Easy Cupcakes

A medium-sized star tip is the trick to these pink Valentine’s Day cupcakes, which have a heart perched on the top of each start.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; candy heart sprinkles; pastry bag and metal star tip (I used #21) or use tubed icing.

How to Make It: Use star tip to make pink stars all over top of cupcake. Carefully place a colored candy heart on top of each star.

For Valentine’s Day or anytime, for romance or “just friends,” these I Love You cupcakes combine chocolate and sentiment. I used strawberry-flavored frosting, so technically they also combine chocolate and strawberry. 😉

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; pink frosting; pastry bag and round metal tip (I used #4); pink conversation heart.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate. Write “I” and “You” using pink frosting, being sure to leave room for the heart. Place heart upside-down in gap.

Spice up Valentine cupcakes by simply arranging red hot candies in the shape of a heart.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted pink; red hots (cinnamon imperials).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Place red hots on cupcake in a heart shape.

Jazz up simple cupcakes by adding Valentine’s Day sprinkles to coconut! The combination makes for an attractive cupcake with taste and texture.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (I used Pillsbury’s canned Valentine’s Day frosting and it came with sprinkles in the lid); shredded coconut.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with coconut. Add Valentine sprinkles.

These conversation heart cupcakes are incredibly fast to make, and depending on which heart messages you choose, can be customized for kids, sweethearts or anyone on Valentine’s Day!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; 3 conversation hearts; chocolate icing in a tube, or use a pasty bag and metal tip #1.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange 3 hearts near top of cupcake. Use chocolate icing to “draw” balloon strings.

Consider “going chocolate” with your Valentine’s Day cupcakes. Add a sweet message, too!

What You Need: Chocolate icing; assorted Valentine’s Day themed sprinkles; pastry bag with No. 3 metal tip (or use chocolate icing in bag or tube).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Add sprinkles. Pipe X and O (or message of your choice) on top of cupcake–right on top of the sprinkles.

Make these cute pink bear cupcakes for a Valentine’s Day party at your kid’s school, or for your sweetheart.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; frosting tinted pink (or just use Pillsbury’s Valentine frosting like I did); chocolate frosting (or black writing icing in a tube); 2 heart-shaped cinnamon candies; pastry bag and coupler; No. 12 metal tip; No. 5 metal tip; No. 1 metal tip. (No. 1 is for the eyes, nose and mouth.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Fit pastry bag with coupler and No. 12 metal tip and fill partway with pink icing. Squeeze in one spot near center of cupcake (don’t pull up) for bear head. Switch to No. 5 tip. Squeeze to create bear’s muzzle and ears. Use pastry bag and No. 1 tip to add features using chocolate icing. Add 2 heart-shaped red hots, points touching, for bow. For a girl bear, add a bow to her “hair.”