Easy Cupcakes

With candy-coated chocolate eggs, or pastel M&Ms, you can make spring butterfly cupcakes in seconds.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; 4 pastel candy-coated chocolates; green (or black) writing icing or gel.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange candies as wings. (You can also decorate the wings with sprinkles or icing if you’d like). Use gel or writing icing to draw body and antenna.

Sometimes simple is best. If you have a bag of mellowcreme Easter shapes, some shaved coconut and green dye, you can make these cupcakes in minutes.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (it comes in a can, too) mellowcreme Easter bunny or other shape; shaved coconut; green dye.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Tint coconut green and place a bit in the center of the cupcake for grass nest. Add bunny.

Give your Easter Peep cupcakes more dimension by raising your chick up on a toothpick.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; shaved coconut tinted green; 1 Easter Peep chick; toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle coconut on cupcake. Stick Peep on toothpick and insert in cupcake. That’s it!

Snip up a marshmallow to make this sweet Easter bunny cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting (or any color except white); 1 marshmallow; pink sugar; chocolate sprinkles; brown mini M&Ms; pink jellybean; 2 tear-shaped or heart-shaped candies for bow tie (ours are Cry Baby candies); kitchen shears or regular scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. using shears or scissors, cut marshmallow in half down the middle (long) side. Your scissors will get sticky, so if you’re doing a lot, you’ll need to clean them off or perhaps try spraying them with cooking spray before cutting. Cut one of the marshmallow halves into two half-circles. Dip sticky sides in pink sugar as shown. Position face and ears on cupcake. Use dabs of icing to attach M&M eyes, jellybean nose and chocolate sprinkle whiskers. Arrange tear-shaped candies below head to form bow tie.

Put all your Easter eggs in one basket with this cute, chocolately Easter basket cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; shredded coconut tinted with green dye; candy eggs (we used Robin’s Eggs); red, twisted licorice whip; butter knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle bit of tinted coconut in center of cupcake. Use butter knife to make slots at two opposite sides of cupcake so you can insert the licorice handle. Add eggs.

With some mellowcreme Easter bunnies (and chicks and so on) and some Easter themed sprinkles, you can make classy, quick Easter cupcakes that make great favors or centerpieces.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; Easter sprinkles (I used bunny shapes); toothpick; mellowcreme candy bunny.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake pink and sprinkle with Easter sprinkles. Impale rabbit with toothpick (ouch!) and stick in center of cupcake. You could also add a guest’s name to a piece of paper around the pick.

This sweet Easter bunny cupcake is my twist on a design by Betty Crocker. I just use whatever candies I have on hand, which cuts down on costs and trips to the store.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (I just used strawberry in a can); white frosting; 1 marshmallow; 2 brown mini M&Ms; 1 small pink candy or jellybean; chocolate sprinkles; pink sugar.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake pink. Drop a scoop (for uniform size, use a cookie scoop, melon baller or similar implement) of white frosting in center of cupcake. Cut marshmallow in half crosswise. Dip sticky part in pink sugar. Stick into back of white frosting for ears. Add eyes and nose. Choose longest sprinkles for whiskers.