Easy Cupcakes

These are super-easy St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes. Just assemble the toppers and kids can help make a batch quickly (for school parties) by adding Lucky Charms cereal.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting; Lucky Charms cereal; cupcake topper; large circle punch; printable cupcake toppers (I used Lucky You cupcake toppers from Chickabug, offered free via HowDoesShe.com); glue; toothpick.

How to Make It: Download, print, punch, and assemble cupcake toppers (glue two facing toppers onto a toothpick). Stick into top of cupcake. Surround with Lucky Charms.

Here’s my take on the rainbow and pot of gold cupcakes that have been circulating around Pinterest St. Patrick’s Day boards. The key is getting your hands on those sour belt candies — I’ve seen them at drugstores such as CVS, but I was able to buy them singly at a candy shop. Yum! My belts were on the soft side; I had to prop up the middle with a toothpick. If you use this, make sure you take them out before serving to little kids.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting (I used canned Christmas frosting already tinted); rainbow-colored sour belt; mini marshmallows; Rolo candy (if you don’t buy the bag of individual wrapped ones, you can fashion a pot of gold out of a Rolo and the long, gold wrapper the regular rolls are wrapped in.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arch rainbow and secure at one end by sticking a Rolo to it with frosting “glue.” Surround each end with mini marshmallow clouds.

I used both Star of David sprinkles and a shaped sugar piece on this Hanukkah cupcake. This year, I messed up and baked my Hanukkah cupcakes in my Christmas wrappers and vice versa. Cupcake mixup mashup!

What You Need: 1 cupcake, white frosting, 1M metal tip (for swirl); blue and white Star of David sprinkles; blue star.

How to Make It: Using 1M tip, make swirl on top of cupcake. Sprinkle with stars. Add Star of David to top. That’s it!

This rattle cupcake, perfect for a baby shower, is a variation of a design seen in a Betty Crocker publication. Change colors and candies for a less feminine look, or for variety. These rattles would also be cute with a baby’s name written on them in icing.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; lollipop stick; large yellow gumdrop; 5 small gummy candies; 5 purple candy-covered sunflower seeds; 1 small white candy; 1 white jellybean; length of pink gingham ribbon.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Insert lollipop stick into one side of cupcake, piercing through the wrapper. Stick other end into rounded part of gumdrop. Decorate with candies as shown, or use your imagination!

Well, technically speaking, these are Frankenstein’s monster cupcakes. They’re easy to make, with cool marshmallow bolts on his neck. I made them even more quickly thanks to canned frosting that is already tinted green. This is a variation of an idea I saw in a 2003 Halloween issue of Parents magazine.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting; black writing icing or gel; red writing gel; 2 mini marshmallows; 2 black or brown M&Ms; toothpicks (optional).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use writing gels to draw nose, mouth, hair and Frankenstein stitches. Add sideways M&Ms for eyes. Use toothpicks to make marshmallow bolts stick out from neck, or just place them directly on the cupcake.

My son had a Harry Potter birthday party, and I whipped up these cupcakes. To make them easier, I went with a design similar to one I’d seen online, where only Harry’s glasses and lightning bolt scar were included. My kid wanted the scar to be red, so I used red gel writing icing.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting tinted “flesh” tone (I added a little Wilton Ivory, but a tiny bit of Copper would also work); red Decorating Gel in a tube; black writing icing or gel (I used Wilton’s Sparkle Gel).

How to Make It: After tinting icing, frost cupcake. Use writing gels to draw glasses and a red scar (which goes on the right side of the boy wizard face — your left). No black magic required.

This happy green turtle cupcake is topped with tasty Tootsie Rolls and chocolate-covered raisins. Wearing plastic gloves, you can mold Tootsie Rolls, caramels, Starbursts, Airheads and other candies into all kinds of fun shapes. This design is similar to one I saw in a Betty Crocker publication.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; chocolate-covered raisins such as Raisinets; Tootsie Rolls (any size); toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake green. Add 6 to 10 Raisinets to top for turtle shell “spots.” Wearing gloves, shape chunks of Tootsie roll into four legs, a tail and a head. Use toothpick to draw eyes and a mouth. Add to cupcake.