With less than two weeks to Christmas, I’m getting into the holiday season and trying out some new baking decorations for this festive occasion. I remember coming across these reindeer cupcakes on instagram and I’ve always wanted to try it. So I went down to the shops, bought some pretzels for the antlers, m&m chocolate chips for the nose and white chocolate chips for the eyes. I was hoping to find some small plain biscuits or ritz minis for the muzzles, unfortunately, I couldn’t find any so I made my own plain vanilla cookies.

Putting the ingredients together to make the reindeer is super fun and I felt like a kid again. For the cupcake, I made a moist chocolate cupcake with Nutella filling and a chocolate ganache to coat over the cupcakes. Not the healthiest dessert but definitely the cutest and it tastes superb!

Nutrition per cupcake (without decorations)

Ingredients

To make the cupcakes (one batch makes 12)

1. 100g plain flour
2. 40g cocoa powder
3. 3/4 tsp baking powder
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda
5. 1/4 tsp salt
6. 2 large eggs
7. 50g caster sugar
8. 50g brown sugar
9. 80ml vegetable oil
10. 1 tsp vanilla essence
11. 120ml buttermilk
12. 50g Nutella

To make the ganache

1. 160g dark chocolate
2. 20g unsalted butter
3. 1/2 tsp salt
4. 30ml milk

For the decorations

1. 24 white chocolate chips (eyes)
2. 1 tsp of melted chocolate (eyes)
3. 24 pieces of pretzel (antlers)
4. 12 red m&m (nose)
5. 12 plain cookies (muzzle)

Directions

Preparation time for the cupcakes: 15min
Baking time: 20-30min or when the skewer comes out clean

1. Prepare a 12 case muffin pan
2. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
3. Place the buttermilk, eggs, caster sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla essence into a bowl and whisk all the ingredients together until a uniform mixture is formed
4. Sieve in the plain flour cocoa powder, bicarbonate soda, baking powder and salt into the wet ingredients
5. Mix it well
6. Spoon half the mixture into the muffin case
7. Scoop one tsp of Nutella into each muffin case
8. Spoon the other half of the mixture into the muffin case, covering over the Nutella filling
9. Place it into the oven to bake for 20-30min or when the skewer comes out clean
10. Once done, leave it out to cool completely

To make the ganache

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave in bursts of thirty seconds. Make sure that you don’t over do it if not the chocolate would separate
2. Add in the milk and salt and stir gently with a wooden or silicon spoon until a nice smooth ganache is formed
3. Spread the ganache over the cooled cupcakes

To assemble the reindeer

1. Place the plain cookie in the middle of the cupcake and the pretzels on the top left and right of the plain cookie
2. Using the left over ganache as a “glue”, spread some of it over the red m&m and place it in the middle of the plain cookie
3. Then place the white chocolate chip on top of the pretzel for the eyes – I used the left over ganache as “glue” to get it to stick onto the pretzel
4. Using the microwave, melt a small piece of chocolate and then using a skewer, dip a bit of chocolate and dot it onto the white chocolate chip to make the eyes

It may seem complicated but it’s actually not that difficult to make and it is a great way to engage kids in helping out with the decorations. Have fun!