Easy Cupcakes

Dragon cupcake

One of the parents in my son’s kindergarten class made these awesome dragon cupcakes for her son’s birthday. (They could also be dinosaur cupcakes, with spikes for a stegosaurus, etc. Or, pair them with pirate cupcakes for an all-out boy theme.) She told me she used two different metal tips: a larger one to “flow” the dragon’s body and a smaller one. (Remember, multi-opening tip #233 is great for making animal hair or grass.) Consider a from-scratch icing recipe, because homemade icing is often thicker and easier to control than canned frosting.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; frosting tinted green; frosting tinted yellow; frosting tinted black (or premade in tube); metal tips; pastry bags; couplers.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake white. Use large metal tip to “flow” green icing in shape of dragon. Taper off at tail by reducing the pressure as you squeeze. Pipe yellow points for spikes and two yellow dots for eyes. Add black pupils to eyes.

Quick and fun for kids to make, these dinosaur cupcakes get a fun and edible twist thanks to colored coconut flakes “grass” and candy “rocks.” Just don’t eat the plastic dino!

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white or off-white frosting; green liquid food coloring; coconut flakes; candy rocks (get them cheap in the bulk food aisle); and plastic dinosaur.
Make That Cupcake!: Tint frosting green and frost cupcakes. Use liquid green food coloring to dye coconut flakes in a bowl or bag (it doesn’t have to be perfect; variations look like natural grass). Sprinkle coconut flakes on cupcake. Place dinosaur on top of cupcake, sinking in feet if needed. Add candy rocks. Roar!