Vegan Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

Vegan chocolate cupcakes have vanilla mint Christmas ornament frosting. Rich cocoa, sweet mint, and pastel decor make these the perfect holiday treat.

This recipe makes 12 frosted cupcakes.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Vegan Cupcake Recipe
• Vegan Frosting Recipe
• How to Decorate them
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Video
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

Around the World in 80 Cakes made some Christmas ornament cupcakes over a decade ago that I thought were so clever. They used a different technique with a special pan and a lot of fondant. I wanted my recipe to be easier and more approachable, so all you need is a semi-sphere silicone mold and a cupcake pan.

I made these for a holiday bake sale to raise money for PitCrew Rescue so my foster dog can get a much-needed surgery. I used a tried and true chocolate cupcake recipe paired with a vanilla peppermint frosting that I’ve used on 2 of my other cakes. I don’t even celebrate Christmas but these ornament cupcakes make me want to!

Ingredients you need for Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• ⅔ cup (150g) nondairy milk
• ½ tablespoon (8g) apple cider vinegar
• 1 ⅓ cups (175g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup (28g) cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon (4g) baking soda
• ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
• a large pinch of salt
• 3 ounces (75g) vegan yogurt
• ⅓ cup (72g) safflower oil
• ¾ cup (163g) organic sugar
• 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract

How to make Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

prep time: 30 min | bake time: 18 min

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper cupcake liners.

Whisk ½ tablespoon (8g) apple cider vinegar into ⅔ cup (150g) soy milk and let it sit to thicken.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. They are 1 ⅓ cups (175g) flour, ⅓ cup (28g) cocoa powder, ¾ teaspoon (4g) baking soda, ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder, and a large pinch of salt. Whisk them together until the color is uniform.

Add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Start with the curdled nondairy milk mixture. Add 3 ounces (75g) of vegan yogurt, ⅓ cup (72g) of safflower oil, ¾ cup (163g) of sugar, and 1 teaspoon (4g) of vanilla.

Stir with a baking spatula, scraping all the way to the bottom to make sure there are no dry ingredients left.

Fill the baking cups from halfway to ⅔ of the way full with chocolate cupcake batter.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until when you insert a toothpick into the center of one, it comes out clean.

Ingredients for Vegan Vanilla Mint Frosting

• ⅔ cup (150g) vegan butter or margarine
• ⅔ cup (125g) organic palm shortening
• 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract or vanilla powder
• ½ teaspoon (2g) peppermint extract or flavor
• 3 ½ cups (420g) organic powdered sugar

How to make Frosting for Christmas Cupcakes

prep time: 15min

Whisk ⅔ (150g) cup vegan butter, ⅔ cup (127g) vegan shortening, 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract, and ½ teaspoon (2g) mint for 1 minute. Use a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer. Stop mixing once it’s super fluffy. For me, that takes a few minutes.

Sift 3 ½ cups (420g) of organic powdered sugar into the bowl of the stand mixer. Add one cup at a time. Mix for at least a minute on low speed between each cup.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a silicone spatula to get every bit of the powdered sugar incorporated. Mix again.

Transfer some of the frosting into a small bowl if you want another color to decorate with.

Add vegan food coloring to the mixing bowl, a little at a time, mixing after each addition. I ended up adding 3 rounds of color to mine before I got the pink I was looking for.

Color your small bowls of frosting with whatever accent colors you want to use.

Ingredients for Decorating Vegan Christmas Cupcakes

• 12 mini vegan marshmallows
• edible silver paint
• vegan sprinkles (optional)

How to Decorate Christmas Ornament Cupcakes

prep time: 1 hour | chill time: 2 hours

Fill 12 cubbies of a semi-sphere silicone mold with the color you made a lot of. To make sure there are no air gaps, see my tip on how to fill these under the Tips and FAQs section. This takes me about 15 minutes.

Freeze the molds of frosting for at least an hour, but preferably for 2 hours.

Prepare the marshmallows while the frosting freezes. Cut 6 Dandies mini marshmallows in half and set the cut side down on a piece of parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Paint the marshmallow halves with gold or silver food paint using food-safe paint brushes. Set aside to dry. This takes me about 15 minutes.

Remove the frozen frosting ornaments from the freezer and pop them out of the molds. Set an ornament onto each cupcake, flat side down. As they come to room temperature, they will adhere to the cupcakes, but if you’re worried about them falling off, you can use a dollop of frosting to “glue” them to the cupcakes.

Pipe a little bit of frosting onto the cut side of the marshmallow and stick it onto the side of the ornament. This takes about 10 minutes.

Decorate the ornaments with the remaining frosting or vegan sprinkles. This is the part where your kids or friends might enjoy helping. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how intricate you want them to look.

