Easy Cupcakes

Jack O' Lantern cupcake

Gel or writing icing already in the tubes make it easy for everyone to decorate jack o’ lantern cupcakes with their own creative twist.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; orange frosting; green and black gel or writing icing in tubes (We use CakeMate and Wilton). (You could also use a pastry bag with a round tip attached.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake orange, like a pumpkin. Let set for a few minutes. Use tubes to “draw” jack o’ lantern face.

Scarecrow cupcake with pretzel hat

I saw in a magazine where someone had used one of those waffle-looking pretzels as a scarecrow’s hat and just had to try it. The hair is crumbled-up shredded wheat. Great for Halloween or fall parties.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 1 square pretzel; spoon-size shredded wheat; 2 orange jellybeans (or M&Ms or other oval or round candy); red mini M&M or red hot or similar candy; 4 chocolate chips or 7-8 mini chocolate chips; black writing icing (optional).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick pretzel into top of cupcake for hat. Crumble up shredded wheat and place under “hat” for hair. Add jellybean eyes, red candy nose and curve of upside-down chocolate chips for mouth. Add pupils to eyes using black writing icing if you’d like.

Halloween owl

Cute yet slightly spooky, these brown owls are a “hoot” (sorry!) for Halloween parties. Just pop on a few candies and you’re done!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 2 yellowish LifeSavers (banana, lemon or butterrum work well); 2 red hot candies (aka cinnamon imperials); candy corn (with yellow or brown ends; regular size or wide candy corn).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Place 2 LifeSavers for eyes and use dab of icing to stick red hot in center of each. Add candy corn nose.

Purple spider cupcake

Not all spider cupcakes have to have black spiders. Purple ones are great for Halloween, too, or any occasion.

What You Need: 1 cupcake, orange frosting (we just used Pillsbury’s Halloween frosting already tinted); purple gumdrop; purple and black gel icing in tube (we used CakeMate); 2 candy eyes (optional); toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use black gel in tube to “draw” three circles, one inside the other. Drag toothpick through gel, starting at the center, at several points to form web. (Wipe toothpick clean in between). Squish gumdrop a bit to make it flatter. Use gel to attach eyes and place in center of web. Use purple gel to draw legs.

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.

Flower cupcake with teardrop petals

The easiest cupcakes are probably those where all you have to do is arrange candy or other toppings on your cupcake. These flower cupcakes are simple enough for little kids, and there are plenty of variations for the center, petals and leaves; just use your imagination.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting (any color, really); teardrop-shaped sweet/sour candies or other candies; Junior Mint or other round candy; green fruit lace or strip of fruit leather, or just use writing icing.

How to Make It: Place Junior Mint in center of cupcake and surround with candies to form petals. Add candy leaves and fruit lace stem.

Election cupcake with flag

The U.S. presidential race is heating up, but you can cool tempers with a nice batch of cupcakes urging people to get out and vote. Also suitable for class elections, local primaries and so on. Remember, everyone loves cupcakes–they’re nonpartisan.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white icing; red gel writing icing; premade American flag cake decoration (such as by Cake Mate or Wilton).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use writing gel to write “VOTE” in red. Or, write a candidate’s name. (You could also use writing icing in a tube or pastry bag). Add flag decoration.