Easy Cupcakes

For Halloween or Day of the Dead celebrations, use white icing and mini marshmallows to create this simple skeletons. Vary their arm and leg positions so they can dance!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; white frosting; pastry bag, coupler and small metal tip such as #2 (or, just use tubed icing); edible food markers.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake with chocolate. Let set for a few minutes. Use pastry bag to pipe skeleton legs, arms, body and ribs. Use black food marker to make eyes on a mini marshmallow. Place on top of skeleton body.

This big-eyed owl cupcakes are a hoot (sorry!) on Halloween or anytime.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 2 white fruit gels; 2 brown or black M&Ms; 1 banana candy (such as Runts).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange gels side-by-side. Use dab of icing to attach one M&M to each gel. Stick banana nose in center.

Three bluebirds await their mama bird in a nest on this cupcake, which features toasted coconut.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; toasted coconut; 3 pastel blue M&Ms; food-safe markers.

How to Make It: Toast coconut for 5-10 minutes in 350-degree oven. Let cool. Frost cupcake green. Sprinkle center with coconut for nest. Use food-safe markers to draw eyes and beak on each M&M. Arrange birds in nest.

The specialty metal tip used to make the grass on this golfer cupcake is optional. You can always just use green frosting!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; metal tip #233 and pastry bag; foil-wrapped golf ball chocolate; toothpick; scrap of red paper or cardstock; scissors; glue.

How to Make It. Use pastry bag and green icing to pipe grass all over surface of cupcake. (You can pipe it neatly, or more free-form, like in the example). Place golf ball candy on cupcake. Cut triangle from cardstock and glue to toothpick for flag. Stick in cupcake next to golf ball.

These simple stars make the swirls on this cupcake stand out. Serve these at birthday party or any celebration.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; metal 1M swirl tip and pastry bag; large “confetti” star sprinkles (These are by Wilton).

How to Make It: Use pastry bag and 1M tip to make swirl. Sprinkle, or strategically place, stars on the cupcake. That’s it!

These easy butterfly cupcakes can be as simple or as ornate as you want. Just decorate the Necco wafer wings with sprinkles and piped icing.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; 5 cinnamon imperials (red hots); 4 purple Necco wafers (or any color you’d like); 2 small strands stiff black licorice.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange red hots in a line in the center of the cupcake Arrange 2 Necco wafers on each side for wings. Poke 2 licorice strands into “head” for antennae.

Toasted coconut provides the perfect texture for this lion cupcake. Make some for your next zoo or jungle party!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; shredded coconut; 2 large yellow M&Ms; small pink candy; 2 brown mini M&Ms; black string licorice; scissors or knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Toast coconut (5-10 minutes in 350-degree oven). Once cooled, sprinkled coconut around perimeter of cupcake for mane. Add candy muzzle, nose and eyes. Cut licorice into four equal lengths for whiskers.