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Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting decorated with a sugar cookie.

Pink Snowflake Cupcakes

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cupcakes, pink snowflake cupcakes, snowflake cupcakes
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Allow To Dry: 6 hours
Total Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 24
Calories: 503kcal
A fun winter inspired cupcake!
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa best quality available
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract best quality available
  • 1 cup water boiling

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

  • ½ cup unsalted butter set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool
  • 8 oz. cream cheese directly from fridge
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract always use pure vanilla extract if possible
  • 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
  • 1 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream heavy whipping cream or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds

Sugar Cookies

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon good quality salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract good quality vanilla extract

Royal Icing

  • 4 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 4 cups powdered sugar about 1 pound
  • 6 tablespoons water warm water to start

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
  • Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
  • Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
  • Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes.
  • Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
  • Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
  • Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
  • Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
  • Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Sugar Cookies

  • In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the egg and vanilla and beat another minute or so.
  • Add the flour mixture slowly. (Be careful not to add too much at a time or you will have a snowstorm of flour.)
  • Blend until all of the flour is incorporated. The mixture will look crumbly at first but just keep blending until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
  • Remove about half of the dough from the bowl and knead by hand just a bit to form a smooth ball. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, or onto a piece of plastic wrap (as described in detail in the blog post above).
  • Cut out cookies into desired shapes and place entire baking sheet of unbaked cookies into the freezer for 5 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F and bake cookies in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.
  • The cookies are baked when then are no longer shinny on top, but they will not show much of any change in color.
  • Cool on baking sheet just a minute or so, then carefully move to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool fully before decorating.

Royal Icing

  • Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
  • Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring.
  • Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.

Decorate Cookies

  • Outline and flood in the desired color.
  • Allow to dry fully (6-8 hours).
  • Using (outline consistency) white icing, pipe a snowflake design.
  • Hold the cookie over a paper plate and sprinkle with white sanding sugar.
  • Dust off excess with a dry paint brush.

Nutrition

Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 87g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 289mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 65g | Vitamin A: 537IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg