These snowy Polar Bear Cupcakes are decorated with buttercream frosting and sprinkles to look like a polar bear face! They’re a fun and festive cupcake recipe for the winter season.
Polar Bear Cupcakes
A few years ago I shared these Polar Bear Oreos on one of my other websites. They were such a hit and I still love them! Today I’m sharing the cupcake version — if you’re looking for a unique holiday treat that’s also easy to make, bookmark this recipe!
If you are looking for a festive and awesome cupcake recipe, you can’t go wrong with these adorable polar bear cupcakes. They’re so simple to make, and the added polar bear design makes them perfect for some arctic fun indoors.
These cute mini cakes are perfect for winter holidays, from Christmas to a winter wonderland theme. They are immediately recognizable as polar bears! Kids will love to decorate and eat these arctic inspired cupcakes!
The best part is that they are simple to make! You start with a vanilla cupcake, cover it with lots of vanilla frosting, and use white chocolate melting wafers to make the polar bear ears and muzzle. I provided a from-scratch recipe to make the cupcakes and icing, however, you can save time by using a box mix or even pre-made cupcakes and just decorate them.
Ingredients
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Vanilla Cupcake
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg whites
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Decorating Supplies
- Black pearl sprinkles
- White sanding sugar
- White chocolate melting wafers
- Piping bag fitted with a large round tip
- Large cookie scoop
- Small offset spatula
Instructions
If using pre-made cupcakes or your own vanilla cupcake recipe, you can skip down to the decorating steps.
To Make the Cupcakes
To Prep: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place cupcake liners in a muffin tin.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla extract.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, or about 2-3 minutes. (You can also use an electric hand mixer).
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and slowly add the egg and egg whites one at a time, mixing as you add, for 1-2 minutes.
- To the stand mixer bowl, add half of dry ingredients, then add all of the milk mixture, and finally the remaining flour mixture, until everything is incorporated.
- Divide the cupcake batter evenly among the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. The tops of the cupcakes should be just dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of any of them should come out clean.
To Make the Icing
- Cream together the butter and vanilla extract,
- Mix in 2 cups of icing sugar on low speed until combined. At this point, the frosting will still be grainy.
- Mix in the remaining powdered sugar and slowly increase speed to medium speed.
- Pour in the heavy cream and continue to mix until the frosting is smooth and can hold a peak.
To Decorate
- Use a large cookie scoop to place a mound of white frosting on top of the cupcake and use your spatula to smooth it so the entire top of the cupcake is evenly covered by a thick layer of frosting.
- Scoop the remaining frosting into a piping bag. Pipe a dollop of frosting on top of your white chocolate melting wafers — you’ll need 3 per cupcake. Place one of your frosted wafers into the top left of your cupcake and one into the top right of your cupcake to make ears.
- Place the third frosted chocolate wafer on top of the middle of the cupcake, to form the nose.
- Using the white sanding sugar, cover all of the frosted cupcake. Place two black pearl sprinkles for the eyes, gently press them down so they are secure in the frosting. Use another pearl sprinkle on top of the nose.
Prep Tips
- When decorating, I recommend putting the cupcakes on a wire rack OVER a baking sheet. This will catch the excess sanding sugar and make the decorating process less messy.
- If you don’t have black pearl sprinkles or can’t find them at the store, you can use chocolate chips instead and press the pointy side down into the frosting.
- A cookie scoop is handy for portioning out even amounts of frosting for the top of each cupcake. If you don’t have one, grab a large soup spoon and add a heaping spoonful of icing to each cupcake.
- We used white sanding sugar crystals to make our polar bears look “furry,” but shredded coconut could work too.
More Holiday Cupcake Recipes
Polar Bear Cupcakes Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)
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Polar Bear Cupcakes
Equipment
- Black edible pearl sprinkles
- 2 - 8 oz white sanding sprinkles
- 1 - 30 oz Ghirardelli white melting wafers
- 1 large piping bag fitted with a large round tip
- Large round cookie scoop
- 1 mini angled cake spatula
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcake
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter slightly softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 egg whites
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 TB vanilla extract
- 4 TB heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Cupcake Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a 12 cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
- Reduce speed to medium-low and slowly add the egg and egg whites one at a time, mixing as you add, until creamy.
- Slowly add half the flour mixture, then the milk mixture, then the remaining flour mixture, beating until just blended after each addition.
- Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners and bake 18-20 minutes.
Icing Directions
- Cream the butter and vanilla, then mix in 2 cups of powdered sugar on low speed.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and slowly increase speed to medium speed.
- Mix in the heavy whipping cream until everything is well combined and frosting can hold a peak.
Decorating Directions
- Use your cookie scoop to add a mound of frosting to the top of each cooled cupcake and an offset spatula to smooth and even.
- Scoop remaining frosting into the piping bag and pipe a dollop of frosting on top of each white chocolate wafer (you will need 3 wafers per cupcake).
- Place two frosted chocolate wafers into the top/sides of the cupcake for the bear's ears.
- Place a wafer in the center of the frosted cupcake as the nose.
- Cover the entire surface of the cupcakes with white sanding sugar.
- Place two black pearl sprinkles for the eyes, and one black pearl sprinkle on top of the nose.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin Our Polar Bear Cupcakes on Pinterest:
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