Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes are light, fluffy and topped with festive vanilla buttercream. Great for children to help decorate too!

my go-to Chocolate Cupcake recipe
This is my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes and is so tasty I haven’t felt the need to look for an alternative. I have been making this recipe for years.
I’ve slightly adapted Mary Berry’s recipe to make these festive beauties. You can’t go wrong with a Mary Berry classic.
What are Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes?
These are Mary Berry’s chocolate cupcake recipe with a few tweaks to the recipe.
Mary Berry’s original recipe is a chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream that is spread on with a palate knife.
I decided to swap the buttercream to vanilla because sometimes a chocolate cupcake and frosting can be a bit too much for people.
Also, I wanted to make the frosting look like a Christmas Tree which would be easier to colour with a vanilla frosting.
I have also altered the cooking temperature as I prefer a lower oven temperature when cooking cupcakes to help create a flat topped cupcake.

How to make Christmas Tree buttercream
It is the buttercream that makes these cupcakes really festive. This is actually really easy, especially once you have practised your piping skills.
I use my basic buttercream recipe like in my Vanilla Cupcakes. I then colour it and pipe it into a Christmas tree shape.
Margarine or butter?
When I am baking cakes that require the fat and sugar to be creamed, I tend to use margarine.
This is because you can use it straight from the fridge and don’t have to wait for it to come up to room temperature like you do with butter.
I have been using margarine in my cakes for years now and I have never had any complaints about their texture or flavour. You can absolutely use butter if you prefer but make sure it is unsalted butter.
When it comes to buttercream, you have to use unsalted butter. Margarine would not work in this instance.

Which colouring is recommended to use?
The green colour comes from gel food colouring which I would definitely recommend you use instead of liquid food colourings. The gel colours are thick and a small amount goes a long way.
You need so much of the liquid colours and even then the final colour isn’t very vibrant which is why I don’t recommend using them.
Gel food colouring is available to buy online and even in some larger supermarkets. Brands I prefer are Wilton and Sugarflair which are available online.
When you are adding the colouring, start with a very small amount as a little goes a long way. You can always add more but you can’t take it away.

How to pipe the christmas tree buttercream
To pipe the Christmas tree shape, use an open star shaped piping nozzle. Something like a 2D, 2F or 1M would work well for this effect.
Start on the outside of the cupcakes and pipe in a circle gradually spiralling upwards until the cupcake is covered in buttercream.
This is easier than you may think! Just pipe slowly and remember if you really make a mess you can always carefully scrape off the buttercream and start again!
The beauty of Christmas trees are that they aren’t very neat so if your piping isn’t it won’t matter!

How to decorate your Christmas Trees
When your trees have been piped, you can then decorate them however you would like. Think of them as your own Christmas tree at home and add your own personality!
Or better yet, get your children to help you and you will probably end up with brightly coloured trees with far too many sprinkles!
And a mess on the floor. You’re welcome ๐
If piping really isn’t for you, try my Chocolate Orange Tray Bake instead.
An even more luxurious touch
If you want the buttercream to be a bit more luxurious, you could use whole milk or even cream.
I use semi-skimmed or sometimes 1% fat milk as this is what I always have in the house and the icing is still really delicious.

Can you use a different buttercream?
You can, but personally I like to keep with the vanilla buttercream because it is very easy to colour green.
I also don’t like to flavour coloured buttercream because it gets a bit confusing. If you flavoured the buttercream with lemon, but it was green in colour it can be a little odd.
Chocolate buttercream for example wouldn’t work as the green would struggle to be seen over the brown of the chocolate.
But this is just my opinion so feel free to make any tweaks you would like.
Can you add flavourings to the cupcakes?
You can definitely add extra flavourings to the cupcakes but make sure they go with chocolate!
Some grated orange zest would be particularly nice in the sponge and is also a little festive. I would add the grated zest of one orange to the cupcakes for a nice flavour.
You could also add some peppermint flavouring if you wanted. I haven’t tried this myself but it is quite a strong flavour so don’t add too much!

