with yellow, and the eyebrows and pupils with black buttercream.
Substitutions for Grinch Cupcakes
Buttermilk – Buttermilk makes the cupcakes super moist. You can replace it with a mixture of milk and yogurt or add a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup of milk.
Lindor truffles – You can use any flavor of Lindor truffles. They have many options like coconut, pistachio, strawberry, mango, and extra dark chocolate.
Recipe Variations
- You can use this recipe to make any characters you like just by changing the colors of the cake and frosting. You could make Santa, reindeer, or elf cupcakes – get creative!
- You could make the cupcakes with any cake flavor you like and just use the green buttercream to Grinch-ify your cupcakes.
Tips for Making Perfect Grinch Cupcakes
- Start with room-temperature eggs and butter for the easiest batter with the smoothest consistency.
- Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before you decorate them to prevent the icing from melting.
- Gel food coloring has a much stronger color than liquid food coloring.
- If you don’t have a piping bag with tips, simply use a Ziploc bag. Use a pair of scissors to trim one corner of the bag to the appropriate size for piping the details of the cupcake design.
Serving Suggestions
These cute Christmas cupcakes are a really fun addition to your Christmas dinner or any holiday party.
I like serving them at a Christmas movie watch party, especially when we’re watching The Grinch!
FAQ
Can I freeze the cupcakes?
It’s easiest to freeze the cupcakes once they’re cooled down and are still unfrosted.
Frosted cupcakes can be frozen, but they’re tough to store without ruining the design.
How can I make mini Grinch cupcakes?
Use a mini muffin tin, and use a few chocolate chips instead of the Lindor truffles. Adjust the baking time – check for doneness around 10 to 12 minutes, as they’ll bake faster than regular-sized cupcakes.
What type of piping tips do I need for decorating?
You’ll need large round tips for the green and red buttercream, medium round tips for the yellow and white, and a small round tip for the black.
Do I have to use buttermilk for the cupcakes?
Buttermilk adds tenderness, but you can create a DIY version by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk and letting it sit for a few minutes.
Other Christmas Dessert Recipes to Try
Christmas Tree Cheesecake Cups
Create your own edible evergreens! This easy chocolate cheesecake filling is spiked with Bailey’s for a festive touch.
A classic cake with a holiday twist!
Creamy white chocolate fudge packed with mini marshmallows and holiday candy. Perfect for gifts or for holiday movie nights!
Adorable little strawberry Santas filled with creamy cheesecake filling.
Grinch Cupcakes
These Grinch cupcakes are super festive and make a great treat for school holiday parties or just for a bit of Christmas fun around the office.
Equipment
- 2 large, round piping tip for red and green buttercream
- 1 small, round piping tip for black buttercream
- 1 small star piping tip for white buttercream
- 1 medium, round piping tip for yellow buttercream
Ingredients
Cupcake Batter:
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- green food coloring
- 12 lindor truffle balls
Buttercream:
- 3 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 7 cups powdered sugar
- food coloring green, red, yellow and black
Instructions
Bake the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, beating with each addition.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add this to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Dye the batter green.
- Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin. Stick a lindor ball into the center of each cupcake. Bake for 20 minutes, then cool completely.
Make the buttercream:
- Beat the butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and combine. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, then beat for 3-5 minutes, until fluffy.
- Dye ¼ cup of buttercream black, ¼ cup of buttercream yellow, 2 cups buttercream red, leave ½ cup buttercream white and dye the remaining buttercream green.
- Place the red and green buttercream in piping bags fitted with large, round piping tips, the yellow a into bag with a medium-sized round piping tip, the white into a bag fitted with a small, star-shaped piping tip and the black into a bag with a small round piping tip.
To decorate:
- Pipe a large dollop of green buttercream onto each cupcake, then pipe a slightly smaller red dollop on top. Create the trim and pompom of the hat with the white buttercream, the eyes with the yellow buttercream and the eyebrows and pupils with the black buttercream.
Video
Notes
Storage Directions
In the Fridge: Pop any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. In the Freezer: You can freeze these cupcakes unfrosted for up to 2 months. Just thaw and frost when you’re ready to indulge. How to Reheat: If you’ve chilled your cupcakes, let them sit at room temperature for a bit before enjoying them – the flavors will be better, and the chocolate center won’t be as hard.Nutrition
Serving: 1 cupcakeCalories: 584kcalCarbohydrates: 83.9gProtein: 5.5gFat: 26.9gSaturated Fat: 15.8gCholesterol: 156mgSodium: 43mgPotassium: 107mgFiber: 1.2gSugar: 71.3gCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Hi everyone! My name is Cayla Gallagher and I’m the creator of pankobunny!
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