Description
Celebrate the holidays with these festive Grinchy Pull-Apart Cupcakes, featuring a rich chocolate cake base topped with colorful, creamy frosting that forms the iconic Grinch face and Santa’s hat. Perfect for a fun and interactive dessert that’s as delightful to look at as it is to eat.
Ingredients
Scale
Chocolate Cake
- 1 (15.25-oz.) box chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients required on the box
Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 5 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Food Colorings & Decoration
- Yellow food coloring
- Red food coloring
- Green food coloring
- Black gel icing
Instructions
- Preheat and Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Prepare the chocolate cake mix following the instructions on the box. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely.
- Make Frosting: In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together until combined. Add in the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and kosher salt. Continue mixing until the frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Color the Frosting: Divide the frosting into portions: scoop about 1 1/2 cups into a medium bowl and add red food coloring, about 1 cup into another medium bowl and leave plain white, about a tablespoon into a small bowl and add yellow food coloring. Dye the remaining, largest portion of frosting green.
- Assemble Grinch Face Base: Arrange 13 cupcakes on a serving platter in the shape of the Grinch’s face. Using white frosting, dock each cupcake by applying a layer on top. Pipe green frosting around the edges of each cupcake to outline the face, then fill in the center with green frosting. Use an offset spatula to smooth the surface as one continuous shape.
- Add Santa’s Hat: Stack 5 cupcakes on top of the green face to form the shape of Santa’s hat. Pipe red frosting around the edges of these cupcakes to outline the hat. Fill in the middle with red frosting and smooth with the spatula.
- Accent the Hat: Decoratively pipe white frosting along the bottom and tip of Santa’s hat to create the fluffy trim and pom-pom.
- Create Face Details: Pipe two large yellow dots on the green face to make the Grinch’s eyes. Use black gel icing to draw the Grinch’s facial features, such as pupils, eyebrows, nose, and mouth, to complete the look.
Notes
- Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting, or the frosting may melt and soften too much.
- You can make the cake mix from scratch if preferred, or substitute with a homemade chocolate cake recipe.
- Use gel food coloring for vibrant colors without thinning the frosting.
- For easier piping, chill the frosting for 10 minutes to firm up if it feels too soft.
- Arrange cupcakes tightly together on a large flat platter for the best pull-apart effect.
- This recipe serves around 18 cupcakes arranged for the design.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Grinch cupcakes, pull-apart cupcakes, holiday desserts, Christmas cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes
