Easy Cupcakes

I just can’t stop making reindeer cupcakes! I’m out of control! This version of Rudolph, great for Christmas parties, uses chocolate covered pretzels for the antlers. If you have trouble with your antlers flopping over (poor reindeer!), you can stabilize them with toothpicks, but take them out before giving to children.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; milk chocolate frosting; chocolate-covered pretzels such as Flipz; 2 black or dark brown M&Ms; cherry sour ball.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick pretzels into cupcake (you may want to cut little slits for them). Add eyes and nose.

This Christmas reindeer gets his antlers from Barnum’s animal crackers! I think I used seals — poor creatures. Make a whole team for reindeer for your next holiday event.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; red hot or M&M candy; 2 candy eyes or white candies; 2 animal crackers.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Add eyes and nose. Stick animal crackers into cupcake upside down for antlers.

I’d signed up to bring cupcakes to a pre-Thanksgiving “harvest” event at my kid’s school, and I realized I wasn’t going to have to time for elaborate decorations. Thankfully, premade sugar toppers in pumpkin and owl shapes (I’m pretty sure these are by CakeMate) and leaf-shaped sprinkles came to the rescue. Also, the simple 1M swirl technique adds class to any cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 1M metal tip and pastry bag; premade pumpkin topper; leaf sprinkles.

How to Make It: Fit 1M tip into pastry bag. Working from the outside of the cupcake inward, squeeze steadily to create a swirly top. Sprinkle with leave sprinkles. Add pumpkin to top. That’s it!

All you need is a gummy shark and a knife (poor sharky!) to make this simple shark cupcake for an ocean-themed party, aquarium visit, or other event.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white, off-white, or light blue frosting; 1 gummy shark; knife or kitchen shears.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Carefully cut the shark slightly above its tail fin. Place the tail and the rest of the shark’s body a short ways apart on the cupcake, so it looks like his midsection is underwater.

Long strands of stiff licorice give this Halloween spider a spooky reach. Use chocolate frosting, sprinkles and M&M eyes to make him even tastier.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; chocolate sprinkles; black (or dark brown) M&Ms; black licorice (strand style); knife or kitchen shears.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. Place two black M&Ms, letter side down, for eyes. Cut licorice into eight equal strands and insert into cupcake for legs.

This quick and easy spiderweb cupcake is a great Halloween project for kids — if you can keep them from biting the tips off the Hershey’s Kisses. (OK, I was tempted, too.)

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; orange frosting; Hershey’s Kiss; black string licorice; toothpick; scissors; pastry bag and round tip or just use a plastic bag with a corner cut off.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate frosting. “Pipe” three concentric circles of orange frosting as shown. Drag toothpick from middle to edge of cupcake, forming a web shape. Do this all the way around the cupcake, 7 or 8 times, but wipe toothpick clean in between each motion. Place Hershey’s Kiss upside down on cupcake (you might want to cut off the end so it will lie flatter). Use scissors or knife to carefully cut off spider “legs” about 1/2 inch long and place four on each side of Hershey’s Kiss.

An orange-colored Mentos candy colored with food-safe pen makes the perfect Jack o’ lantern cupcake for Halloween. Try “carving” different face designs and make a whole pumpkin patch!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; Halloween (or any) sprinkles; 1 orange Mentos candy from the Fruit roll; food-safe black pen; bit of green fruit roll or string.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use food-safe pen to draw face on Mentos for Jack-o-lantern. Attach bit of green fruit roll with dab of icing. Place on cupcake. Add sprinkles.