We all know that the Grinch stole Christmas, but these Grinch cupcakes will steal your heart! They’re not only adorable, but taste divine. You’ve got to serve these festive Grinch-style sweets this holiday season!
Easy Grinch Cupcakes
These cute Grinch cupcakes may look complex, but they’re actually quite easy to make! With some food coloring, black decorating icing, Reese’s Pieces, and simple piping, you’ll create an effortless little Grinch face that’ll impress any crowd.
The best part? You can have these decorative cupcakes ready to eat in under 45 minutes, making them the perfect treat in a time crunch.
Why You’ll Love this Grinch Cupcakes Recipe:
- Super Cute: These fun Grinch cupcakes are so cute you won’t want to eat them! But please do because they’re delicious!
- Festive: Spread joy this Christmas season by serving these special cupcakes at your next Christmas party or Grinch movie night with the family.
Trademark Note: In the spirit of transparency, I want to note that some of these ingredients are trademarked products. Reese’s is a proprietary brand that I want to acknowledge and give credit to.
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How to Make Grinch Cupcakes
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- Combine the cake mix and wet ingredients, then mix in neon green food coloring until you get a nice grinchy-green color.
- Scoop the cupcake batter into the muffin tins and bake. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
- Add green food coloring to one tub of frosting to match the color of the cupcakes. Then place in a large mixing bowl with powdered sugar and beat as instructed.
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag and pipe the green frosting on each cupcake. Add the remaining details of the hat and face according to the instructions below (in the recipe card).
- Enjoy your Grinch cupcakes!
Ingredient Notes
- White Cake Mix: You can also make this recipe with yellow cake mix or butter pecan cake mix, but you may find that the color isn’t as green.
- Eggs: Bind the cake.
- Milk: You can use water in a pinch but your cupcakes won’t be as fluffy and delicious.
- Salted Butter: You can use vegetable oil instead, but the cupcakes won’t be quite as rich and fluffy.
- White Frosting: If you have a frosting recipe that you love, you can use it instead.
- Powdered Sugar: Thickens the frosting.
- Yellow Reese’s Pieces: You can substitute yellow M&Ms if necessary; the color is a bit brighter.
- Food Coloring: Neon green food coloring gives the Grinch his signature color, while red food coloring helps color the Santa hat.
- Black Decorating Icing: Comes in a tube and is perfect for fine details.
Grinch cupcakes are fun and festive green cupcakes topped with frosting in the shape of a Grinch head wearing a Santa hat!
Absolutely! If you have a favorite homemade cupcake recipe, you can use that. Or, try the recipe from my candy corn cupcakes!
Of course! Using store-bought icing is a great time-saving hack, but you can also use homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting.
While food coloring will give the most vivid color, you can also color these cupcakes naturally. Try adding matcha green tea powder to turn the cupcakes and frosting green. To turn the frosting red, try adding a bit of beet juice. You won’t taste it!
If the frosting is sagging or won’t hold its shape, beat in more powdered sugar until it reaches the desired consistency.
Piping bags and tips make it much easier to decorate these Grinch Cupcakes; however, if you don’t have them, you can still make adorable Grinch Cupcakes! For the green head, you can either use a Ziplock bag with a large hole cut in the corner or you can simply spread on a large dollop of green frosting. It will look slightly different, but you will still get the same basic look. For the hat, you can use a Ziplock bag with a smaller hole cut in the corner and pipe on the hat with that. Finally, to make the white outline you can either buy a tube of white decorating icing from the store which comes with a flower tip or you can simply use another Ziplock bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner. Use a “press and pull away” motion to apply the icing and it will look like little fluffy balls all around and on top of the hat, giving a great result!
For an adults only treat, try these fun Grinch Jell-O shots!
Decorating Tips
- Make one color of frosting at a time and then pipe it on the cupcakes before mixing your next color. This will ensure that you have enough icing in each color so when you potentially run our, you can use some of the plain icing from the other tubs to make more.
- Pipe the black eyebrows so that they slant inward. This will make the Grinch look meaner!
- Remember that food coloring gets darker the longer it sits.
Make Ahead Instructions
You can bake the cupcakes up to 1 day in advance of when you plan to decorate them. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to frost.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover Grinch cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Enjoy cold or at room temperature.
Freezing Instructions
Freeze Grinch cupcakes in a single layer on a lined baking sheet until solid, about 1-2 hours. Tightly wrap individual cupcakes in 2 layers of plastic wrap and 1 layer of aluminum to store for up to 1 month. Let come to room temperature before enjoying.
Substitutions
- You can also make this recipe with yellow cake mix or butter pecan cake mix, but you may find that the color isn’t as green.
- You can also use your favorite homemade cake recipe.
- You can use water or plant-based milk in place of the milk a pinch, but your cupcakes won’t be as fluffy and delicious.
- You can use vegetable oil instead of butter, but the cupcakes won’t be quite as rich and fluffy.
