Easy Cupcakes

My friend’s sweet little girl is having a puppy-themed birthday party and I suggested these easy puppy dog cupcakes. The ears and tongue are made from cutup fruit rolls!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; red fruit roll; Junior Mint, malt ball or other round brown candy; 2 blue mini M&Ms; scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut fruit roll into ear and tongue shapes (you can do this freehand with kid-safe scissors or–adults only–a knife, and you can make a template from paper or cardstock first if you need to.) Bend short ends of ears slightly and insert each near top of cupcake. Add tongue to bottom. Place chocolate in center and add eyes. There are lots of variations you could make. Use white frosting and black gel icing for Dalmatian cupcakes and so on.

Having a ’50s party? Or making cupcakes with kids? These pink poodle cupcakes are quick, cute and simple.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted pink; pink mini marshmallows; pink mini jellybean or other small candy (for nose); black gel or writing icing; scissors.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut all but 2 mini marshmallows in half and place, sticky side down, all over cupcake except for a circle in the middle for the face. The 2 uncut marshmallows can be the dog ears. Add pink candy for nose. Use gel or writing icing to draw eyes and mouth, or use mini M&Ms or chocolate chips for eyes.