These Adorable Chocolate Reindeer Cupcakes are So Simple

Happy holiday season, friends! It’s that time of year – time to bake, bake, bake! We were in the mood for something sweet, something silly, and something very reindeer-y. And what came out of our kitchen? These absolutely adorable chocolate reindeer cupcakes!

Seriously, these little guys have chocolate frosting, salty-sweet pretzel antlers, and a red M&M nose that would make Rudolph proud. They’re super easy to make with store-bought cupcakes or a boxed cake mix. And the best part? They’re perfect for letting kids take the lead in the decorating department. (We might’ve eaten more M&Ms than we actually used, but who’s counting?)

We were trying to beat the 4:45 PM sunset in winter when shooting this set of pictures. Once we get home from school in winter, we have maybe 45 minutes of decent natural light for shooting our recipe photos. It’s a rush! So we pre-made our homemade chocolate buttercream frosting the day before to save time and stored it in the fridge overnight. The frosting was still a bit cold when we added it to our cupcakes which is why our frosting looks so thick and a bit clumpy in the photos. The frosting was too firm for spreading. We should have heated it just a touch in the microwave before decorating the cupcakes to make it easier to spread. But, we can certainly assure you, the cupcakes still tasted absolutely amazing!

What You’ll Need for Our Chocolate Reindeer Cupcakes

• Chocolate cupcakes – homemade, boxed mix, or store-bought; Ours here were homemade, but sometimes we order plain chocolate cupcakes from the Kroger bakery so we can frost them how we want.
• Chocolate frosting – again, go homemade if you want but we fully support the grab-and-go tub too
• Mini twist pretzels (for antlers)
• Red M&Ms (or red candy-coated chocolates of any kind!)
• Candy eyes or small white candies for the eyes
• A butter knife or spatula for spreading

Let’s Talk Decorating Tips

We learned a few tricks while we were turning our cupcakes into reindeer masterpieces:

• Frost first, antler second – Add a nice layer of frosting before sticking in the pretzel antlers so everything stays in place.
• As we mentioned above, if your frosting has been chilled, you might want to heat it up 10 seconds in the microwave so it will glide onto the cupcakes more smoothly.
• Break the pretzels carefully – You can use whole ones which is what we chose to do in these photos. Breaking them in half makes the antlers look even more like the real deal, but they work fine whichever way! Just be gentle so they don’t shatter all over the place.
• Press in the M&M nose last – That red nose is the star of the show! Give it center stage right at the bottom of the frosting swirl.
• Use candy eyes – Or if you don’t have any, mini marshmallows cut in half with chocolate chips work too!

Storage + Transport Tips for Chocolate Reindeer Cupcakes

If you’re making these chocolate reindeer cupcakes ahead of time (like for a classroom party, holiday dinner, or a cookie swap), here’s what we suggest:

• Store in the fridge in an airtight container to keep the frosting firm and the pretzels crunchy.
• Wait to add the antlers if you’re transporting them a long way—just pop them in at the last minute so they don’t shift or get soggy.
• Use a cupcake carrier or a foil-lined baking dish with parchment for easy travel.

Kid-Friendly Fun

This is one of those baking projects that’s just begging for little hands to help. We each had our own little assembly station—one of us frosted, one of us added antlers and noses, and the other one made sure nobody snuck too many M&Ms. (Spoiler: she totally did.)

These chocolate reindeer cupcakes are almost too cute to eat… almost.
We had the best time making them, and we hope you do too! And be sure to try some of our other Christmas recipes – reindeer pretzel treats, Christmas lights cupcakes, and Christmas present brownies!