Piñata Cupcakes are super fun to make and can be customized to fit any celebration. These particular ones are made with my easy vanilla cupcakes filled with Christmas sprinkles and topped with a pastel green mint frosting. Get ready for the holiday with these festive Christmas Cupcakes!
Living in SoCal, every single kid’s birthday party, or any parties for that matter, will likely have a piñata at the end of the celebration. So it’s only natural that we celebrate the holiday with a batch of piñata cupcakes around here.
I simply took my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe, spruced it up with some Christmas sprinkles and a peppermint frosting and voila! These festive Christmas piñata cupcakes were born. They are a lot easier to make than you might think. I will break it down, step by step, for you below.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Soft and fluffy cupcakes – the easy oil-based vanilla cupcakes are very soft, fluffy and moist.
- Velvety creamy frosting – the mint buttercream frosting is a Swiss meringue based buttercream which is my favorite buttercream frosting in the whole world because it is super velvety and not too sweet!
- Versatile – you can easily customize this recipe for another holiday. Just change out the frosting flavor and sprinkle color!
Tools you’ll need
For the cupcakes, you can make the batter entirely by hand. But I would recommend using a cookie scoop to divide that batter; and you’ll need a cupcake pan to bake the cupcakes in.
For the frosting, I use my trusty stand mixer. And electric hand mixer will work too.
And then to cut out the hole to fill the cupcakes with sprinkles, I use the bottom side of a metal piping tip. There are a bunch of different cupcake corers you can get out there to make it easier if you’re planning to make lots of filled cupcakes, or just use a pairing knife to carve it out.
You’ll also need a pastry bag and a piping tip to pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes. I use an open star 1M tip.
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- All purpose flour – for simplicity, I make most of my recipes with AP flour but cake flour will work wonderfully in this recipe for an even more tender cupcake.
- Granulated sugar – you will use this for both the cupcakes and the mint buttercream.
- Kosher salt – you can also use table salt but you’ll need to reduce the amount by half to two thirds. You can use coarse sea salt in a 1:1 ratio.
- Baking soda and Baking powder – both leavening agents are used.
- Buttermilk – substitute homemade buttermilk by mixing regular milk with vinegar or lemon juice. Yogurt or sour cream will also work here.
- Oil – use a flavorless oil like vegetable or canola oil. I would avoid strong flavor oil in this vanilla cupcake recipe.
- Eggs – 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk for the cupcakes and 4 egg whites for the mint buttercream. I used carton egg white for my Swiss meringue buttercream before and it worked just fine if you’re looking for a substitution when making the mint buttercream frosting.
- Vanilla – A whole tablespoon of pure vanilla extract in the cupcake batter. Don’t skimp and use imitation vanilla flavoring. You can use one whole vanilla bean or one tablespoon of vanilla bean paste as substitute, but NEVER the fake stuff. A little bit is also used in the frosting.
- Sprinkles – you should be able to get Christmas sprinkles at Michael’s or any baking specialty store around the holiday season.
- Vinegar – this provides the acidity to stabilize the meringue you need to make the buttercream. Lemon juice or cream of tartar will work as substitutes.
- Unsalted butter – please don’t use salted butter for the buttercream, it will not be tasty at all!
- Peppermint extract – a little bit is used along side vanilla in the buttercream frosting. Peppermint extract can be pretty strong so start small, and increase if you want it stronger.
- Green food color – I used gel food coloring and just a smidge is enough to dye the frosting a minty green. I recommend gel food coloring over liquid because you will need very little of it. If you only have liquid food coloring, you can use that too, but you will need to use a lot more to get the same shade of green. You don’t have to use any food color if you don’t want to, but I do think it adds to the presentation of these Christmas cupcakes.
How to make Christmas Piñata Cupcakes
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the vanilla cupcakes
You’ll want to prepare the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl: beat together vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until completely incorporated.
Then in a separate mixing bowl, you will sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and stir in the kosher salt. Then you’ll add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredient mixture prepared earlier. Mix until combined and smooth.
Tip: Kosher salt has pretty large grains, that might not pass through a fine mesh sieve used as a sifter. So I like to just stir it into the dry ingredient mixture at the end.
Use a cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly in a 12-cup standard size muffin pan. Bake the cupcakes and let them cool completely before filling them with sprinkles and adding frosting on top.
Make the mint buttercream
Note: Make sure all your bowls, whisk and equipment touching the meringue are dry and free of grease before starting.
First, you’ll need to heat the egg whites with sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water without allowing the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. Whisk the egg whites until sugar dissolves and it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer to your stand mixer bowl and beat until a stiff meringue forms, drizzling in vinegar in the process.
Slowly add softened cubed butter, followed by the vanilla and peppermint extracts, a pinch of salt, and continue beating until the frosting comes together.
Note: The mixture will look curdle at first, but you’ll need to keep beating. This process could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes (according to some readers), so be patient with it.
