You will need:

For the Cupcakes:

For the Buttercream and Christmas Trees :

• 200g self-raising flour
• 50g plain flour
• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 100g melted white chocolate
• 100g white chocolate chips

• 250g unsalted butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a tiny amount of purple gel food colouring
• 200g white chocolate
• pretzel sticks
• piping bag
• sprinkles

1

How to Make the Buttercream: Cut your butter into cubes and pop into your mixer bowl. Then beat on a high speed for approximately four to five minutes. This will aerate the butter and create a paler colour.

2

Add in your icing sugar and make your buttercream as usual.

3

To neutralise the natural yellow colouring in the buttercream, add a TINY amount of purple. For the best results, you need to use a concentrated food colouring. Add in your flavour of choice.

4

Assembling the Cakes: Bake the cupcakes and leave them to cool completely.

5

Lay pretzel sticks three inches apart on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.

6

Melt the white chocolate and pour into a piping bag.

7

Cut the very end of the piping bag off to create a small hole.

8

Pipe white chocolate over the pretzel stick, back and forth starting small and ending up large, in a Christmas tree shape.

9

Top with chosen sprinkles immediately.

10

Continue with the other pretzel sticks and pop in the fridge to set.

11

Fetch the buttercream you made earlier.

12

Spread buttercream over your cupcake using a palette knife. You can be messy here as we are creating ‘snow’.

13

Sprinkle with desiccated coconut for the snowy effect.

14

Carefully peel your white chocolate Christmas trees off of the baking paper and insert in the middle of the cupcake.

15

Enjoy straight away and for up to 3 days.