Updated 10/18/2025
Happy Holidays from the Port St. Lucie Mom Blog. Okay, I know I say this every December, but this one might actually take the cake (literally). My cousin Amy sent me a photo of the cupcakes she made for her son’s class—tiny edible Baby Jesus snuggled in chocolate-frosted mangers—and I just about lost it. I mean, tell me that’s not the most adorable thing you’ve seen all week. Perfect for Christmas Eve baking with the kids, and bonus: zero glitter cleanup involved.
So I immediately messaged her and said, “Amy, I’m stealing this for Recipe Monday.” She said, “Go for it.” And here we are.
Ingredients:
- 1 box cake mix (any flavor your crew loves)
- Cupcake liners
- 1 tub chocolate frosting
- 1 tub white frosting
- Mini vanilla wafers
- Chocolate graham crackers
- Yellow sprinkles
Here’s how it goes:
Bake your cupcakes and let them cool down completely—otherwise the frosting will melt and it’ll look like poor Baby Jesus took a nap in a mudslide.
Frost the tops with chocolate frosting first and let them sit a few minutes so it sets up a bit. Break some chocolate graham crackers into quarters.
Scoop the rest of your chocolate frosting into a ziplock bag, seal it, and snip off one corner. Pipe two lines of frosting on either side of each cupcake. Then gently press two graham cracker pieces lengthwise on top so they lean toward each other, forming a little manger roof. (If it collapses, just tell everyone it’s the “humble stable aesthetic.”)
Now for Baby Jesus:
Spoon the white frosting into another ziplock bag, seal, and snip the corner. Near the top of the cupcake, pipe a little fluffy “halo” of frosting. Set a mini vanilla wafer at a slight angle there for the face. Then pipe a line of white frosting down the middle to make the swaddled body.
Sprinkle yellow crystals over the “halo” and the end of the frosting line for the toes. Boom. Instant nativity scene, cupcake edition.
This makes about 24 little miracles.
Merry Christmas Eve, friends. And thank you, Amy, for being the reason my kitchen currently smells like sugar and salvation.