Easy Cupcakes

Gingerbread boy and tree cupcake

It’s not cheating to use those little candy shapes you can buy on a card at the grocery store. They’re fun! But you can jazz them up a bit by creating a little scene on your cupcake.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; green frosting (I used Pillsbury’s holiday icing in a can); coconut; pastry bag and 1M metal tip or large star tip; Christmas sprinkles; large star sprinkle, premade gingerbread boy.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake while and sprinkle with coconut for snow. Assemble tip and bag with green frosting and make medium green swirl for tree. Add sprinkles and star for decorations. Stick gingerbread man next to tree.

Teddy bear winter picnic

Sure, teddy bears love their picnic cupcakes, but did you know they also like to party in winter?

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; coconut; red and green gummi bears, white gumdrops or spice drops covered with white non-pareils.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with coconut. Add gummi bears and “snow drift” gumdrops.

3D reindeer cupcake

You’ll need to bring out the pastry bag and metal tip for this reindeer cupcake, but the results are worth the effort. I’ve seen variations on this idea in several places, and this is my take on the design.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 2 mini pretzel twists; 1 red M&M; 2 candy eyes (or use mini M&Ms); pastry bag; coupler; metal tip #5.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Load chocolate frosting into pastry bag with tip attached. Starting about one-third of the way down from the top edge of the cupcake, pipe a “blob” of frosting for the reindeer’s head. (Don’t move the pastry bag or tip much; just squeeze steadily in one spot and then stop squeezing before pulling away.) Then, below that, pipe a second, smaller blob for the muzzle. Prop a pretzel on either side, add M&M nose and candy eyes and you’re done!

Santa beard cupcakes

If you like frosting, you’ll like this Santa cupcake in which Mr. Claus sports a generous beard.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; red sugar or sprinkles; 2 black or brown M&Ms; 1 red hot candy (cinnamon imperial); pastry bag and star tip, or tube icing with star tip, or aerosol can icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Spinkle some red sugar near top of cupcake for hat. With star tip, add hat brim and pom pom. Then, add beard. Add M&M eyes and red hot nose.

Menorah cupcake

Celebrate Hanuakkah with this very easy menorah cupcake. By using gel icing in a tube, you can avoid the trouble and mess of pastry bags.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; blue gel icing in a tube; chocolate covered sunflower seeds (yellow).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use tube icing to draw menorah, with the candle in the center higher than the rest. Add nine yellow, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, point side down, for “flames.”

Earmuff Snowman cupcake

This snowman is chilly, but thankfully he brought his earmuffs (in the form of cherry LifeSavers.) These cupcakes are easy to make, especially for kids, because all you do is place the candy on the cupcake!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; 2 black or brown M&Ms; 2 red LifeSavers candies; strand of red licorice; 1 orange candy (I used something called a Cry Baby, but you could also try candy corn or part of an orange candy slice.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Add M&M eyes and candy nose. Place LifeSavers at sides of face for earmuffs and connect with strand of red licorice. You can add a mouth if you’d like, but I thought my Frosty looked cute without.

Turkey wattle cupcake

What would a turkey be without a wattle? (Or waddle, as I always thought it was spelled.) Thanks to decorating gel in a tube, you can outfit your Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes with one.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; chocolate frosting; 6 candy corns; 2 candy eyes (or just use small candies); yellow writing icing in premade tube or pastry bag; red gel writing icing.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Load chocolate frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a #12 metal tip and coupler. Pipe large blob for neck and smaller blob for head. Add eyes. Use yellow writing icing to draw beak. Use red gel for wattle. Stick 3 candy corn on each side of cupcake for feathers.