Indulge in Christmas flavors with our delicious honey almond cupcakes! The cupcakes are made with honey-roasted almonds, a generous pinch of cinnamon, and cream cheese to keep them moist.
Christmas cupcake recipe
We decorate the cupcakes with edible pine cones and spruce branches, and also show a technique to emboss the sugar paste circles with a beautiful pattern. The cupcakes look stunning served in our free printable cupcake wrappers from our Winter in the Woods holiday collection, the download link is in the video description.

More Christmas baking recipes
Want more delicious Christmas baking recipes? Of course you do! Click on the links below for more sweet treats and bakes:
- Lemon Shortbread Stars
- Homemade Cookie Butter
- Hot Chocolate on A Stick
- DIY Star Sprinkles
- Chocolate Star Surprise Inside Cake
- Cranberry Pistachio Muffin Mix
- Classic Sugar Cookies

Tools
- kitchen scale or measuring cups and spoons
- large and small mixing bowls
- whisk
- sieve
- large metal spoon
- cutting board
- small paring knife
- non-stick baking mat
- baking tray (sheet)
- oven mitts or kitchen towel
- cooling rack

Storage and shelf life
You can store the undecorated cupcakes in the freezer for a month. Decorated cupcakes keep fresh at room temperature for 3 days.

Honey Almond Cupcakes Recipe
The cupcakes are made with honey-roasted almonds, a generous pinch of cinnamon, and cream cheese to keep them moist. For chocolate honey almond cupcakes, replace 2 tbsp of flour with 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder and prepare the cupcakes as described in the recipe.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 200 g (1 1/8 cups) chopped almonds
- 200 g (2/3 cup) honey
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 200 g cream cheese, softened
- 80 g (6 tbsp) melted butter
- 60 ml (4 tbsp) orange juice
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 eggs (Uk & Europe: M / US, CA, AUS, NZ: L)
For decorating
- 80 g (1/4 cup) apricot jam
- white sugar paste (fondant)
- gel paste food color in brown and green
- white fat or shortening to grease the mold
- dark green petal dust
- printable cupcake wrapper (download below)
Instructions
- Make the pine cones. To make the decorations, lightly grease a pine cone mold. Roll small amounts of brown and green sugar or flower paste into smooth balls and press firmly into the mold. Release the cones and branches and let dry for several hours or overnight. We gave the branches a more depth by brushing them with green petal dust.
- Roast the almonds. Add the almonds and honey into a heavy-bottom saucepan and roast on low to medium heat until the almonds look golden, for approximately 5 to 8 minutes. Stir constantly, so the nuts don’t burn. Set aside.
- Prep work. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, which is 350 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 4, and line a twelve-hole cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
- Mix the cupcake batter. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened cream cheese, brown sugar, salt and melted butter. Add the eggs and orange juice and mix to combine. Proceed by adding the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and roasted almonds. Mix the batter for 1 to 2 minutes, until all ingredients are well combined.
- Bake the cupcakes. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 with batter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cupcakes have risen and look golden-brown. Place on a wire rack to cool for 1 hour.
- Create sugar paste cut-outs. Knead white sugar paste, which is the same as fondant, until soft and pliable. Roll the paste on a very lightly greased silicone mat to a thickness of 6 millimeters or one-quarter of an inch. Optionally, place a damask cake stencil on the sugar paste and firmly roll over with the rolling pin, which will emboss the design and create a beautiful effect. Using a round scalloped cookie cutter, cut out circles large enough to cover a cupcake.
- Assemble the cupcakes. Glaze each cupcake with a thin layer of apricot jam and top with a sugar paste circle. Brush the back of a cone and branch with a small amount of water and arrange on the cupcake. It’s best to decorate the cupcakes close to the time they are served and not store them in the fridge, so the sugar paste doesn’t melt.
Notes
Storage and shelf life
You can store the undecorated cupcakes in the freezer for a month. Decorated cupcakes keep fresh at room temperature for 3 days.

Print and assemble the cupcake wrapper
Print the cupcakes wrappers on DIN A4 (210 mm x 297 mm) or letter-size (8.5 in x 11 in) cardstock or photo paper. Cut out the wrappers along the grey line. To assemble the cupcake wrappers, fit a wrapper around undecorated cupcakes and glue the ends of the wrapper together with double-sided tape.
Free Printable Cupcake Wrapper
Click on the button to download your free printable cupcake wrapper to serve the honey almond cupcakes in style!