Easy Cupcakes

You can make great St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes without any fancy fondant or funky tools other than a small, heart-shaped cutter. The secret is gumdrops. (However, we do have easy tips on fondant clover cupcakes, too.)
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white icing; a few large green gumdrops or spice drops; rolling pin or glass; small, heart-shaped cookie cutter; scissors or kitchen shears; a bit of flour or powdered (confectioner’s) sugar.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Flatten gumdrop to about one-quarter inch in height by rolling them with a rolling pin or the edge of a glass. Put a little flour or powdered sugar on the surface and roller if the gumdrops stick too much. Dip heart cutter in flour or powdered sugar to keep it from sticking and cut out 3 heart shapes. Use scissors, knife or spatula to cut small stem for clover. Arrange parts on cupcake.

Make a bunch of these cute and easy baskets for your next Easter party.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; green icing; coconut flakes; green food coloring; jellybeans; red licorice strands.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Tint coconut flakes by adding green food coloring (liquid works better than gel in this case) into a zip-close plastic bag and shaking it around a bit, or just stir it around in a bowl. Sprinkle coconut around edge of cupcake, leaving a little area in the center for jellybeans. Add jellybeans for eggs. Insert length of red licorice into cupcake for handle, being sure to push it in far enough that it will stay securely.

These easy St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes don’t require any special decorating tips or techniques, just mini M&Ms and some foil-wrapped chocolate coins.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white, green or blue icing; mini M&Ms in various rainbow colors; chocolate coins.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Leaving a little space at the right edge for coins, arrange mini M&Ms in an arched rainbow. Add chocolate coins.

These bunnies are cute at Easter or anytime. The marshmallow rabbit ears make them hoppin’ easy to make, and the coconut gives them a furry appearance.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; coconut flakes; pink gel writing icing; pink sugar or sprinkles; regular-sized marshmallows; pink jellybean; 2 blue mini M&Ms.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Sprinkle with coconut flakes. Cut marshmallow in half widthwise using kitchen shears or scissors with a bit of powdered sugar on them to prevent sticking. Dip sticky side of marshmallows in pink sugar, or sprinkle it on. Pinch marshmallow a bit to make ears long and pointy. Add M&M eyes and jelly bean nose. Use pink writing icing (we used the gel kind) to draw whiskers.

These clover-shaped cupcakes will be the hit of the St. Patrick’s Day party, as everyone asks, “How’d you do that?” Well, it’s easy.
What You Need: Cupcake batter; paper liners (with shamrocks if you’d like!); marbles or balled-up aluminum foil; green icing; toothpick.
How to Make It: Fill muffin tin with paper liners. Fill each liner about half-full with batter. If you fill them too full, the batter will spill over and your cupcakes won’t look like shamrocks. (You may have to experiment a bit.) Now, slip 3 marbles, equally spaced, between the paper liner and the inside bottom of the muffin tin. Bake as usual, but check frequently. Also, don’t burn yourself, as the marbles get pretty hot! Once the cupcakes cool, frost them with green icing and use a toothpick to draw leaf “veins.” Or, use green writing icing. Add a green candy stem (we used Sour Punch green apple straws).

Been wanting to try fondant on your cupcakes? These simple St. Patrick’s Day four-leaf clovers are a great place to start. You can place the shamrock on top of a buttercream-frosted cupcake like we did, or cover the entire cupcake with fondant. To learn more, visit our using fondant with cupcakes page.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white icing; green fondant (or tint white fondant green using gel food coloring); small heart-shaped cutter; rolling pin; mat or other clean surface; spatula or knife.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Roll out fondant about 1/4 inch thick. Cut four hearts with cutter. (Dip cutter in powdered sugar first if it’s sticking.) Cut small strip of fondant for stem using spatula or knife. Arrange on cupcake.

Get hopping for Leap Day or any day with these fun frog cupcakes that use marshmallows for buggy eyes.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; icing tinted green; 1 marshmallow; black gel or writing icing; red licorice; scissors.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use kitchen shears or floured scissors to cut marshmallow in half widthwide Use black to make 2 eyeball dots on the not-sticky end of the marshmallow halves. Set eyeballs on cupcake. Add red licorice mouth.