- 9 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 4 drops almond extract, or more to taste
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 3/4 cups ground almonds
- round cookie or biscuit cutter
- small holly leaf-shaped cutter
- 1 pound ready-to-use white fondant, divided
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, or as needed
- 2 drops green food coloring, or as desired
- 1 drop red food coloring, or as needed
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Beat the butter, sugar, and almond extract in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the self-rising flour. Gently fold the ground almonds into the batter; spoon batter into the prepared cupcake cups, filling them about halfway.
- Bake the cupcakes until they have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
- To decorate, knead the fondant until pliable; set aside about 1/3 of the fondant. Roll out the larger portion of the fondant on a work surface dusted generously with confectioners' sugar. Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter the same size as the cupcake tops, cut out circles of the fondant; place a fondant circle on each cupcake. Press the fondant down lightly.
- Divide the remaining fondant into four even portions; place 3 portions into a bowl and the other into a second small bowl. Tint the larger portion to your desired shade of green with the green food coloring. Tint the smaller portion to your desired shade of red food coloring.
- Roll out the green fondant on a work surface generously dusted with confectioners' sugar and cut out 32 holly leaves with leaf-shaped cutter. Use your finger to rub away any white confectioners' sugar on the green leaves and arrange 2 leaves on each cupcake. Roll red fondant into 48 small red berries and place 3 berries on the leaves of each cupcake.