How many cupcakes will the recipe make?
This depends which size cupcake cases you use.
The recipe below uses large cupcake/muffin cases as these are my favourite. You can buy these very easily.
If you use these large cases then you will make 12 cupcakes. However if you use smaller cases then you will make a few more cupcakes.
Make sure whatever size cases you use that you only fill them two thirds full. If you use smaller cupcake cases, they will take less time to bake.
Check them after 10-12 minutes with a cocktail to stick to see if they are baked. If the cocktail stick comes out clean they are done, if not bake them for a couple of minutes longer.

How long will these cupcakes last?
These cupcakes will last for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
You could always freeze the cupcakes without the buttercream if you would like to use them at a later date. Wrap them thoroughly and freeze them for up to one month.
Defrost them in the fridge when you want to use them and pipe them like normal.

Other recipes you might like
- Chocolate Orange Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Orange Rocky Road
- Chocolate Orange Tray Bake
- Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding
- 10 Tasty Sweet Christmas Recipes
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Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes
Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes are light, fluffy and topped with festive vanilla buttercream. Great for children to help decorate too!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 4 tbsp water boiled
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 3 eggs
- 175 g margarine
- 165 g caster sugar
- 115 g self raising four
- 1 tsp baking powder
For the buttercream
- 140 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 280 g icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- green food colouring
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 160ºC (fan assisted, 180ºC non fan) and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners and set aside
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Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl and add the boiling water. Mix until it forms a thick paste and then add the remaining cake ingredients. Mix until combined
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Divide the mix between the cupcake liners. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean
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Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so before allowing to cool completely on a wire rack
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When the cupcakes have cooled completely, make the buttercream. Beat the softened butter for a minute or so before adding the icing sugar
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Add half of the milk and beat until the buttercream is smooth. Add small amounts of food colouring until you have managed to create a tree-like green. If the buttercream is too stiff, add a touch more milk
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Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag with a star shaped tip. Starting at the edge of the cupcake, pipe round in a circle and then upwards to create the Christmas Tree look
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Add any decorations you like to make it look like a Christmas Tree
Recipe Notes
When making the buttercream, add less milk to start with as if you’re like me it will take a while to get the green colour you’re looking for. Due to this, the buttercream will probably get mixed quite a lot making it looser.
Nutritional information is given as a guide only
Linking to

Julia Frey says
Gorgeous photos and cupcakes, Cat. I love the colour and yes, kids would love to decorate those!
Curly says
Thanks Julia. They are definitely an improvement on the previous photos! I’m just not sure the parents would as they would end up with sprinkles everywhere!
Prajakta Sukhatme says
I just want to pick one up from pictures and eat it !! So gorgeous!! Will be on my list of holiday baking during winter break.
Curly says
Thank you very much ๐
Nickki says
These cupcakes look so pretty and festive! I love your photographs x
Curly says
Thanks, I’m pleased I finally got round to updating them! x
Mayuri Patel says
Beautiful clicks and very festive. I love Mary Berry’s simple recipes. The green frosting definitely reminds me of Christmas trees.
Curly says
Thank you. Her recipes are great to tweak because you know they’re going to work!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Oh these do look festive and fun Cat. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Curly says
Thanks ๐
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They’re so pretty! I love Christmas tree cupcakes!
Curly says
Thanks Kat ๐
Hadassa says
Hey, is it possible to provide a recipe that does not use bicarbonate or baking powder please?
Curly says
Hi, I don’t have any chocolate cake recipes without baking powder or bicarbonate of soda. But my vanilla cupcakes don’t have either. You could still decorate them with the Christmas tree icing. https://www.curlyscooking.co.uk/vanilla-cupcakes/
Lilly says
Hi!
Do you have a recipe to use for 6 chocolate cupcakes?
I do not want to just do 50% of the recipe as it might not work our right :/
Curly says
Hi, I don’t I’m afraid. But it is on my to-do list! You could use my small batch vanilla cupcakes recipe, it makes 6. I know this isn’t chocolate but it might be ok for you. https://www.curlyscooking.co.uk/small-batch-vanilla-cupcakes/