Tips and Questions and Answers

Tip 1: How to fill silicone molds with buttercream without getting air gaps

Use a silicone spatula to mix the buttercream frosting after the mixer is done. Fold and mix for 10-20 turns, pressing air out each time. Spoon the frosting into each cubby. Start with just enough, and press it onto the sides and bottom of the mold using the back of the spoon. This method will help avoid incorporating air. Once all the cubbies are full, lift and tap the mold onto the counter a few times to release those sneaky air pockets. Use an offset spatula to press the frosting down into the cubbies some more while smoothing out the tops.

Can I make mini Christmas cupcakes with this recipe?

If you’re making mini ornament cupcakes, bake the cupcakes for 9 minutes instead of 18. Then find a smaller mold that has a diameter of the diameter of the cubbies in your mini muffin pan.

Can I make these Christmas cupcakes in advance?

You can freeze the cooled cupcakes and save the frosting and decorations for another day. Or you can complete the decorating process, flash freeze them, and then wrap each one in cling wrap and transfer to a freezer ziplock bag. Then freeze them for up to a month.

Can I give these Christmas cupcakes as gifts?

These homemade ornament cupcakes make excellent gifts. Order some single paper cupcake boxes to put them in. Freeze the cupcakes for an hour. Then when you transfer them into the boxes, you won’t mess up the pretty ornaments you made.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Nondairy Milk: For the vegan milk in this recipe, you can use water mixed with non dairy creamer, coffee, or just plain water. You can also mix and match different plant milks. I’ve used macadamia milk, almond milk, soy milk, and even chocolate oat milk.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You can substitute the apple cider vinegar with white distilled vinegar. You just need some sort of acid to interact with the alkaline baking soda to make the cake rise. You can even substitute lemon juice or lime juice!
• Flour: If you avoid gluten, or if you have friends or family who are gluten free, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend.
• Cocoa Powder: I use fair trade, organic cocoa powder, but you can use whatever kind you have. Just don’t swap it with dutch cocoa or else you’ll have to adjust the other ingredients.
• Baking Soda: Out of baking soda? Replace the ¾ teaspoon (4g) baking soda with an extra 2 teaspoons (8g) of baking powder.
• Sunflower Oil: I usually use safflower or sunflower oil for baking cakes. You can use other plant-based oils instead. Avocado oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, and even olive oil work. For a lower fat version, I have replaced the ⅓ cup (72g) safflower oil in this recipe with 36 grams of oil and 36 grams of applesauce.
• Sugar: Use granulated vegan, raw, or organic sugar. Just be careful of conventional granulated sugar, because it’s sometimes not vegan.
• Vanilla Extract: You can replace 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract with 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla powder. If you do this, add the vanilla powder when you’re sifting and mixing the dry ingredients instead of with the wet ingredients.
• Vegan Yogurt: I usually make my own vegan yogurt because it’s cheaper than buying it. If you don’t have vegan yogurt, replace the nondairy milk and the yogurt in this recipe with 1 cup (240g) non dairy milk.
• Vegan Butter: I buy the organic whipped Earth Balance because it works well in every recipe. If you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance. If you’re out of vegan butter, replace the ⅔ cup (150g) vegan butter with an extra ⅔ cup (125g) organic palm shortening.
• Vegan Shortening: Is spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening not in your pantry? Replace it with another ⅔ cup (150g) vegan butter or margarine, making a total of 1 ⅓ cups.
• Vegan Powdered Sugar: The 24-oz bag of 365 organic powdered sugar from Whole Foods is more than enough. If you don’t live near a Whole Foods or if you’re boycotting them, here’s a list of vegan powdered sugar brands.
• Peppermint Extract: Don’t like mint frosting? Replace the ½ teaspoon (2g) of peppermint extract with ½ teaspoon (2g) more of vanilla extract. You can use mint flavoring and mint extract interchangeably. The only difference is that extract is in an alcohol base, where flavor is usually in a glycerin base.
• Vegan Food Coloring: I used Nature’s Flavors liquid red coloring to make my frosting pink because I wanted pastel pink ornaments. I used blue Color Kitchen natural food coloring for my second color. You can use any colors you like. You can see my list of vegan food coloring for other options.

Video

Comments or Questions?

If you make this easy holiday cupcake recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like the chocolate and mint combination, I have a few other chocolate mint recipes that you might want to check out. There’s my 2-layer 9” grasshopper cake. I also have a 3-layer 6” mint chocolate cake recipe. For something easier, but still chocolate and mint, there’s chocolate mint bark.

If you’re looking for other festive Christmas themed cupcake recipes, my snow globe cupcakes made with vegan eggnog are a good choice. You can also bake my vegan gingerbread cake in a cupcake pan.

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