Oh Holiday baking, how I love it! Marc and I planned an ugly sweater party and I came across these awesome cupcake toppers on Amazon here. I absolutely had to get them. They were my inspiration for creating an amazing ugly sweater eggnog cupcake for the party for dessert and I was so excited about how they came out. This recipe took me a few attempts to get perfect but it was so worth it once I did!
I frosted the eggnog cupcakes with that gorgeous cream cheese frosting generously. I just used an offset spatula to do it since I knew I was putting the sweater toppers on them, but if you wanted to get really fancy you could use a piping bag. Red crystallized sugar and the cute toppers finished them perfectly. Those ugly sweater eggnog cupcakes looked so festive and tasted even better! It was Christmas on a plate in tacky form, ha! I can’t wait to serve these as part of dessert at the party. Enjoy the handy printable to serve at your own ugly sweater party!
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup eggnog
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon bourbon
- 1 1/4 sticks butter softened to room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 whole eggs
- 1/2 stick butter softened to room temperature
- 1 package cream cheese 8 oz size, softened to room temperature
- 2 1/2 tablespoons eggnog
- 1/2 tablespoon bourbon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- red crystallized sugar as needed for sprinkling on top
- 18 whole ugly sweater sticks for decorating
- Pre-heat the oven to 350. Get out two 12 well cupcake pans and line 18 of the wells with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon for the dry ingredients. In another bowl, stir the eggnog, white vinegar and bourbon together for the wet ingredients.
- Set up a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and combine the butter and sugar in its bowl. Beat them together thoroughly until it is a light and fluffy mixture. Add the eggs and let them get completely beaten in. Slowly pour in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the wet ingredients. Repeat with the next third of dry ingredients and the last of the wet ingredients. Finish with the last of the dry ingredients and let it all incorporate into a smooth, glorious batter.
- Fill each lined cupcake well about 3/4 of the way full, using a heaping 1/4 cup measure as a guide. Get the cupcakes in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden on the outside and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan, then carefully remove them to a rack to finish cooling.
- While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, prepare the easy frosting! Wash out the bowl and paddle attachment and dry them since you'll need them. Combine the butter and cream cheese in the bowl and beat them together thoroughly. Then add the eggnog, bourbon and nutmeg. Slowly add the powdered sugar until you have a luscious, smooth frosting.
- Frost the cupcakes using either an offset spatula or piping bag if you really want to get fancy. Sprinkle some red crystallized sugar on each one, then top each of them with an ugly sweater decoration. Enjoy the tacky goodness!