Adorable Reindeer Cupcakes (Easy and fun!)

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Today we are making these adorable reindeer cupcakes. They’re perfect for a Christmas or holiday party and will add a little joy to any table.

Looking to make some fantastic Christmas cupcakes this season?

We have an easy step by step tutorial for you today! We are making this reindeer cupcake recipe.

Now these little guys all have red noses, so technically they are really Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer cupcakes.

But you could easily swap out the noses for black or brown candies instead and make regular reindeer. Or a combo of both.

The cupcakes themselves are basic vanilla cupcakes with a rich creamy chocolate frosting.

You can use your favorite recipe or just go the quick route and use your favorite box mix cupcakes.

So what we’ll really be showing you today is how to make the DIY reindeer cupcake toppers.

Ingredients for Reindeer Cupcakes

For the reindeer cupcakes, you’ll need the following ingredients.

Cupcakes: Whip up a dozen of your favorite cupcakes. If you’re wanting to make a full 24 cupcakes, just double the ingredients in the recipe card.

Chocolate frosting: To frost the cupcakes.

Nutter Butter cookies: You’ll need one for each cupcake.

Chocolate candy melts: You can use any chocolate that melts well. High quality chocolate will produce better tasting reindeer.

Red cinnamon candies: We wanted rudolph cupcakes, so we used red candies for the nose. You could use brown M&M’s or red ones too. Or even a chocolate chip as the nose.

Candy eyes: 2 for each reindeer you’re making

Pretzel twists: For the antlers. You’ll need two for each reindeer cupcake.

Notes

We are using premade cupcakes. You can make your favorite recipe or just use cake mix from a box to whip up a batch.

You’ll also find a piping bag and a large star open tip to pipe the icing and make it look great.

We used cinnamon candies for red noses, so these are all actually Rudolph cupcakes if you want to get technical.

But you can easily swap out a different colored candy to make regular reindeer cupcakes.

How to Make Reindeer Cupcakes

To get started making your reindeer cupcakes, start by lining a baking sheet with waxed paper and set aside.

Melt the chocolate candy according to the melting instructions on the package.

If you find the chocolate is too thick to work with, you can add a teaspoon of vegetable shortening or coconut oil until the chocolate is pourable.

Once your chocolate is ready, dip the pretzels into the chocolate, and cover completely.

Remove the pretzel from the chocolate with a fork or spoon and allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.

Place the chocolate covered pretzels on the wax paper to dry.

Next dip the nutter butters into the melted chocolate and cover completely.

Remove the cookies from the chocolate with a fork and allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.

Set the chocolate covered cookies onto the wax paper, then immediately press the pretzels to the top of the nutter butters to create antlers.

Add the candy eyes and candy noses while the chocolate is still wet.

I didn’t think to add the antlers ahead of time, so I ended up adding them after using extra chocolate as the “glue.”

Now your reindeer cupcake toppers are done and it’s time to move on to prepping the cupcake.

Grab your cupcakes and start piping the chocolate frosting onto each one using the piping bag and star tip.

Put one reindeer face onto each cupcake.

And there you have it. 12 beautiful reindeer cupcakes!