Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Does anyone else hate having a Christmas tree?  I’m not being a Grinch here, I’m pretty much just being lazy.  Every year Paul and I go hunting for our own Christmas tree, as well as one for my parents, way out in the bush somewhere.  Having never done this as a child (other than going down to the local grocery store parking lot) it is a tradition that I look forward to every year (even though I don’t like putting up the tree anymore).  I think the reason that I don’t like putting up the tree is because I don’t like taking it down.  When I was younger and living at home with my parents, every year I would pull all of the boxes out and decorate the house with such excitement- and then I would leave the mess for my mom to put away after the holiday.  Since Paul and I have lived together we have had a tree twice but in the recent years, we’ve only gone out looking for my parents.  I just can’t get over putting all the ornaments away and taking the tree down!  It’s pathetic.

So instead up putting up a tree in my house, I’ll happily put up a tree on a cupcake!  This is a different twist on how to make a Christmas tree cupcake, rather than just piping a huge pile of buttercream on top (not that I don’t love that variation) but this one is more for looks! 

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

Ingredients:
cupcakes
sugar ice cream cones
green buttercream with Wilton tips 352 and 18
white buttercream
shredded coconut
candy covered sunflower seeds
star sprinkles

Procedure:
Using the white buttercream, cover the top of the cupcake.  Dip the edges of the cupcake into the shredded coconut and press the sugar cone into place in the centre of the cupcake.  Using the green buttercream, starting at the bottom, cover the sugar cone in “branches” using an elongated branch affect (stretching the tip by pulling out away from the cone).  While the buttercream is still soft, add the chocolate covered sunflower seeds as lights around the tree and a star sprinkle on the top.