Poinsettia Cupcakes - The Fun, Festive, EASY Way to Decorate Cupcakes!

This post features a super simple cupcake decorating technique that will wow everyone! These beautiful Poinsettia Cupcakes look like they came from a fine bakeshop but they're an easy, fun project to do with kids! 

If you're looking for a fun, easy, beautifully festive way to decorate cupcakes for the holiday season these Poinsettia Cupcakes check all the boxes!

A surprise

I have to be honest, I didn't start out creating these cupcakes to look like Poinsettias. These cupcakes were part of a project I did for KitchenAid a few years back for one of their breast cancer fundraising campaigns, hence the pretty pink color. But when I took a good long look at them, I realized they'd be absolutely perfect for a holiday cupcake.

How to make Poinsettia Cupcakes

These are the supplies you'll need to make these festive cupcakes:

1. Cupcakes - any flavor.
2. Nonstick cooking spray.
3. Buttercream icing - make your own or purchase ready-made.
4. Miniature marshmallows - it's best if they're fresh and not dried out.
5. Colored sugar - I used pink but red would also be really pretty for poinsettias.
6. Nonpareils - small round sprinkles.

This is the easy technique:

1. Frost 1 cupcake at a time with a fairly thick layer of buttercream icing. It doesn't have to be fancy but try to keep a nice shape and cover to the edges with the icing.
2. Place colored sugar in a medium-size shallow bowl.
3. Place a small amount of sprinkles in a small bowl.
4. Spray the blades of a clean scissors with cooking spray or wipe lightly with a paper towel that's been dipped in oil. This will keep your scissors from sticking to the marshmallows
5. Cut about 16-18 marshmallows in half, diagonally and add them to the bowl with sugar. Stir to coat sticky, cut side of marshmallow halves with colored sugar.
6. Cut 1 marshmallow in half crosswise and place sticky side down into sprinkles (or nonpareils). Push down on marshmallow half to enlarge it to a circular "button". Remove from sprinkle bowl and set aside. Repeat with the other half.
7. Beginning at the outer edge of the frosted cupcake, place marshmallows all the way around the cupcake. When you apply them, pinch the end facing outwards for the "poinsettia look". When the outer circle is complete, move in and do the same thing again. The last circle of petals should be right around the inner "button". (I use 14-16 "petals" around the outer edges. 10-12 around the middle circle and 6-7 around the circle that surrounds "the button.)
8. With your hands slightly cupped, gently shape the flower so that it's circular and some outer petals aren't sticking out.
9. Repeat procedure for remaining cupcakes.

It's really super easy! But, since "seeing is believing", we put together a quick video showing you step-by-step instructions:

An immediate hit!

After I posted these for KitchenAid, I started getting all kinds of emails from readers who were having fun re-creating these pretty little cakes. One letter was from a high school teacher who utilized the technique with her students. The teenagers run a weekly "café" that feeds 400 members of the community each week. She sent pictures of her proud students with their beautifully decorated creations. Another email was from a grandmother with pictures of the cupcakes her young granddaughter had made for her volleyball team.

So I decided to resurrect the pretty cupcakes as "Poinsettia Cupcakes" since they really do favor the beloved flowering Christmas plants. I thought you might enjoy them too this holiday season. They're a really fun project for kids and make a festive holiday dessert as well.

Not only is the decorating technique super easy for these Pointsettia Cupcakes, but if you like chocolate, we've got an incredibly moist and delicious, one-bowl cupcake recipe that pairs deliciously with the icing and marshmallows.

I call them my Easiest, Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes because that's exactly what they are. What the title doesn't say is that they're beautifully domed, one-bowl and come together in minutes. Check out the recipe then pull out the ingredients, a big bowl and a sturdy spoon or spatula and you'll be ready to roll!

The cupcake decorating technique is repeated below. Click here for the Easiest Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes recipe.

Have fun and happy holidays from The Café!

Café Tips for decorating these Poinsettia Cupcakes

• Use a good, tasty cupcake recipe and a delicious buttercream icing. Not everyone is crazy about marshmallows but they can pull the petals off and have a wonderful cupcake underneath!
• Use any colored sugar you like or multiple sugars. It would be pretty to do the petals in different shades of the same hue for an ombre effect.
• You can color your own sugar! Just fill a small jar about half full with regular granulate sugar. Add a drop of food coloring at a time and shake, shake, shake!
• Add more food color to achieve a darker color, drop by drop.
• If you used gel food color, stir the mixture with a spoon instead of shaking. Keep pushing the sugar against the walls of the glass jar as you stir, till all the gel food color has been distributed.
• It's fine to make all the marshmallow "petals" before you get started with the decorating but frost each cupcake as you go. If the icing hardens with will be more difficult for the marshmallow "petals" to adhere.
• If you pinch the outer tips of "the petals" as you're placing them on the cupcake you'll get a different-looking flower than if you keep them rounded.
• This is a really fun project to do with kids!

Print

Poinsettia Cupcakes - The Fun, Festive, EASY Way to Decorate Cupcakes!

The easy way to decorate beautiful cupcakes!

Author: Chris Scheuer

Course: Cupcakes, Dessert, Easy

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Poinsettia Cupcakes

Prep Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Servings: 15

Ingredients

• cupcakes
• colored sugar s
• buttercream icing
• marshmallows about 16-18 for each cupcake
• scissors
• cooking spray or oil
• sprinkles non pareils,

Instructions

1. Frost 1 cupcake at a time with a fairly thick layer of buttercream icing. It doesn't have to be fancy but try to keep a nice shape and cover to the edges with the icing.
2. Place colored sugar in a medium-size shallow bowl.

3. Place a small amount of sprinkles in a small bowl.

4. Spray the blades of a clean scissors with cooking spray or wipe lightly with a paper towel that's been dipped in oil. Wipe off any excess oil. (If blades of the scissors begin to get sticky at any point, just wash the scissors with hot water, dry well and repeat oil.

5. Cut about 16-18 marshmallows in half, diagonally and add them to the bowl with sugar. Stir to coat sticky, cut side of marshmallow halves with colored sugar.

6. Cut 1 marshmallow in half crosswise and place sticky side down into sprinkles (or nonpareils). Push down on marshmallow half to enlarge it to a circular "button". Remove from sprinkle bowl and set aside. Repeat with the other half.

7. Beginning at the outer edge of the frosted cupcake, place marshmallows all the way around the cupcake. When you apply them, pinch the end facing outwards for the "poinsettia look". When the outer circle is complete, move in and do the same thing again. The last circle of petals should be right around the "button". (I use 14-16 "petals" around the outer edges. 10-12 around the middle circle and 6-7 around that surrounds "the button.)

8. With your hands slightly cupped, gently shape the flower so that it's circular and some outer petals aren't sticking out.

9. Repeat procedure for remaining cupcakes.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips in the post above for detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

The video in the post above demonstrates all these steps.