New Years Eve Party Hat Cupcakes

Let’s count down to midnight together in style with my fun and easy New Years Eve Party Hat Cupcakes! With a couple simple decorating tips, these cupcakes come together in a really creative way. All you need is a few gumballs, festive sprinkles, and an ice cream cone for your “party hat!”

Ready? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

First off, you’ll need to make some yummy cupcakes! You can do any flavor with this recipe/tutorial, but I used my classic vanilla cake & vanilla buttercream.

HOW TO MAKE EASY VANILLA CUPCAKES & Buttercream

The ingredients are pretty simple for my white cake recipe – most of them you’ll already have in your kitchen!

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE VANILLA CUPCAKES:

• BUTTERMILK – If you don’t have buttermilk, you can always make your own by adding about a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to your whole milk, letting it sit for a half hour to curdle, and then using it in your recipe.
• SOUR CREAM – Always go for the full-fat real stuff. It’s thick and creamy and works wonders for the texture of your cupcakes.
• EGG WHITES – Lots of recipes require so many egg whites. This one only needs 4! Make sure your ingredients from the fridge are all room temperature before using, and save those egg yolks for a yummy curd, custard, or right in your morning scrambled eggs.
• VANILLA – I use my inexpensive vanilla in my cupcakes, and then use my more expensive stuff in my buttercream. So if you use imitation stuff here, I won’t tell anyone.
• VEGETABLE OIL – the oil in these cupcakes make them super fluffy, so I recommend not subbing in melted butter for this one.
• WHITE CAKE MIX – I prefer the taste and texture of Duncan Hines, but if you use a similar brand, you’ll be fine.

The directions for my cupcakes are here with my white cake recipe. For the transition from cake to cupcake, all you’ll need to do is split the cake batter into 24 cupcakes, then bake the cupcakes for about 12-14 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE EASY VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

For my New Years Eve Party Hat Cupcakes, I went with my vanilla buttercream recipe.

INGREDIENTS FOR EASY VANILLA BUTTERCREAM:

• UNSALTED BUTTER – Left out at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften slightly before whipping them up in the stand mixer.
• SALT – I know, we went with unsalted butter and then added salt to it. Seems like madness, but it’s how we can better control the amount of salt in the buttercream. The salt balances out the sweet.
• VANILLA – I love using the good stuff. Use pure vanilla and maybe even a little half teaspoon of almond extract if you want a little extra something!
• HEAVY CREAM – I love the 40% Darigold brand, but anything similar should be good. This helps you control the consistency of your buttercream.
• POWDERED SUGAR – Add it half a cup at a time and use it to balance the consistency of the buttercream.

The DIRECTIONS for my easy vanilla buttercream are HERE.

Step by step tutorial:

Step 1: Pipe a rim of buttercream around the outside of the top of the cupcake. You don’t need a round piping tip like I have here in the photo, you can just snip off the end of a piping bag and that will work perfectly!

Step 2: Roll the cupcake in festive sprinkles! I used these ones, but anything similar should be great!

Step 3: Frost the ice cream cone with buttercream (this can be easier if you put the cone on your middle three fingers. I used an offset icing spatula at the end to smooth it out nicely.

Step 4: Roll the buttercream ice cream cone in sanding sugar. I found mine here.

Step 5: Snip off the top of the party hat, pipe on a little buttercream, then place the gumball right on top!

That’s it! Aren’t they so fun? You could always take it up a notch with filling the cones with cake pop filling or candies. Anything to keep the holidays festive and fun, right? I can’t wait to see what the new year has in store, and all the many new bakes to come!

Here’s a little fun video of it all coming together:

I loved seeing your Baking with Blondie creations in the kitchen. Make sure to tag me, @bakingwithblondie on Instagram, Tiktok, or Youtube so I can join in on all the fun.

Happy Baking!

xo,

Mandy