Christmas Tree Cupcakes
Hello everyone. Welcome back to another delicious recipe using lactose free products. This week's recipe is all about the iconic Christmas tree. This cupcake design looks so cute and it is surprisingly easy to make. The recipe you see is entirely lactose free, providing you use the right products of course. I always use Over The Top icing because it is dairy free and top quality. Unfortunately, when you make a dairy free icing it can be time consuming and difficult. That is why I always use that particular icing.
Servings: 12 yield(s)
Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 55 mins
Ingredients
    Cupcakes
  • 3/4 cup Caster Sugar
  • 2 cup Self-raising flour
  • 2 Eggs
  • 125 g Melted Margarine (lactose free) (Brand Used - Nuttelex Original)
  • 3/4 cup Milk (Lactose free) (Brand Used - Liddells Full Cream)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
    • Decorating
  • Butter Cream Icing (Brand Used - Over The Top)
  • Green gel food colouring
  • Sprinkles
  • White fondant (Make sure it is lactose free)
  • Edible gold dust
  • Small star cookie cutter
  • Wilton 1M piping tip
  • Piping bag
  • Cling wrap
Instructions
    Cupcakes
  1. Preheat your oven to 180c (356°F). Line a 12 capacity cupcake pan with paper cases.
  2. In a bowl combine the flour and sugar.
  3. Then add the eggs, margarine, milk and vanilla and mix.
  4. Keep mixing until the mixture is free from lumps.
  5. Spoon the mix into the cupcake pan. To achieve more even cupcakes, I like to use a ¼ measuring cup.
  6. Bake the cupcakes for 10 minutes. Test the cupcakes by inserting a skewer into the center. If it comes out clean, then the cupcake has finished cooking.
  7. Let the cupcakes sit in the hot pan for a few minutes then transfer onto a wire rack to cool. The longer the cupcakes are sitting in the hot pan the more they will cook. So it is better not to leave them in for too long.
    8. Decorating
  8. Fit the piping bag with the 1M piping tip.
  9. Add several tablespoons of frosting to three different bowls. Add a tiny amount of green gel to one of the bowls to create a very light green shade. Add a larger amount to the next bowl and more to the final bowl. This should create three different shades of green.
  10. Lay a piece of cling wrap on your work surface. Spoon each color onto the cling wrap ranging from lightest to darkest.
  11. Bring the left and right side together so it looks like a log. Close one end but leave the other. Place into the piping bag.
  12. Press down to force the icing out of the bag. You should be able to see the three different shades at the end.
  13. Grabe a cooled cupcake. Start piping the frosting like you would a normal cupcake swirl. Start in the middle and continue piping around. Continue piping around the outside and bring the swirl inwards making it tighter as you near the top. At the top stop putting pressure on the bag and press down and release.
  14. For my star I simply used a small snowflake cutter, fondant and brushed some gold edible glitter on top. Check the fondant you will be using to make sure it contains no lactose.
  15. Press some cachous or sprinkles onto the frosting and place a gold star on top.