Easy Cupcakes

Fat snowman cupcake

You don’t have to get all three-dimensional to make a snowman cupcake. This easy snowman’s fruit roll scarf creates the appearance of a head and round body!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 green M&Ms; 6 brown M&Ms; red fruit roll; 2 mini pretzel twists; candy corn.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Using a knife or scissors, cut a strip of fruit roll and roll into a scarf. Place scarf about two-thirds of the way from the bottom of the cupcake so it separates the head from the body. Fold one end of the “scarf” over a bit. Add brown M&M mouth and eyes. Add candy corn nose. Add 2 green M&M buttons. Break pretzels in to shapes to look like stick hands and place on either side of snowman.

Gingerbread boy and tree cupcake

It’s not cheating to use those little candy shapes you can buy on a card at the grocery store. They’re fun! But you can jazz them up a bit by creating a little scene on your cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; green frosting (I used Pillsbury’s holiday icing in a can); coconut; pastry bag and 1M metal tip or large star tip; Christmas sprinkles; large star sprinkle, premade gingerbread boy.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake while and sprinkle with coconut for snow. Assemble tip and bag with green frosting and make medium green swirl for tree. Add sprinkles and star for decorations. Stick gingerbread man next to tree.

Teddy bear winter picnic

Sure, teddy bears love their picnic cupcakes, but did you know they also like to party in winter?

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; coconut; red and green gummi bears, white gumdrops or spice drops covered with white non-pareils.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with coconut. Add gummi bears and “snow drift” gumdrops.

3D reindeer cupcake

You’ll need to bring out the pastry bag and metal tip for this reindeer cupcake, but the results are worth the effort. I’ve seen variations on this idea in several places, and this is my take on the design.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 2 mini pretzel twists; 1 red M&M; 2 candy eyes (or use mini M&Ms); pastry bag; coupler; metal tip #5.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Load chocolate frosting into pastry bag with tip attached. Starting about one-third of the way down from the top edge of the cupcake, pipe a “blob” of frosting for the reindeer’s head. (Don’t move the pastry bag or tip much; just squeeze steadily in one spot and then stop squeezing before pulling away.) Then, below that, pipe a second, smaller blob for the muzzle. Prop a pretzel on either side, add M&M nose and candy eyes and you’re done!

Santa beard cupcakes

If you like frosting, you’ll like this Santa cupcake in which Mr. Claus sports a generous beard.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; red sugar or sprinkles; 2 black or brown M&Ms; 1 red hot candy (cinnamon imperial); pastry bag and star tip, or tube icing with star tip, or aerosol can icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Spinkle some red sugar near top of cupcake for hat. With star tip, add hat brim and pom pom. Then, add beard. Add M&M eyes and red hot nose.

Holly Berry cupcake

Don’t be intimidated by the leaf! It’s not hard use a metal decorating tip and pastry bag, but you can also just premade icing in a tube with screw-on leaf tip.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; icing tinted green (I used Pillsbury holiday frosting in a can, already green) 3 sour cherry balls; pastry bag with leaf tip #67 or similar.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Add 3 cherry balls for berries. Load green icing into pastry bag and add coupler and tip (or use tube). Gently and steadily squeeze to make two leaves. Stop squeezing before you pull away. If the tips of your leaves are separated, push them together with a toothpick or small paintbrush.

Menorah cupcake

Celebrate Hanuakkah with this very easy menorah cupcake. By using gel icing in a tube, you can avoid the trouble and mess of pastry bags.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; blue gel icing in a tube; chocolate covered sunflower seeds (yellow).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use tube icing to draw menorah, with the candle in the center higher than the rest. Add nine yellow, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, point side down, for “flames.”