Christmas Rudolph cranberry cupcakes recipe

Nothing says Christmas like these Rudolph cupcakes! Full of the festive flavour of cranberry, they're really pretty and so fun to make.

Follow the step-by-step guide for a really easy take on how to make them and in under an hour you'll have 12 fab Rudolph cupcakes! They'll really impress kids (and even the adults) so they're perfect for a party dessert or gift to take home afterwards. You'll find that these become a bit of a Christmas tradition in your household as everyone will love them!

We have a fantastic collection of other Christmas cupcakes that you should have a go at to really embrace the festive season!

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 150g butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g self-raising flour
• 3 medium eggs
• 2tbsp milk
• Few drops of vanilla extract
• 75g dried cranberries

For the decoration:

• 500g white ready-roll regal icing
• 2tbsp apricot jam, melted and thinned with a little water
• 300g brown ready-roll regal icing
• 10g red ready-roll regal icing
• 50g black ready-roll regal icing
• 12 small pretzels, halved
• 12 x 10mm silver bells

Method

1. To make this cupcake recipe, set the oven to 190°C/Gas 5.
2. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Divide the mixture between 12 cases, and bake in the centre of the oven for 18-20 mins, or until the cakes have risen and are just firm to the touch in the centre.
3. Remove the cakes from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
4. When the cakes are cool, roll out the white icing and cut out 12 circles with a scalloped-edge cookie cutter. Brush melted jam onto the top of each cake and lay a white icing circle on top.
5. Roll out the brown icing and cut out 12 circles with a smaller straight-edged cutter. Brush more jam onto the white icing circles and lay a brown circle on top. Pinch a little brown icing in your fingers to make the ears. Mix some brown and white icing together and pinch out a little to make the inside of the ears. Roll the rest out and use a cookie cutter to make an oval shape. Attach to the faces with more jam, before marking out a smile with a cookie cutter and dimples with the end of a wooden spoon.
6. Make a red ball for Rudolph’s nose and 11 black ones for noses for the other reindeer. Squash them flat and attach to the faces. Roll out small balls of white and black icing to make the eyes. Then push pretzel halves into the icing at the top of each head to make antlers.
7. Finally, thread a silver bell onto each ribbon and use some more of the apricot jam to stick one under the chin of each reindeer, before serving. The red ribbon is for Rudolph!

Why has my cupcake risen in the middle?

If you find that when you've taken your cupcakes out of the oven they've risen in the middle, it's most likely because your oven temperature was too high. When the oven is too hot, the outside of the cupcakes cooks faster which then pushes the the centre of the cupcake up into a peak. If this has happened no need to fret as you can salvage your cupcakes by simply using a knife to cut off the excess and level the cupcakes. Next time round try turning your oven down a little and cooking for a bit longer, you may just have a very strong oven!