Easy Cupcakes

The bee on these beehive cupcakes is similar to a design by Martha Stewart, but canned frosting makes the hive extra easy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting in aerosol can with star tip; 2 yellow M&Ms; 2 black M&Ms; 2 short lengths stiff black licorice; 2 almond slices; black food-safe pen.

How to Make It: Affix star tip to canned icing and, using a circular motion, create tall beehive on top of cupcake. Using dabs of icing, assemble bee as shown, with M&Ms alternating and almond slice wings on either side. (Use food-safe marker for eyes.) Place near top of cupcake.

If you don’t worry about being perfectly accurate with your cupcake mammals, this pawprint cupcake could pass for a bear, dog, cat or other creature.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 1 mint patty (such as Necco); 3 Junior Mints.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange 3 Junior Mints above large mint.

I first saw the lollipop flower concept in a magazine — I think Martha Stewart’s. I used Airheads candy to make the leaves, but you could use Starburst, spearmint gum or even spearmint leaves.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; green sugar; 2 Dum Dums (or other round) lollipops; green Airheads or other moldable candy (or cut up green gum or gumdrops).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with green sugar for grass. Stick two unwrapped lollipops or suckers, staggered, in top of cupcake. With clean hands or gloves, mold Airheads into leaf shapes (pointy ovals) and place near bottom of flowers.

Stick a candy cane into a swirl-topped cupcake and sprinkle with chocolate and it looks a lot like the whipped cream on top of holiday hot chocolate!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or off-white frosting; chocolate jimmies; mini candy cane; pastry bag and 1M swirl tip.

How to Make It: Make 1M swirl. Immediately sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. Add candy cane. That’s it!

All you need for these simple Christmas cupcakes is some mini M&Ms and a Starlight mint!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; red and green mini M&Ms; Starlight mint (the peppermint ones that taste like candy canes, or the green ones).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Unwrap mint and place in center of cupcake. Add M&Ms around the edge, upside down, alternating red and green.

This is the the easiest Hanukkah cupcake ever — the trick is finding the blue and white sprinkles shaped like Stars of David. I got mine at Kake Kreations, a Southern California cake supply shop that does mail order.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; Star of David sprinkles.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with Hanukkah sprinkles!

A single blue candle tops this Chanukah cupcake!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; blue frosting in pastry bag with #3 metal tip (or use premade icing in tube); yellow tear-shaped candies (these are sour “Cry Babies,” found at a mall candy store bulk bin.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Squeeze pastry bag or tube and move tip rapidly back and forth along 3/4 of the height of the cupcake as shown to form candle shape. Top with upside-down teardrop candy for flame.