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Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Looking for a fun, festive treat to make while cheering on Team USA in the Winter Olympics?

These Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes are so fun & simple to make – I know you & your family will love them!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

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Here are the materials you need to make the candy snowflakes and Olympic rings:

  • Paper template with snowflake and Olympic ring shapes 
  • Flat baking sheet (one that’s small enough to fit in your fridge or freezer for a few minutes)
  • Wax paper
  • Plain M&Ms (or any M&Ms that are the same shape and size as the plain ones)
  • 6-8oz of white baking bark (this is what I always use when I’m doing any kind of candy coating, but if you don’t have this brand in your store, just try to use white baking bark rather than white chocolate chips. I think it melts a lot easier.) Also, that amount assumes you’re making 24 cupcakes. If you’re making more, you’ll probably need more candy bark than that.
  • Small microwave-safe dish
  • Zipper sandwich bag
  • Pair of scissors
  • USA Flag Toothpicks (I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but I checked and you can also find them on Amazon. These are so fun!)

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

How to make the candy snowflakes and Olympic rings:

Step 1: Set up your work station

Place the sheet of paper with the snowflake & Olympic Ring shapes on the baking pan, and then cover the sheet of paper with a sheet of wax paper.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Step 2: Melt the almond bark/candy coating

Place the baking bark into a microwave-safe dish and heat for 45 seconds.  Remove from microwave, stir, and place back in the microwave for another 45 seconds. 

You shouldn’t need to microwave more than 2-3 times to get the baking bark completely melted.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Let the melted bark sit in the dish for about 5 minutes – not too much longer than that. Just enough to let it not be soooo runny. 

Step 3: Pipe the white candy coating to trace the snowflakes

Cut a small hole in one of the tips of the plastic bag, and use a spoon to scoop in a little bit of the baking bark into the bag. I forgot to take a picture of this, but you can see what I’m talking about in the photos below:

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Then you just start tracing the snowflakes with it. You might need to do a few before you get comfortable with the bag, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly.

It takes a second to get used to holding the bag and tracing the snowflakes. If you mess up, no big deal. Just change out the wax paper and start over!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Step 4: Trace the rings & add the M&Ms

Once you’re finished with the round of snowflakes, you’ll start working on the rings.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Use those thick black dots as guides, but you don’t need to be exact. See pictures below:

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

You just need to make the dots large enough that when you press down the M&Ms, they’ll push out enough candy coating to connect from one dot to the other. See?

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

See how when I pushed them down, the dots connected?

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

This is pretty fun once you start going!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

After you press all 5 of the M&Ms down, you’ll go back over and put a white dot in each one so they look more like the Olympic Rings.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Look how fun and festive! I am so excited for the Winter Olympics!!

Here’s a note: If your baking bark begins to get a little stiff in the baggy, place the baggy in the microwave (with the baking bark inside) for about 5 seconds. It’ll soften it right up. You can see below how clumpy the rings turned out when the bark got too cold. Unless you’re working in a really cold environment, this shouldn’t happen too quickly. You should be able to work quite a bit with the baking bark before you need to give it a quick zap in the microwave.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Step 5: Allow them to set

Once you’ve finished that sheet of snowflakes and rings, you’ll place the baking sheet in your freezer for about 5 minutes or your fridge for about 10 to help the candy coating set.

Then you’ll remove the pan and begin taking the elements off of the wax paper and setting them on a different pan (or right into the cupcakes if you’ve already made and frosted them).

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Tip: Sometimes the snowflakes break, so be aware of that and make some extras. I made several extra – it hardly takes any time – so I’d have plenty for topping off my cupcakes.

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Then, depending on how many cupcakes you’re making, do however many more rounds you need to make enough snowflakes and Olympic Rings. Just keep using that same stencil – no need to print more than one, and you probably don’t even need to replace the wax paper since the candies come right off! 

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

These are just so fun and festive! I can’t wait for you to enjoy them with your fam while you watch the Games!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Like I mentioned, you can use any cupcake recipe you’d like for these, but if you want to use my lemon cake recipe below, you will not be disappointed. 😉

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Happy gathering with folks and watching the Games! Go Team USA!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

And once again, here’s the paper template you’ll need for making the snowflakes & Olympic rings. Enjoy!!

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

 

Patriotic Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

Winter Olympic Cupcakes with Candy Snowflakes

5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Author: TheAmericanPatriette

Ingredients

For the lemon cupcakes:

  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 5.1 oz box instant or Cook & Serve vanilla pudding
  • ½ c vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ c whole milk
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 6 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • Zest from 1 lemon

For the lemon buttercream frosting:

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
  • 4 c powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsp lemon juice juice from about 2-3 lemons
  • Zest from 1 lemon

For the topping:

  • 1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut
  • 4-6 oz white baking bark
  • Plain M&Ms

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Using a stand or a hand mixer, blend cake mix, pudding mix, and oil together.
  • Add eggs one at a time, mixing between additions.
  • Pour in milk and continue to mix.
  • Add sour cream, lemon juice, and zest.
  • Mix until everything is thoroughly blended together, but DO NOT over mix.
  • Pour cake batter into gold cupcake liners in cupcake pan, and place pan oven for 20 minutes.
  • Check middle cupcake with a toothpick; if it comes out clean, remove the pan from the oven, but if not, let them bake a couple more minutes.
  • Remove cupcakes from oven. Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the pan. Place cupcakes on a cooling rack, and then make the second half of the cupcakes using the remaining batter.
  • For the icing, cream together the butter and powdered sugar in a stand or a hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice and zest.
  • Once you're finished mixing the ingredients together for the icing, pipe icing onto completely cooled cupcakes, sprinkle on the coconut, and then follow the instructions in this post for making the candy snowflakes and Olympic Rings.*
  • Top 'em off with an American flag, and enjoy watching the Games with family and friends!

Notes

*Click here to download the snowflake/Olympic rings paper template

2 Comments

  1. These are so cute!!!! I can’t believe you made those Olympic Rings!? At first I thought they were something you bought. Great idea. I also LOVE the olympics. It’s so fun to watch and get excited for the athletes and team USA!

    >> Christene
    Keys to Inspiration

    1. Thank you! Oh my gosh, girl, I used to do soooo much intricate baking before I had kids! It is so therapeutic! I don’t have as much time to do the intricate baking these days, but I have a lot of fun when I can! 🙂 We’ve had the TV on SO MUCH the last few days. It is so fun to watch the Olympics!

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