Easy Cupcakes

Inspired by a recent article in Family Fun magazine, these cute black-and-white cow cupcakes are a great addition to a barnyard or farm-themed birthday party, ho down, or any cupcake cattle call!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 Junior Mints; 1 pick candy wafer; 2 mini brown M&Ms; 2 white jellybeans; black writing icing in tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use writing icing to make two dots on pink wafer for nostrils and place near center bottom of cupcake. Place Junior Mints, angled upward, near top of cupcake. Add jellybean horns and mini M&M eyes.

These pink pig cupcakes get their sweet, textured ears from sugar wafer cookies with waffle pattern.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted pink; pink sugar wafer cookie; large pink candy-coated mint or similar pink candy; 2 blue mini M&Ms; white icing in tube or pastry bag; knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use knife to cut cookies into triangle shapes and place near top of pig’s head for ears. Pipe 2 white dots on pink candy for nose and place in center of face. Add M&M eyes.

Cut apart sugar-coated fruit gel or “gem” candies to make these chick cupcakes for Easter, a farm party or anytime. They also make cute baby shower cupcakes.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow or other light-colored icing; 3 yellow fruit gels or gems; 1 orange fruit gel or gem; 2 blue mini M&Ms; scissors, kitchen shears or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut a small (approx. 1/4 inch) amount off the bottom of one yellow fruit gel for chick body and position about 1/2″ from bottom of the cupcake, cut edge facing down. Cut second yellow fruit or gel or gem in half and position to left and right of body for wings. Place third gel on top of body for head. Cut two medium triangle wedges for feet and a small wedge for beak. Adhere beak and blue M&M eyes to head using small dabs of icing.

Here’s a pig cupcake with a nice, big snout. All of the decorations are candies, so no need for pastry bags, tips or piping!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; 1 pink Mentos; 2 black or dark brown M&Ms; 2 pink Jordan almonds or candy-coated chocolate eggs; 2 brown mini M&Ms.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick Jordan almonds near top of cupcake for ears. Use dab of icing to attach 2 mini M&Ms to Mentos for snout and place in center of cupcake. Add M&M eyes.

No, not cupcakes made with chicken. A cupcake of a chicken. Enjoy them at a farm-themed party or anytime.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 red Swedish fish; 2 black (or brown, or blue) M&Ms; candied orange slice; kitchen shears or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut tails and heads off Swedish fish (it won’t hurt them). Stick head into frosting at center top of head and put the tails, which are smaller, on either side. Cut triangle shape from orange candy for beak and place near center of cupcake. Place M&Ms, upside down, directly above beak.

Easter cupcakes don’t get much easier than this! You can make a whole flock of chicks in minutes.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; frosting tinted yellow; 2 orange mini M&Ms; 1 candy corn.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with white icing. Drop a spoonful or scoop of yellow icing in the center of the cupcake. (For more uniform chick sizes, use a cookie scoop, melon baller or similar implement.) Add M&M eyes and candy corn nose.

For Easter or anytime, try these fuzzy sheep (or lamb) cupcakes. Or, alter them to make a white dog!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; shaved coconut (optional); white, black and pink jelly beans (we used Jelly Bellys); 2 blue mini M&Ms.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Add dollop or scoop (we used a cookie scoop) to add head near center of cupcake. For sturdier head, you could frost a mini cupcake. Sprinkle with coconut. Add black jelly beans for ears, pink for nose and cover the back with white jelly beans for fleece. Add blue M&M eyes.