Easy Cupcakes

Well, technically speaking, these are Frankenstein’s monster cupcakes. They’re easy to make, with cool marshmallow bolts on his neck. I made them even more quickly thanks to canned frosting that is already tinted green. This is a variation of an idea I saw in a 2003 Halloween issue of Parents magazine.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting; black writing icing or gel; red writing gel; 2 mini marshmallows; 2 black or brown M&Ms; toothpicks (optional).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use writing gels to draw nose, mouth, hair and Frankenstein stitches. Add sideways M&Ms for eyes. Use toothpicks to make marshmallow bolts stick out from neck, or just place them directly on the cupcake.

I’d signed up to bring cupcakes to a pre-Thanksgiving “harvest” event at my kid’s school, and I realized I wasn’t going to have to time for elaborate decorations. Thankfully, premade sugar toppers in pumpkin and owl shapes (I’m pretty sure these are by CakeMate) and leaf-shaped sprinkles came to the rescue. Also, the simple 1M swirl technique adds class to any cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 1M metal tip and pastry bag; premade pumpkin topper; leaf sprinkles.

How to Make It: Fit 1M tip into pastry bag. Working from the outside of the cupcake inward, squeeze steadily to create a swirly top. Sprinkle with leave sprinkles. Add pumpkin to top. That’s it!

Long strands of stiff licorice give this Halloween spider a spooky reach. Use chocolate frosting, sprinkles and M&M eyes to make him even tastier.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; chocolate sprinkles; black (or dark brown) M&Ms; black licorice (strand style); knife or kitchen shears.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. Place two black M&Ms, letter side down, for eyes. Cut licorice into eight equal strands and insert into cupcake for legs.

This quick and easy spiderweb cupcake is a great Halloween project for kids — if you can keep them from biting the tips off the Hershey’s Kisses. (OK, I was tempted, too.)

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; orange frosting; Hershey’s Kiss; black string licorice; toothpick; scissors; pastry bag and round tip or just use a plastic bag with a corner cut off.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate frosting. “Pipe” three concentric circles of orange frosting as shown. Drag toothpick from middle to edge of cupcake, forming a web shape. Do this all the way around the cupcake, 7 or 8 times, but wipe toothpick clean in between each motion. Place Hershey’s Kiss upside down on cupcake (you might want to cut off the end so it will lie flatter). Use scissors or knife to carefully cut off spider “legs” about 1/2 inch long and place four on each side of Hershey’s Kiss.

An orange-colored Mentos candy colored with food-safe pen makes the perfect Jack o’ lantern cupcake for Halloween. Try “carving” different face designs and make a whole pumpkin patch!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; Halloween (or any) sprinkles; 1 orange Mentos candy from the Fruit roll; food-safe black pen; bit of green fruit roll or string.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use food-safe pen to draw face on Mentos for Jack-o-lantern. Attach bit of green fruit roll with dab of icing. Place on cupcake. Add sprinkles.

A few weeks ago, Mentos asked to post my pig cupcake on its Facebook page. Of course, I was happy to share, and yesterday I came home to a FedEx envelope full of rolls of fruit and peppermint Mentos! Those got the creative juices flowing and thus this post begins a series of cupcakes featuring Mentos candies.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate or green-tinted frosting; 4 or 5 orange Mentos candies; green fruit leather or string; scissors or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate for “dirt” or green for “grass.” Cut 4 or 5 quarter-inch lengths of fruity string. Use tiny dabs of icing to adhere to tops of Mentos for pumpkin stalks. Arrange on top of cupcake. Fill in with curls of fruit string for vines.

Shredded Wheat is the straw on these fun scarecrow cupcakes that are made using only candies and cereal — no fancy piping or icing in tubes!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; chocolate (or black) Twizzler; shredded wheat (I used spoon-size); 2 black or brown M&Ms; orange chocolate covered sunflower seed (or substitute mini M&M turned sideways); black shoelace licorice; scissors or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Break apart shredded wheat and sprinkle or place at top and bottom for straw. Cut Twizzler into one length almost as wide as the cupcake and another length slightly shorter. Assemble as shown for hat. Place candy eyes, nose and mouth.