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.

When someone gave me these white chocolate-covered pretzels at a party last weekend, my first thought was, “Yeah! Cupcakes!” Chocolate pretzels make great butterflies any time of the year.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (I used strawberry flavored in a can); 2 chocolate-covered pretzels in Valentine colors; black writing icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake pink. Position pretzels like butterfly wings. Use black icing to “draw” antennae between the wings.

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.