Today marks day three of our buffalo plaid filled, lumberjack party sweets! These chocolate pine cone cupcakes are all things winter are they not?
With the snow falling all around us this winter season, we wanted to create a similar feel with these cupcakes. Just wait until you see how easy these are to make!
Instead of using almonds or candy molds with a predefined shape, these are 100% shaped by your hands. They are so fun to make which is the best part! This is a perfect kiddie activity for your upcoming Christmas party.
Chocolate Pine Cone Cupcakes: Ingredients & Tools
- Melting chocolate (12 oz will complete up to 24 chocolate pine cones)
- Chocolate Frosting
- Lumberjack Sprinkles
- Buffalo Plaid Cupcake Liners
- Chocolate Melting Bottle/Frosting Bottle
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheets
- Large Round Piping Tip/Piping Bag
Almond bark is always a perfect go to when these are being made. You can use what you already have in your pantry.
If you don’t have a squeeze bottle, a piping bag will do as well.
How To Make Chocolate Pine Cone Cupcakes
- Bake cupcakes and make frosting
- Make chocolate pine cones
- Pipe frosting base and add sprinkles
- Top with chocolate pinecones and serve!
Bake Cupcakes and Make Buttercream
To begin, we baked our tried and true homemade chocolate cupcakes recipe and whipped up a batch of our dark chocolate buttercream.
After all, we had to show off our Buffalo Plaid cupcake liners! Bake according to the recipe and let cool completely.
Make Chocolate Pine Cone Pieces
Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. The amount will vary depending on how you pipe your chocolate pieces and how big you want your chocolate pine cones. You will need about one full size sheet pan per 8 cupcakes.
Melt 3-4oz of chocolate at a time and poor into frosting bottle. Be careful not to burn yourself when handling the bottle, you may need a thin towel in the beginning.
Quickly pipe little melted bark blobs onto the parchment paper by squeezing at your starting point then releasing and pulling/dragging back to create a little tail. Don’t worry if your tails are a little messy, they will not be visible.
You will want to create some small and some medium pieces working quickly as the chocolate cools fast. Every few rows tap the baking sheet on the counter to spread out. Let the chocolate pine cone pieces chill until firm.
Build Frosting Base and Add Sprinkles
Use a large round piping tip to pipe a smooth layer of frosting on the cupcake.
Dip frosting base into sprinkles then shape a bit with a paper towel if needed. We just roll out edges in sprinkles but you could just dip the whole thing in the sprinkles too. The middle won’t be visible so it won’t really matter either way.
Pipe a triangle of frosting on top of the sprinkle layer forming a slight cone shape. This will be the bit of the buttercream that your chocolate pine cone pieces go into.
Make Chocolate Pine Cones
Begin placing small chocolate pine cone pieces at the very top of the frosting working your way down layer by layer. Be mindful of the weight of the pieces and don’t put them too close together.
You want to use the buttercream to ‘glue’ the cooled pieces in.
When you are happy with the shape of your pinecone, sprinkle clear sugar crystal “snow” over the top to cover any frosting peaking out. This step adds the perfect touch of winter to these already fun Christmas cupcakes!
Tell Us What You Think!
Hope you check out our other two Buffalo Plaid + Lumberjack themed sweets from earlier this week – Christmas Log Cake and Peppermint Fudge! There is one more post going live tomorrow with the release of these new cupcake liners!
We have had so much fun planning this theme as it’s one of our very favorite patterns. These liners have been in the works for a few years and we’re ecstatic that they are finally here.
Check back tomorrow for full details on their release! Update: See our full party tablescape here!
Love These Chocolate Pine Cone Cupcakes? Check Out These Other Posts!
- Hot Cocoa Stirrers
- Dipped Pretzels
- Christmas Tree Cupcakes
- Square Cupcake Tutorial
- Cake Pizza Tutorial
