Easy Cupcakes

A fuzzy-looking chick cupcake is great for Easter or barnyard parties. This design is very similar to one that ran in Family Fun magazine.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or yellow frosting; shaved coconut; yellow dye (liquid, gel or paste); gummy orange slice; chocolate chips; scissors or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Tint coconut in a bowl or baggie by adding dye and mixing. Sprinkle on top of cupcake. Use scissors to cut off bit of orange slice and make beak shape. Place on cupcake. Add chocolate chip eyes.

Sure, you can just use colorful gummy worms to make tasty and gross cupcakes. But there’s something about a realistic candy earthworm that adds that extra “ew” factor. It even has a segment. I used Gummy Earthworms Candy by Gummies of All Shapes, made by the Iowa-based Foreign Candy Company.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; crumbled sandwich cookies (such as Oreo); candy rocks; gummy worm.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Crush cookies (a plastic bag works great) and sprinkle on top of cupcake. Add rocks and worm. Yum!

The bee on these beehive cupcakes is similar to a design by Martha Stewart, but canned frosting makes the hive extra easy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting in aerosol can with star tip; 2 yellow M&Ms; 2 black M&Ms; 2 short lengths stiff black licorice; 2 almond slices; black food-safe pen.

How to Make It: Affix star tip to canned icing and, using a circular motion, create tall beehive on top of cupcake. Using dabs of icing, assemble bee as shown, with M&Ms alternating and almond slice wings on either side. (Use food-safe marker for eyes.) Place near top of cupcake.

If you don’t worry about being perfectly accurate with your cupcake mammals, this pawprint cupcake could pass for a bear, dog, cat or other creature.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 1 mint patty (such as Necco); 3 Junior Mints.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange 3 Junior Mints above large mint.

Kids will love making these easy mouse cupcakes for Christmas or anytime. All you need are red candies and mini Nilla Wafers.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 mini Nilla Wafer cookies; red strand licorice (not the floppy kind); 2 red hots (cinnamon imperials); 1 red gumdrop; scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick cookies into top of cupcake for ears. Add nose and eyes. Cut licorice strand into six equal pieces and insert for whiskers.

Use Nutter Butter cookies to make tasty turkeys this Thanksgiving.

What You Need: White frosting; 1 Nutter Butter cookie (you can use the whole thing or just half); 5 short lengths of colored Twizzlers licorice; small bit of red licorice or molded candy (such as Starburst or Laffy Taffy) for wattle; 2 white M&Ms; 2 mini chocolate chips.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use dab of icing to attach M&M eyes with chocolate chip eyeball to Nutter Butter. Cut or mold red wattle and stick it to the cookie. Set on cupcake. Position colorful licorice behind cookie for feathers.

Thanksgiving guests will gobble up these turkey cupcakes, which are made with mint patties and sliced almonds.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; 1 thin mint patty (such as by Necco); Junior Mint; about 15 almond slices; candy eyes (or just use mini M&Ms or white icing); red writing icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake yellow. Place larger mint at center of cupcake. Using dab of icing as “glue,” put Junior Mint on larger mint for head. Add eyes and squeeze small line of red icing for wattle. Arrange sliced almonds in rows behind larger mint for feathers.