Easy Cupcakes

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.

You don’t have to be a zombie to have a taste for brains on Halloween. Or at least brain cupcakes. I’ve seen variations on this creepy cupcake idea in which the “brains” are mini marshmallows and the blood is icing rather than gel. Yum!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; white frosting; red gel writing icing; pastry bag and round metal tip (I used #5).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate icing. Using pastry bag fitted with #5 tip, make two groups of circles (remember to stop squeezing the icing bag before you pull up or you’ll get little peaks). For each hemisphere of the brain, I made an inside row of four circles and an outside row of three. Then, drizzle red gel for oozing blood. Happy Halloween!

For Halloween or Day of the Dead celebrations, use white icing and mini marshmallows to create this simple skeletons. Vary their arm and leg positions so they can dance!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; white frosting; pastry bag, coupler and small metal tip such as #2 (or, just use tubed icing); edible food markers.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate. Let set for a few minutes. Use pastry bag to pipe skeleton legs, arms, body and ribs. Use black food marker to make eyes on a mini marshmallow. Place on top of skeleton body.