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Need a festive and delicious treat that’s easy to make and instantly spreads holiday cheer? Try these Santa hat cupcakes.
Below is a red velvet cupcake recipe and cream cheese frosting, both adapted to use Truvia® sweeteners. There’s also a quick three-step tutorial to decorate them as Santa hats.
This is a fun project for older kids to help with, or you can make a batch to surprise the little ones. Read on for the how-to and full recipe.
How To Make Red Velvet Cupcakes with Truvia®
A Santa hat cupcake naturally calls for red velvet. For this version I used Truvia® Sweet Complete™, an all-purpose stevia-based sweetener that measures 1:1 like sugar and performs well in baking.
You can find the full ingredient list and instructions in the recipe card below, but here are the main ingredients for the cupcakes:
- All-purpose flour
- Cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salted butter (room temperature)
- Truvia® Sweet Complete™
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Red food coloring
- Milk or milk alternative
- Distilled white vinegar
For the cream cheese frosting I used Truvia® Confectioners Sweetener, which replaces traditional powdered sugar and works well for smooth frostings and glazes.
You’ll need:
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter (room temperature)
- Vanilla extract
- Truvia® Confectioners Sweetener
- Red food coloring
How to Pipe Santa Hat Cupcake Frosting
Separate your finished frosting so about one quarter remains white and the rest is dyed red. You can use a large star tip or a round tip; a star tip gives nice texture. No piping bag? Use a resealable plastic bag and snip a corner.
To pipe the Santa hat design:
1. Start in the cupcake center and pipe red frosting in a spiral, narrowing as you go to form a peak.
2. Pipe small white dots around the base of the red swirl to form the hat trim.
3. Add a single white dot on the peak to create the pom-pom.
More Christmas Recipes
- Ugly Christmas Sweater Cake
- Tie Dye Yule Log Cake
- Technicolor Christmas Tree Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Candies
- DIY Reindeer + Snowman Ice Cream Cones
Photos by Jeff Mindell
Maybe this year we should leave cupcakes for Santa instead of cookies. You can also use the same piping idea with green frosting to make tiny Christmas trees.
Happy baking!
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Truvia®
Ingredients
For the Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup Truvia® Sweet Complete
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk or milk alternative
- 1 tsp distilled white vinegar
- Red food coloring
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, cold
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups Truvia® Confectioners Sweetener
Instructions
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and Truvia® Sweet Complete until fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.
- Whisk milk and vinegar together in a separate bowl.
- Fold flour mixture into butter mixture in a few additions, alternating with the milk mixture, until just combined.
- Add red food coloring to reach desired color.
- Fill muffin tins about two-thirds full.
- Bake 18–20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
- Beat in vanilla.
- With mixer on low, slowly add Truvia® Confectioners and beat until smooth.
- Remove about 1/4 of the frosting and set aside as the white trim. Add red dye to the remaining frosting and beat until evenly colored.
Assembling the Santa Hat Cupcakes
- Spoon red frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star or round tip.
- Start in the center and pipe a spiral, narrowing as you go to create a peak.
- Spoon white frosting into a piping bag and pipe dots around the base of the red swirl and one dot on the peak to finish the hat.