Easy Cupcakes

Cupcakes that look like apples would be a nice treat for the last day of school, or for a favorite teacher (for non-favorite teachers, add a gummy worm).

What You Need: 1 cupcake; icing tinted red; red sugar or sprinkles; candy spearmint leaf; scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with red sugar. The spearmint leaf is probably quite thick; use scissors to cut it in half or in thirds (you can use one of the other pieces on a second cupcake.) That’s it!

Arbor Day is coming up (in 2009 it’s April 24), and after you plant a tree you can plant an apple tree cupcake in your belly. Also great for Earth Day, Johnny Appleseed celebrations or anytime, these cupcakes are easy and fun.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; light green frosting; green gel icing in tube; red mini M&Ms. (You could use red hots instead, but the colors tend to run after awhile.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Draw tree shape using gel icing. Add upside-down M&Ms for apples on the tree and ground.

Did you know you can substitute applesauce for the oil in a cake mix recipe and end up with cupcakes that are lower in fat as well as especially moist? Complete the experience (or take a tongue-in-cheek jab at guests who don’t believe in crazy applesauce substitutions) by decorating your cupcakes like apples.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); icing tinted red; thick pretzel sticks; green icing and pastry bag with leaf tip (or just buy some of those sugared gel candy leaves).
How to Make It: It’s notoriously hard to get a good, deep red when tinting icing. It’s a good idea to use concentrated gel icing (as opposed to liquid drops), and spring for the No-Taste Red in the cake aisle, because red icing can taste funky when you’re using a lot of it. (You could also just go with green apples, or pink “Pink Lady” apples.) Frost cupcake. Break off end of pretzel and stick in cupcake for stem. Pipe green leaf using pastry bag and leaf tip, or simply add candy leaf.