Easy Cupcakes

Make the ears less pointy, and it’s a lamb! I modified this idea from a magazine. So cute for Easter.

What You need: cupcake; white frosting; mini marshmallows; 1 large marshmallow; 2 1/2 pink Jelly Belly jelly beans; 2 mini chocolate chips; kitchen shears.

How to Make it: Cut large marshmallow in half widthwise, pinch to form points, and add jelly beans to the sticky sides. Place near top for ears. Arrange mini marshmallows to form rabbit fur. Cut jellybean in half and place for nose. Add two mini chocolate chips for eyes.

You can get quite creative with this idea: decorate a chocolate candy Easter egg and place it upon a next of coconut grass.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; shredded coconut tinted green with food coloring; unwrapped flat-bottomed chocolate egg (found this one, wrapped in foil, by Russell Stover in my grocery store’s bulk foods section); various writing gels and other decorations.

How to Make It: Use gel or liquid food coloring to tint coconut green (a plastic zip-close bag works well for this). Sprinkle on cupcake. Unwrap chocolate. Use writing icing, candy confetti, and other edible treats to decorate your egg just how you like it. Place on top of cupcake.

I first saw this idea, using a circus peanut candy as a carrot, in Parents magazine. It’s so easy! If you don’t have stand-style licorice or fruit candy in green, just cut strips of a fruit roll.

What You Need: cupcake; white frosting; orange circus peanut; green fruit candy strips; something to poke a hole with (bamboo skewer, toothpick, etc.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Poke hole in end of circus peanut. Insert several strips of fruit roll.

Go crazy with candies on this white bunny cupcake for Easter. Use jelly beans, candy corn, mini marshmallows or whatever you have on hand. Set out an assortment of candies for a fun decorating project for kids.

What You Need: cupcake, white frosting, assorted candies. (I used: Jordan almonds for ears, mini marshmallow cut in half for cheeks, 2 Easter candy corns for bow tie, pink Jelly Belly for nose, large Wilton’s sprinkle circle for eyes, blue mini M&M for eyeball, and pink gel icing in a tube for the mouth).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange 2 candy corns point-to-point for bow. Add other candies as shown, or however you’d like!

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.

These bird nest cupcakes are made with crispy Chinese noodles and hold three sweet Robins Eggs (Whopper chocolates). They’re great for Easter or any springtime party, and easy for kids to make.

What You Need: cupcake; pink frosting; crunchy chow mein noodles (in the Asian foods aisle or bulk foods bins); Robin Egg chocolate or similar candy.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange crispy noodles to form a nest. Place three eggs in varying colors and speckles inside the nest.

When it comes to April Fool’s Day cupcakes, fake food is definitely the way to go. You can make all kinds of “dishes” that look appealing and unappealing at the same time: peas and carrots, potatoes and gravy, and so on. I decided on a fried egg cupcake, served up to my kid on the morning of April 1.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; yellow Starburst candy; microwave.

How to Make It: Melt some white frosting in the microwave for 5-10 seconds at about 30 percent power. (The time needed depends on your microwave, and the amount of frosting you’re melting.) Using a spoon, drop a dollop of frosting onto the cupcake and spread it around unevenly so it looks like egg white. Melt an unwrapped lemon Starburst candy in the microwave at 30 percent power for about 5 seconds. Using gloved fingers, shape the candy into an egg yolk and place on top of the egg white.