![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/tower.jpg)
I dedicated this weekend to tackling all my holiday shopping, so when I had to bring a dessert to a good friend’s holiday party I didn’t have much time to bake something elaborate. With literally 45 minutes to get myself presentableand have the dessert ready I knew exactly what needed to happen. Bring in the cupcakes! I had found this amazingly cute paper cupcake tower with matching cupcake wraps, and together they served as my contribution to the super chic holiday soireĆ©.
To answer your premeditated questions, no, I did not make them from scratch. Yes, I used a box. And, yes, I did crumble my own candy-canes to make the crunchy minty topping/garnish. The boxed red velvet cake mix is delicious and easy and seriously gets the job done. Do we really need to waste all that time making cupcakes from scratch? I think not!
![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/red-velvet-1024x682.jpg)
![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/candy-cane--1024x728.jpg)
![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/frosting-1024x681.jpg)
![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/frost-1024x816.jpg)
![](https://cdn.sivanayla.com/tower-681x1024.jpg)