Easy Cupcakes

Here’s a cupcake concept that is dependent on what fun, seasonal decorations you can find. This surprisingly detailed, wrapped chocolate rabbit was found in the bulk bin Easter area of a grocery store (Winco). A brown bunny could be Peter Rabbit. The carrots are from Kake Kreations, but could be made at home.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting (looks like garden dirt! You could also add crushed oreos); carrots made from icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake, position sitting rabbit on top, and add carrots — some on the ground, some “planted” in it.

I just can’t stop making reindeer cupcakes! I’m out of control! This version of Rudolph, great for Christmas parties, uses chocolate covered pretzels for the antlers. If you have trouble with your antlers flopping over (poor reindeer!), you can stabilize them with toothpicks, but take them out before giving to children.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; milk chocolate frosting; chocolate-covered pretzels such as Flipz; 2 black or dark brown M&Ms; cherry sour ball.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick pretzels into cupcake (you may want to cut little slits for them). Add eyes and nose.

All you need is a gummy shark and a knife (poor sharky!) to make this simple shark cupcake for an ocean-themed party, aquarium visit, or other event.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white, off-white, or light blue frosting; 1 gummy shark; knife or kitchen shears.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Carefully cut the shark slightly above its tail fin. Place the tail and the rest of the shark’s body a short ways apart on the cupcake, so it looks like his midsection is underwater.

For this little lion, all you need are candies — no special tips or tubes required. If you don’t have these exact candies, just pick something you do have.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted a deep yellow; chocolate sprinkles (mane); 2 large Wilton sprinkles (cheeks); 2 small white candies (eyes); brown mini M&M (nose); pink gel icing (mouth); 2 candy corns (ears); black food-safe pen.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles around the entire edge of the cupcake for mane. Use black food-safe pen to write pupil on white candy eyes. Add candies to make face as shown.

One of the parents in my son’s kindergarten class made these awesome dragon cupcakes for her son’s birthday. (They could also be dinosaur cupcakes, with spikes for a stegosaurus, etc. Or, pair them with pirate cupcakes for an all-out boy theme.) She told me she used two different metal tips: a larger one to “flow” the dragon’s body and a smaller one. (Remember, multi-opening tip #233 is great for making animal hair or grass.) Consider a from-scratch icing recipe, because homemade icing is often thicker and easier to control than canned frosting.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; frosting tinted green; frosting tinted yellow; frosting tinted black (or premade in tube); metal tips; pastry bags; couplers.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Use large metal tip to “flow” green icing in shape of dragon. Taper off at tail by reducing the pressure as you squeeze. Pipe yellow points for spikes and two yellow dots for eyes. Add black pupils to eyes.

Inspired by a recent article in Family Fun magazine, these cute black-and-white cow cupcakes are a great addition to a barnyard or farm-themed birthday party, ho down, or any cupcake cattle call!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 Junior Mints; 1 pick candy wafer; 2 mini brown M&Ms; 2 white jellybeans; black writing icing in tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use writing icing to make two dots on pink wafer for nostrils and place near center bottom of cupcake. Place Junior Mints, angled upward, near top of cupcake. Add jellybean horns and mini M&M eyes.

I like this lamb cupcake better than the marshmallow sheep I posted previously. By cutting the mini marshmallows in half (“shearing” the sheep, so to speak), you can make a cupcake that has dimension but isn’t overloaded.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; mini marshmallows; 2 brown mini M&Ms; 2 black candy-covered licorice pieces; red gel writing icing; kitchen shears or scissors.

How To Make It: Frost cupcake. Use scissors to cut each marshmallow in half and arrange as shown, circling the entire cupcake and then a couple of rows near the top. Add M&M eyes and licorice legs and then draw in the red mouth with gel icing.