Easy Cupcakes

Christmas elf cupcake

Make holiday guests happy with these happy elf cupcakes. Experiment with different colors and designs and let your creativity shine in your workshop-kitchen!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; green sugar crystals; 2 green gumdrops; red candy for nose (we used Runts); mini marshmallows; red gel writing icing in tube.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle green sugar near top of cupcake for hat (It doesn’t have to be perfect, because the brim will be covered up with marshmallows). Add row of marshmallows to brim and near edge of cupcake for pompom. Add gumdrop eyes and candy nose. Use gel to draw red mouth, letting it “blob” up a bit on either end for cheeky appearance.

Christmas reindeer cupcake

Time for Christmas cupcakes already? Yep! These easy reindeer are based on an example in a 1980s cookbook, but they’re just as cute and tasty today as they were back then. It’s the chocolate sprinkles that add the texture.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 2 stick pretzels; 1 red sourball; 1 blue mini M&Ms; chocolate sprinkles.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. Add red sourball nose and blue M&M eyes. Stick in pretzels for antlers.

There are as many ways to make a snowman cupcake as there are to make a “real” snowman! This version comes to life someday thanks to two piped icing blobs, mini M&M eyes and red licorice arms.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white icing tinted light blue; white icing; pastry bag and #5 tip (or just use packaged tube of icing or a plastic bag with a hole cut in it); 2 brown mini M&Ms; red licorice strings.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake blue. Fill pastry bag or plastic sandwich bag partway with white frosting. (If you’re using a plastic bag, cut a small hole from which to squeeze the icing. If you’re using a pastry bag, use metal tip #5 or similar.) Squeeze icing into one spot until you have a quarter-sized blob. Stop squeezing before you pull away so the blog stays flat (You can flatten it yourself if you need to, but do it before the icing hardens,) Pipe a similar but smaller blob above the first. Place 2 mini M&Ms, upside down, on the top circle for eyes. Cut strands of red licorice for arms. You could also add buttons, a fruit leather nose or whatever you’d like!

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house we were making mouse cupcakes. And it was easy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); chocolate frosting; 2 black Necco wafers; 2 red hots (cinnamon imperials); red licorice strings; red gumdrop.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick lengths of red licorice into cupcake for mouse whiskers and tail. Insert 2 Necco wafers at an angle for ears. Add gumdrop nose and red hot eyes.

These Christmas tree cupcakes are basically a triangle of icing stars with sprinkled decorations and a simple M&M trunk.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white frosting; frosting tinted green; red sprinkles; yellow star sprinkle; brown M&M.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. To make the stars, you can use a purchased tube of green icing with twist-on plastic tip, or use pastry bag with star tip. When you’re making stars, be sure to stop squeezing before you pull the tip away from the cupcake. Make triangle shape with green stars for tree. Decorate with red sprinkles and large star sprinkle, or whatever you’d like. Use brown M&M for trunk.

Here’s another take on reindeer cupcakes. Instead of using mini pretzels for antlers, make horns out of the thick style of pretzel.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); chocolate frosting; thick pretzel; red gumdrop; 2 Tic-Tac mints.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Break pretzel and stick into cupcake to make two horns. Add gumdrop nose and Tic-Tac eyes.

This cupcake, a variation on a Wilton design, is quick and easy to make using basic decorating tips and tinted icing.

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); chocolate frosting; white icing; icing bag and round metal tip such as 2 or 3 (or just use prefilled tubes and plastic tip set from the grocery store.) We used pink M&Ms for the cheeks, but you could use pink icing or candies instead.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use white icing and tip to pipe hair curl, eyes, nose and mouth. Add pink M&Ms for cheeks. If you don’t have pink M&Ms, using pink icing. Pipe a circle by squeezing the bag while keeping the round tip (size 2 or 3 would work) in the icing and be sure to stop squeezing before you pull away.