- If you don’t have neon green food coloring, you can make your own by adding 2-3 drops of blue food coloring with 15-20 drops of yellow food coloring. Adjust as necessary.
- You can substitute the Reese’s Pieces for yellow M&Ms if necessary; the color is a bit brighter.
- You can use a homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting recipe instead of using store-bought.
Tips for the Best Grinch Cupcakes
- Use room temperature ingredients for the cupcakes; they will combine better.
- Take care not to overmix the cupcake batter. Otherwise, you will end up with tough, dry cupcakes.
- Rotate the cupcakes halfway through baking so that they bake evenly.
- Be sure to allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating them.
- Keep in mind that food coloring gets darker as it sits, so let it sit for a few minutes before adjusting.
- Avoid letting the frosting get too hot. If your frosting has been sitting out and seems to be very soft, you may want to refrigerate it for 10 or 15 minutes so that it doesn’t slide off of your cupcake while you are decorating.
We hope you have so much fun making and enjoying these Grinch cupcakes with your loved ones this holiday season! They are the perfect addition to any Christmas party, so don’t miss out on these cute and festive sweet treats!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Grinch Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces white cake mix 432 grams (1 box)
- 3 large eggs 150 grams, room temperature
- 1 cup milk 227 grams, room temperature
- ½ cup salted butter 113 grams, melted (1 stick)
- Neon green food coloring
- 32 ounces white frosting 907 grams (2 tubs)
- ¼-½ cup powdered sugar 28-57 grams
- 48 yellow Reese’s Pieces 38 grams
- Red food coloring
- 0.67 ounces black decorating icing 19 grams (1 tube)
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- 2 Cupcake Tin
- Hand Mixer
- Piping Tip Set
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two 12-count cupcake tins with white or green paper cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a hand whisk, beat the cake mix, large eggs, milk and melted butter together until well combined, about 2-3 minutes.15.25 ounces white cake mix, 3 large eggs, 1 cup milk, ½ cup salted butter
- Mix in some neon green food coloring, until you get a nice grinchy green color.Neon green food coloring
- Scoop the cupcake batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling each liner about ⅔ of the way full of batter.
- Bake for 19-23 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when tapped and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
- To assemble your grinch cupcakes, stir green food coloring into one of the tubs of frosting until you get a color that matches the cupcakes.32 ounces white frosting
- Place the green frosting and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer to beat them together until combined and thick. The frosting should hold its shape when piped. If it starts to sag instead, add more powdered sugar.¼-½ cup powdered sugar
- Scoop the frosting into a piping bag with a 2A Wilton piping tip and pipe a swirl of green frosting on each of the cupcakes. This will be the Grinch head so it shouldn’t be huge but you do want it to cover the cupcake and be large enough for the eyes and a hat.
- Place two yellow Reese’s pieces on the bottom front of each of the green frosted cupcakes. These will be the eyes.48 yellow Reese’s Pieces
- Scoop about ¾ cup of white frosting into a piping bag with a #22 Wilton piping tip and set to the side for now.
- Add red food coloring to the rest of the white icing until you have a rich, Christmas red color.Red food coloring
- Place the red frosting in a piping bag with a #12 Wilton piping tip and use it to pipe Santa hats onto the top of each Grinch head, slightly back from the eyes. The hat should not cover the whole top and should leave room for the white piping around it.
- Use the white frosting to pipe around the hat and a dollop on the top.
- Use the black decorating icing to pipe on irises and eyebrows above the eyes. If needed, you can put the eyebrows on the white outline on the hat.0.67 ounces black decorating icing
- Enjoy your Grinch cupcakes!
Notes
- You can also make this recipe with yellow cake mix or butter pecan cake mix, but you may find that the color isn’t as green.
- You can also use your favorite homemade cake recipe.
- You can use water or plant-based milk in place of the milk a pinch, but your cupcakes won’t be as fluffy and delicious.
- You can use vegetable oil instead of butter, but the cupcakes won’t be quite as rich and fluffy.
- If you don’t have neon green food coloring, you can make your own by adding 2-3 drops of blue food coloring with 15-20 drops of yellow food coloring. Adjust as necessary.
- You can substitute the Reese’s Pieces for yellow M&Ms if necessary; the color is a bit brighter.
- You can use a homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting recipe instead of using store-bought.
- Use room temperature ingredients for the cupcakes; they will combine better.
- Take care not to overmix the cupcake batter. Otherwise, you will end up with tough, dry cupcakes.
- Rotate the cupcakes halfway through baking so that they bake evenly.
- Be sure to allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating them.
- Keep in mind that food coloring gets darker as it sits, so let it sit for a few minutes before adjusting.
- Avoid letting the frosting get too hot. If your frosting has been sitting out and seems to be very soft, you may want to refrigerate it for 10 or 15 minutes so that it doesn’t slide off of your cupcake while you are decorating.
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