Easy Cupcakes

Arbor Day is coming up (in 2009 it’s April 24), and after you plant a tree you can plant an apple tree cupcake in your belly. Also great for Earth Day, Johnny Appleseed celebrations or anytime, these cupcakes are easy and fun.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; light green frosting; green gel icing in tube; red mini M&Ms. (You could use red hots instead, but the colors tend to run after awhile.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Draw tree shape using gel icing. Add upside-down M&Ms for apples on the tree and ground.

Already-pink frosting and candies makes these pink kitty cupcakes extra easy.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (strawberry and other pink-tinted frosting is sold in the can in the baking aisle, or use dye); 4 candy-coated licorice pieces; 2 brown mini M&Ms; 1 heart-shaped pink candy (ours is a Runt); 2 sour grapefruit slices.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Add candies as shown for eyes, nose, whiskers and ears. There’s your kitty!

With candy-coated chocolate eggs, or pastel M&Ms, you can make spring butterfly cupcakes in seconds.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted green; 4 pastel candy-coated chocolates; green (or black) writing icing or gel.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Arrange candies as wings. (You can also decorate the wings with sprinkles or icing if you’d like). Use gel or writing icing to draw body and antenna.

Sometimes simple is best. If you have a bag of mellowcreme Easter shapes, some shaved coconut and green dye, you can make these cupcakes in minutes.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting (it comes in a can, too) mellowcreme Easter bunny or other shape; shaved coconut; green dye.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Tint coconut green and place a bit in the center of the cupcake for grass nest. Add bunny.

Give your Easter Peep cupcakes more dimension by raising your chick up on a toothpick.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; shaved coconut tinted green; 1 Easter Peep chick; toothpick.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle coconut on cupcake. Stick Peep on toothpick and insert in cupcake. That’s it!

Snip up a marshmallow to make this sweet Easter bunny cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green frosting (or any color except white); 1 marshmallow; pink sugar; chocolate sprinkles; brown mini M&Ms; pink jellybean; 2 tear-shaped or heart-shaped candies for bow tie (ours are Cry Baby candies); kitchen shears or regular scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. using shears or scissors, cut marshmallow in half down the middle (long) side. Your scissors will get sticky, so if you’re doing a lot, you’ll need to clean them off or perhaps try spraying them with cooking spray before cutting. Cut one of the marshmallow halves into two half-circles. Dip sticky sides in pink sugar as shown. Position face and ears on cupcake. Use dabs of icing to attach M&M eyes, jellybean nose and chocolate sprinkle whiskers. Arrange tear-shaped candies below head to form bow tie.

Put all your Easter eggs in one basket with this cute, chocolately Easter basket cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; shredded coconut tinted with green dye; candy eggs (we used Robin’s Eggs); red, twisted licorice whip; butter knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle bit of tinted coconut in center of cupcake. Use butter knife to make slots at two opposite sides of cupcake so you can insert the licorice handle. Add eggs.