Dip a toothpick into a bottle of green gel food color, you only need a little bit to create a pastel green. Add more or less to your liking. Continue beating the frosting until the food color has incorporated and the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Assemble your piñata cupcakes
Make sure your cupcakes have cooled completely before you start assembling them, you don’t want to melt the sprinkles or the frosting with warm cupcakes. Cut a hole in the middle of the cupcake using the bottom of a piping tip, a cupcake corer, or a paring knife.
Note: Don’t throw away the little piece of cake. You’ll need it in the next step.
Fill each cupcake with 1 teaspoon of sprinkles, add the little plug of cake back on top of the sprinkles. With the added filling inside the cupcake, the plugs of cake will stick out a little. Don’t try to force it back in. Then cover the top with frosting and add more sprinkles on top if desired.
Tips for customization
These fun Piñata Cupcakes can be easily customized for other holidays and celebrations by changing the color of the sprinkles, or the flavor and color of the frosting.
- Use all green sprinkles for St. Patrick’s Day. The cool mint frosting would be perfect as is.
- Use pink, red and heart sprinkles to turn them into Valentine’s day desserts. Skip the mint extract in the frosting and color it pink with some red gel food color instead, or opt for this tangy Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting instead.
- Go with red, white and blue sprinkles for 4th of July. Keep the frosting white and use just the vanilla extract.
- And of course, for birthday celebrations, use colorful birthday sprinkles or unicorn sprinkles. Vanilla or chocolate frosting will both be perfect for this.
Storage
Store your piñata cupcakes and any cupcakes with frosting in the refrigerator, in an airtight container. They should last 3 to 5 days.
If you want to freeze these cupcakes, I would skip adding the sprinkles on top for now. You can store them in an airtight container or flash freeze them until solids, then wrap them in plastic and foil and store them in a freezer bag. They should last about 3 months.
I have not frozen these particular cupcakes but I have frozen lots of my other cupcakes before. I think the sprinkles inside the cupcakes will be fine since they are not exposed, but if you have sprinkles on the frosting, they can bleed out when thawed.
More filled cupcakes
- Banana Split Cupcakes
- Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
- Vanilla Oreo Cupcakes
- Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes
- Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Hungry for more?
Piñata Cupcakes
Equipment
- Pastry Bag
- Wilton 1M open star tip
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 197 g
- ¾ cup granulated sugar, 135 g
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup buttermilk, 170 g, room temperature
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil, 67 g
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, 13 g
- 12 teaspoon Christmas sprinkles, for filling, 48 g
- More sprinkles for decoration
Mint Frosting
- 4 oz egg white, 115 g
- ¾ cup granulated sugar, 135 g
- ¾ teaspoon vinegar
- 10 oz unsalted butter, 283 g, room temperature, cubed
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- A pinch kosher salt
- Green gel food color
Instructions
Make cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Add kosher salt and mix with a whisk to distribute evenly. Set aside.
- Add buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to a medium bowl. Beat together with a whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient mixture and fold until just combined.
- Use a large ice cream scoop to divide batter into the previously prepared muffin pan. One flat scoop of batter for each cupcake cavity, or about 1/4 cup of batter each.
- Bake in the middle oven rack for 16-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to the touch, remove cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Mint buttercream frosting
- Add egg whites and sugar to a heatproof glass bowl and place it over a pot of boiling water without allowing the bottom of the bowl to touch the water, reduce heat to keep the water simmering and not boiling over. Whisk the mixture constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 160°F.
- Carefully remove the bowl from the pot and wipe the bottom and side dry. Transfer the egg white mixture into your stand mixer bowl and beat with the balloon attachment on medium speed. Stream in the vinegar, and continue beating until stiff peak forms and the meringue is shiny and smooth.
- Reduce speed to medium low and slowly add the room temperature cubed butter, one cube at a time and allow it to incorporate into the meringue. When all the butter is added it will look chunky, like cottage cheese.
- Add vanilla and mint extract, along with a pinch of salt, increase mixer to high speed and beat for 4-5 mins until the buttercream comes together.
- Dip a toothpick into a bottle of green gel food coloring and wipe it on the frosting, beat the frosting until fluffy and the color has incorporated.
Assemble the cupcakes
- Use the bottom of a piping tip to cut out holes on top of a cupcake, push down and twist. Use a chopstick to push out the plug inside the frosting tip. Repeat one more time to create a deeper hole so the filling goes right in the middle of the cupcake.
- Fill with 1 teaspoon of Christmas sprinkles and put the plugs of cake back on top to cover the hole. Frost the cupcakes using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.
Notes
- Make sure your mixing bowl is dry and free of grease before making the frosting.
- Use different sprinkles to customize your cupcakes, as well as flavor and color of the frosting.
- The buttercream may take longer than 5 minutes to form after you have added all the butter and extract. Be patient and continue beating, some have reported that it takes 20 – 30 minutes of beating.
- Liquid food color can be used but only in small amounts to avoid making the frosting runny. If a darker color frosting is desired, gel food color is recommended.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These are serioulsy adorable cupcakes. I love that surprise centre and the easy batter too.