Easy Cupcakes

When it comes to April Fool’s Day cupcakes, fake food is definitely the way to go. You can make all kinds of “dishes” that look appealing and unappealing at the same time: peas and carrots, potatoes and gravy, and so on. I decided on a fried egg cupcake, served up to my kid on the morning of April 1.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; yellow Starburst candy; microwave.

How to Make It: Melt some white frosting in the microwave for 5-10 seconds at about 30 percent power. (The time needed depends on your microwave, and the amount of frosting you’re melting.) Using a spoon, drop a dollop of frosting onto the cupcake and spread it around unevenly so it looks like egg white. Melt an unwrapped lemon Starburst candy in the microwave at 30 percent power for about 5 seconds. Using gloved fingers, shape the candy into an egg yolk and place on top of the egg white.

There’s gold at the end of this lucky rainbow cupcake for St. Patrick’s Day. You can use huge coins like I did, or smaller ones, or no coins at all. The rainbow is an Airheads Extreme sour candy “belt.”

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; green sugar sprinkles (or use green frosting); metal star tip and pastry bag (or snip end of plastic sandwich bag); Airheads Extreme sour belt; chocolate or plastic coins.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with green sugar. Use star tip to make two clouds on either side of the cupcake. Arrange rainbow candy to arch between the two clouds. Add coins to one end.

Purple, green, and gold are the traditional colors for a Mardi Gras party, and these cupcakes will have you celebrating New Orleans style. Add a plastic coin (I got a bunch at the Dollar Tree) or other Mardi Gras item for extra “bling.”

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; sugar or sprinkles in purple, green and yellow; colored coin, mask, or other Mardi Gras decoration.

How to Make It: Use 1M metal tip to make swirl, or just use a plastic sandwich bag with a corner snipped off. Sprinkle colors in this order: purple, green, gold. Top with coin.