Easy Cupcakes

This happy green turtle cupcake is topped with tasty Tootsie Rolls and chocolate-covered raisins. Wearing plastic gloves, you can mold Tootsie Rolls, caramels, Starbursts, Airheads and other candies into all kinds of fun shapes. This design is similar to one I saw in a Betty Crocker publication.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; chocolate-covered raisins such as Raisinets; Tootsie Rolls (any size); toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake green. Add 6 to 10 Raisinets to top for turtle shell “spots.” Wearing gloves, shape chunks of Tootsie roll into four legs, a tail and a head. Use toothpick to draw eyes and a mouth. Add to cupcake.

Mmmm… What could be more delicious than a chocolate monkey cupcake? Certainly not monkey brains; that’s gross. Seriously, though, kids can easily make these pretty primates.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; black writing icing; 2 chocolate candy “melts”; 2 brown mini M&Ms or other brown candy such as Raisinettes; chocolate sprinkles.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Position chocolate melts as ears on left and right side. Sprinkle chocolate jimmies near top for “hair.” Using writing icing in a tube to draw nostrils and mouth. Add chocolate eyes.

Here’s a cute little white mouse cupcake for any party, Christmas time, etc. Make a bunch of mice in different colors! The fuzzy look comes from “pulling” the frosting up with the edge of a butter knife or spatula. Also, get your melts from the supermarket bulk bin to save money while buying only what you need.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 white chocolate “melts”; 2 mini chocolate chips; pink jelly bean or other pink candy; black string licorice.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with a thick layer of white icing (canned is fine). Use a butter knife or spatula edge and press lightly onto frosting and then pull up to create little peaks for a fuzzy appearance. Add wafer candies for ears as well as candy eyes and nose. Stick one end of licorice into back of mouse for tail.

I first saw this idea, using a circus peanut candy as a carrot, in Parents magazine. It’s so easy! If you don’t have stand-style licorice or fruit candy in green, just cut strips of a fruit roll.

What You Need: cupcake; white frosting; orange circus peanut; green fruit candy strips; something to poke a hole with (bamboo skewer, toothpick, etc.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Poke hole in end of circus peanut. Insert several strips of fruit roll.

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.

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.