Difficutly: very easy
Time: 5 Min
Portion: 1 serving
Ingredients:
Makes about 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
For cupcakes
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs at room temperature
3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons pure almond extract
1-1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut
For frosting
8oz cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Ghiradelli)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
fondant snowflakes (Christmas tree) and dragees (ornaments)
Directions:
To make cupcakes—
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 3 ounces of coconut.
Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.
[NOTES: These cupcakes don\’t rise very much so you can fill the cupcake liner more than usual.]
To make frosting—
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter and melted white chocolate. Add the vanilla and almond extracts. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth.
[NOTES: I used about 4 cups confectioners\’ sugar.]
To make fondant trees—
Roll out white fondant about 1/4″ and cut out various size snowflake cutters. Roll out yellow fondant about 1/4″ inch and cut out stars. Let fondant hardened on baking sheet before assembling trees.
To assemble trees, layer snowflakes on top of each other with frosting to give it some height. On the top layer dollop some frosting and prop star against it. “Glue” the dragees with a little dab of frosting. Chill tree in the frig until set.
Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut. Garnish with fondant tree.