Make the buttercream:

1. Add the butter a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
2. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
3. Add the vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of cream and mix until smooth and well combined.
4. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
5. Add more cream until desired consistency is reached, then add salt to taste. The salt adds flavor and helps cut down the sweetness. I recommend starting with a little less than 1/8 tsp and adding from there.

Color the buttercream:

1. Divide the buttercream into 4 bowls. I add a little bit more to two of the bowls for the green and red, since those two colors are piled high and you’ll need a little more of them.
2. Color the two with a little extra frosting in the green and red colors, leave one white and color the other brown. Keep in mind that as the buttercream sits, the colors will darken.

To make Christmas tree cupcakes:

1. Add the Ateco 847 tip to a large piping bag. Fill with green buttercream.
2. Start piping by applying even pressure to the piping bag and adding a large, tall swirl of buttercream to the top of the cupcake. Start piping on the outside of the cupcake and as you complete a full circle, move the piping bag slightly inward to create the next circle rotation. Continue piping, moving inward for three full rotations, plus a small tip on top. Release the pressure and pull the bag away.
3. Once you’ve added the frosting to the cupcake, go ahead and add the decorations (the star and decorative nonpareils) before moving on to the next cupcake. The buttercream will crust as it sits and the sprinkles won’t stick as well.

To make the snowman cupcakes:

1. The first thing to do is to add the faces to the marshmallows with the food writer pens. Use the markers to add the eyes, nose and mouth. You can do this ahead of time, if you’d like, and store the marshmallows for when you’re ready to decorate later.
2. Add the Ateco 808 tip to a large piping bag. Fill with white buttercream. Start piping by applying even pressure to the piping bag and add the buttercream to the cupcake in almost a bit of a flower design, making one “petal” at a time as you move around the outside of the cupcake in one smooth motion.
3. Use an offset spatula or something similar to smooth out the top.
4. Add the face towards the back side of the cupcake, then add the buttons down the middle.
5. Finally, add the Wilton 5 tip to a medium sized piping bag fitted with a coupler. Fill with brown buttercream (from the reindeer cupcakes) and pipe the arms onto the cupcake using the Wilton 5 tip.

To make the reindeer cupcakes:

1. To start, you’ll make the antlers with the melting chocolate. Melt the chocolate and add it to a piping bag fitted with a coupler and the Wilton 5 tip. Pipe the antlers onto a piece of parchment paper and let them dry. You’ll need two antlers per reindeer, so decide how many reindeer you want and make the right number of antlers. These are another part of these cupcakes you could make ahead. Store the dry and firm antlers in an air tight container until ready to use.
2. To add the buttercream for the reindeer, add the Ateco 808 tip to a large piping bag. Fill with brown buttercream. Apply even pressure to the piping bag and pipe a swirl of frosting onto the cupcake. You want to make a short/flat swirl, not a super tall swirl. You’ll also want to offset the swirl a bit so that the place where the piping tip stops is where the “snout” of the reindeer is, which should be just below center, not right in the center.
3. Place the red nose sprinkle right on the place where the piping tip was removed. Place the eyes at the top of the “snout” and and then add the antlers at the top.

To make the Santa hat cupcakes:

1. Add the Ateco 808 tip to a large piping bag. Fill with red buttercream. Start piping by applying even pressure to the piping bag and adding a large, tall swirl of buttercream to the top of the cupcake. Start piping on the outside of the cupcake and as you complete a full circle, move the piping bag slightly inward to create the next circle rotation. Continue piping, moving inward for three full rotations, plus a small tip on top. Release the pressure and pull the bag away. Leave a little bit of space around the base of the frosting to allow space to pipe the fluffy trim around the bottom.
2. Add the Wilton 21 tip to a medium sized piping bag fitted with a coupler. Fill with white buttercream. Pipe dollops of frosting around the base of the buttercream swirl. Pipe the fluffy “ball” onto the top.

Serve your cupcakes at room temperature. Because the eyeball colors begin to bleed after sitting for too long and other colors from the sprinkles can also bleed, I recommend serving these the day they are decorated. If you have leftover cupcakes, they can sit at room temperature for up to 24 hours, but should be refrigerated after that for up to 3-4 days. Store them in an air tight container and serve at room temperature.