Soft and fluffy high altitude peppermint cupcakes with red and green sprinkles, frosted with white chocolate buttercream and foil wrapped Christmas candy.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for chocolate peppermint cupcakes, frosted peppermint blondies, and pink peppermint candy cane ice cream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
White Chocolate + Peppermint. Sweet white chocolate buttercream and peppermint cake makes a delicious combination in these peppermint Christmas cupcakes.
Moist and Flavorful. These cupcakes are so soft, fluffy, moist and light, with a delicious flavor from the vanilla and peppermint extracts. Today’s recipe for Christmas sprinkle cupcakes is based on my popular Funfetti cupcakes recipe, but with red and green sprinkles in the cake batter instead of rainbow sprinkles.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- Unsalted Butter. Adds richness and fat, to make up for the lack of egg yolks in the recipe. When creamed with the sugar, it lightens in color for a whiter cake crumb.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Egg Whites. Add protein and structure, while using just the whites preserves the white color of the cupcakes.
- Cake Flour. With a lower percentage of protein than all-purpose flour, cake flour makes very light, fluffy cupcakes.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the cupcakes.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Buttermilk + Sour Cream. Adds moisture, richness and acidity, for a soft, tender cake crumb.
- Vanilla + Peppermint Extracts. Be sure to use “peppermint” extract not “mint” extract. Mint extract has a spearmint flavor rather than the candy cane flavor of peppermint.
- Sprinkles. You can use any sprinkles that you have, but nonpareils are so tiny that they tend to melt and bleed too much into the cake batter. Preferably, use confetti sprinkles or quins, for more vivid dots of color throughout the cake.
Buttercream
- White Chocolate Chips. The melted white chocolate in the buttercream is optional, but adds a nice flavor to complement the peppermint.
- Butter. Use unsalted butter, or omit the added salt in the recipe.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Sprinkles and Candy. This is where you can have fun with the decorating! Assorted sprinkles and candy look so pretty on these cupcakes. For the candy, I love foil wrapped chocolates in different colors, candy cane kisses, peppermint bark bells, and soft peppermint balls. Note that hard peppermint candy like starlight mints cannot be placed on the cupcakes in advance, as the sugar will melt.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pans with 18 paper cupcake liners. These cupcakes are sticky, so I also recommend lightly spraying the paper liners with non-stick baking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter with the sugar for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl frequently, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla and peppermint extracts.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Once you’ve added everything, mix well for about 15-30 seconds until the batter is well combined.
- Briefly fold in the sprinkles, just until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
- Use a scant 1/4 measuring cup to fill the muffin cups, filling them no more than 2/3 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 15-18 minutes, just until the tops spring back when gently touched. Cool in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes at 50% power, then stir, and microwave in 20 second increments at 50% power, stirring until smooth. Set aside to let the white chocolate cool for several minutes until no longer warm.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and vanilla. Increase speed to medium-high and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk only as needed for desired piping consistency. Beat in the cooled white chocolate for 1 minute.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the filled cupcakes. Decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles and candy.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Tip 1M.
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High Altitude White Chocolate Peppermint Christmas Sprinkle Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 2 Standard Muffin Pans with 12 Cups
- Piping Bag + Tip 1M
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ cup whole or lowfat buttermilk
- ¼ cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- ¼ cup red and green confetti sprinkles (quins)
Buttercream
- 2 oz white chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp milk, if needed for consistency
- sprinkles and Christmas candy
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pans with 18 paper cupcake liners. These cupcakes are sticky, so I also recommend lightly spraying the paper liners with non-stick baking spray.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter with the sugar for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl frequently, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg whites, one at a time, until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla and peppermint extracts.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Once you've added everything, mix well for about 15-30 seconds until the batter is well combined.
- Briefly fold in the sprinkles, just until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
- Use a scant 1/4 measuring cup to fill the muffin cups, filling them no more than 2/3 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 15-18 minutes, just until the tops spring back when gently touched. Cool in the pan for several minutes, then gently transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Place the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes at 50% power, then stir, and microwave in 20 second increments at 50% power, stirring until smooth. Set aside to let the white chocolate cool for several minutes until no longer warm.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and vanilla. Increase speed to medium-high and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk only as needed for desired piping consistency. Beat in the cooled white chocolate for 1 minute.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the filled cupcakes. Decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles and candy.
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