Moist chocolate cupcakes topped with naturally colored pink and white swirled buttercream. These Whimsical North Pole Cupcakes are cute AF! I top them with organic candy canes, gummy bears, and peppermint lollipops for a festive cupcake this holiday season that is free of artificial colors!
If you are looking for other naturally colored holiday desserts, try my Christmas Lights Snack Cake, Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies, or my Tree Sugar Cookies!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This recipe is so cute and festive, and there are no artificial colors! Organic baking around the holidays can seem challenging at first when everything calls for red and green sprinkles or sugars. But, I got you covered with these Whimsical North Pole Cupcakes that are perfect for a holiday celebration and made with completely organic ingredients!
This simple recipe for North Pole Cupcakes with no artificial colors uses organic and natural toppings that are festive for Christmas! I use organic candy canes, organic gummy bears (because there are bears at the North Pole, duh), naturally colored sprinkles, and an organic peppermint lollipop that makes it extra fun.
I give you all the links below on where to get all the organic and natural decorating goods to make these easy festive holiday cupcakes! So, read on for the how to on these easy North Pole Cupcakes.
I start out with a simple chocolate cupcake because everyone loves chocolate. I use Organic Valley Chocolate Milk in the cupcake (instead of traditional milk) as I wanted it to be extra chocolately. That is my trick for any chocolate cake, try it for any chocolate cake that calls for milk. You can always substitute regular milk if that’s all you have. Or you can even use coconut milk, almond milk, or pistachio milk!
Then I top these chocolate cupcakes with my classic vanilla buttercream. I color half of it pastel pink using Suncore Foods Organic Pink Pitaya powder. Then I add the white buttercream and the pink buttercream into each half of the piping bag, this creates a swirl when the frosting is piped.
If you want to color these red, green, or blue, you could also do that as well. You can find all the Suncore Organic dyes on my Amazon Shop for each of those colors!
These whimsical North Pole Cupcakes make for the best easy festive holiday cupcakes with no artificial colors! Make these easy North Pole Cupcakes with your kids, as they can easily help add all the decorating toppings! You can serve these easy festive holiday cupcakes at your next Christmas party!
Ingredients for Whimsical North Pole Cupcakes
Costco Kirkland Organic Cane Sugar
Simply Organic Vanilla Extract
Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream
Food to Live Organic Unsweetened Fine Shredded Coconut
YumEarth Organic Peppermint Lollipops
Suncore Foods Organic Pink Pitaya
India Tree Nature’s Colors Snowflake Sprinkles
ColorKitchen Nonpareil Sprinkles
Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears
Why Organic
Why use organic ingredients in this recipe? You all know I’m a huge organic advocate, and I bet you may be thinking sometimes, Why would I even bother to use organic ingredients in something that is so sweet and indulgent? But, that is the exact reason why you should use organic ingredients! Sweet things need to have flavor in order to be good, otherwise they are just sweet and they don’t taste like much else. Organic ingredients are more pure than conventional ones, therefore they actually have more flavor than the non organic options. Say it with me, organic means more flavor! And not just more flavor but a more true and pure flavor. And organic ingredients are much healthier for you to eat in general as they do not contain GMOs or anything artificial. Plus, you are being environmentally friendly when you choose organic ingredients!
So, I highly recommend that you buy the best organic ingredients for this recipe! You can also shop my Amazon Storefront for all my favorite organic ingredients here. Tip – hover over each ingredient to see the name. And if you want to learn more about organic foods and the difference, read my post here on Food Labels and What They Mean.
Make these Whimsical North Pole Cupcakes for your next holiday party! These easy festive holiday cupcakes contain no artificial colors, so they are the perfect treat to make for your family!
Ingredients
- Batter
1/2 cup (113 grams) organic salted butter, softened
170 grams (3/4 cup) organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
2 organic large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup organic chocolate milk, room temperature
1/4 cup organic heavy whipping cream, room temperature
57 grams (1/4 cup) organic sour cream, room temperature
127 grams (3/4 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) organic cake flour
43 grams (1/2 cup) organic Dutch cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Frosting
3/4 cup (170 grams) organic salted butter, softened
340 grams (heaping 2 1/3 cups) organic powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Suncore Foods Organic Pink Pitaya
- Toppings
Organic unsweetened fine shredded coconut
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cupcake tins with liners.
- To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and there are no chunks of butter.
- Add the eggs, chocolate milk, cream, and sour cream and mix for a few rotations. It will look like cottage cheese at this stage. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to get the sugar that sticks to the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add the cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and sea salt and whisk together. With the mixer on low, slowly add in the cake flour and mix on low until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to combine completely. Using a spoon or cupcake scoop, fill cupcake liners three-quarters full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the cupcake pans.
- To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, water, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high and mix for 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again until light and fluffy.
- Add a small amount of coconut into a small dish.
- Break off the hook part of the candy canes. Dip one side into the frosting, just the tip. Then roll that frosting in the coconut for the North Pole. Repeat with all the candy canes. Set aside.
- Divide the frosting in half and add the pink dye into one bowl and stir to combine completely. If you want a darker pink, you can add more dye. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag with Ateco tip 6. Put the white frosting in half the bag and the pink in the other half, this will create the swirl when piped.
- Pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake. Sprinkle with the nonpareil sprinkles and snowflake sprinkles.
- Stick a North Pole candy cane into each cupcake on one side. Add a peppermint swirl lollipop next to it. Add a gummy bear next to that, and a red or green Giggle on the other side. I only used the reg and green Giggles and only red or white gummy bears to keep within the Christmas theme!
- Serve immediately.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Gluten Free — Replace the cake flour with 127 grams (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) organic gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 17 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
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