Reindeer Cupcakes are easy and fun for the kids to assemble at a children's Christmas party, or make these yourself as a festive Christmas treat for your family's holiday celebration. Want more Christmas cupcakes? We got 'em along with Christmas cookies, and other yummy holiday munchies!

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (and accompanying ingredients to make cake batter)
• 240 pieces chocolate melts (10 pieces per cupcake)
• 24 red cherry candies or maraschino cherries (1 per cupcake)
• 48 chocolate chips (2 per cupcakes)
• 4 cups chocolate icing

• ½ cup white icing
• 48 toothpicks (2 per cupcake)
• 2 pastry bags
• 1 large round cake decorating tip (Wilton #12 or similar)
• Antler Pattern (click here for pattern)

Instructions

1.
Bake cupcakes according to the package or mix instructions.

2.
Set the cupcakes aside to cool for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
3.
While the cupcakes are cooling, reserve 24 chocolate melt pieces (these will be the reindeer's ears). Melt the rest of the chocolates according to the package directions.
4.
Put the melted chocolate in a pastry bag, or a plastic bag with the tip of the corner cut out.
5.
Print the Antler Pattern. Place the printed Antler Pattern under parchment paper.
6.
Use a pastry bag, or a plastic bag with a small hole cut in the tip or corner to pipe the chocolate along the Antler Pattern to duplicate the antlers in chocolate.

7.
Slide a toothpick into the ends of each chocolate antler, and set them aside to cool.

8.
Ice the cooled cupcakes with chocolate icing.

9.
Once the chocolate antlers have hardened, insert the toothpick end of the antlers into the outer edge on each side of the cupcake.
10.
Break or cut your reserved chocolate melts each in half to make the reindeer ears. If the chocolate melts are too hard, melt them for one or two seconds in the microwave to make them softer to cut.
11.
Insert the half chocolates into the cupcakes just below the antlers for the ears.

12.
Add a red cherry drop candy or maraschino to the center of each cupcake for the reindeer's nose.
13.
Put the white icing into a pastry bag with a Wilton #12 (or similar) tip on the end. Use the tip to pipe two white spots just above the nose for the reindeer's eyes. Hold the tip right above the cupcakes, then squeeze and release to make the white part of each eye.
14.
Press a chocolate chip, upside down into the center of each eye.

Tips

• If you don't want your reindeer to have a red nose, use a chocolate candy, like malted milk balls to make a brown nose.