Trees Made Out of Cupcakes

Cupcakes are versatile, tasty treats; By repurposing another dessert item, the ice cream cone, cupcakes can easily be transformed into whimsical trees. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Choosing the Type of Cupcake Tree

Creating cupcakes shaped like trees is an easy thing to do, but there is more than one way to do it. Placing a pointed ice cream cone upside-down on a baked cupcake or using a flat-bottomed ice cream cone as a base for a cupcake frosted as a tree is all it takes to populate your cupcake forest. Either style is likely to delight guests and can be decorated as simply or intricately as desired.

Elements of the Pointed Tree

The pointed cupcake tree is almost more of a topiary or potted tree. The cupcake serves as the base for the tree. Frost the top of the cupcake. Using a candy cane with the hook sawed off, a straight hard candy or pirouette-style cookies, a tree trunk will be fashioned; if necessary, the trunk can carefully be trimmed to reach a specific height.

Assembling the Pointed Tree

If necessary, carefully trim the pointed cone until the desired height is reached. Decorate the tree with a candy coating, chocolate, fondant, royal icing/frosting or any other type of coating that will firm up for handling. If possible, secure any candy decorations at this stage with a drop of the frosting being used on the tree or the cupcake base. Coat the tip of the trunk in the candy coating, chocolate or frosting and insert the clean end into the cupcake base. Carefully place the tree on top of the trunk and allow the two to bond before performing any additional decorating.

Elements of the Baked Tree

Bake the cake into the flat bottom cone by either placing the cones over filled liners and removing the liners after the cupcakes have baked or place the cones in a muffin pan and then fill them halfway before baking as usual. Upon the completion of either, the cupcake will be embedded in the ice cream cone.

Assembling the Baked Tree

Completing the tree is as simple as frosting; piping a smooth stream of green frosting up into a point will create the effect of a green tree upon a brown trunk. If a more elaborate effect is desired, fondant can be used to create leaves, which can then spill over the rim of the trunk. Time and attention to detail, would also allow for multiple colors of frosting to be used to create leaves and branches.