Easy Cupcakes

These clover-shaped cupcakes will be the hit of the St. Patrick’s Day party, as everyone asks, “How’d you do that?” Well, it’s easy.
What You Need: Cupcake batter; paper liners (with shamrocks if you’d like!); marbles or balled-up aluminum foil; green icing; toothpick.
How to Make It: Fill muffin tin with paper liners. Fill each liner about half-full with batter. If you fill them too full, the batter will spill over and your cupcakes won’t look like shamrocks. (You may have to experiment a bit.) Now, slip 3 marbles, equally spaced, between the paper liner and the inside bottom of the muffin tin. Bake as usual, but check frequently. Also, don’t burn yourself, as the marbles get pretty hot! Once the cupcakes cool, frost them with green icing and use a toothpick to draw leaf “veins.” Or, use green writing icing. Add a green candy stem (we used Sour Punch green apple straws).

Been wanting to try fondant on your cupcakes? These simple St. Patrick’s Day four-leaf clovers are a great place to start. You can place the shamrock on top of a buttercream-frosted cupcake like we did, or cover the entire cupcake with fondant. To learn more, visit our using fondant with cupcakes page.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white icing; green fondant (or tint white fondant green using gel food coloring); small heart-shaped cutter; rolling pin; mat or other clean surface; spatula or knife.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Roll out fondant about 1/4 inch thick. Cut four hearts with cutter. (Dip cutter in powdered sugar first if it’s sticking.) Cut small strip of fondant for stem using spatula or knife. Arrange on cupcake.

February 21, 2008 is the night of a total lunar eclipse, and if you’re planning a big eclipse party, these cupcakes will surely “eclipse” all the other treats. If you’re reading this post-eclipse, not to worry. These cupcakes would be great for any sky-themed or solstice party. And don’t limit yourself to the shape shown. You could do a whole cupcake series featuring the phases of the moon.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; blue sugar sprinkles (or just use blue-tinted or chocolate frosting); yellow fondant, rolling pin; circle-shaped cutter; spatula or other tool to cut moon shape.
How to Make It: Frost cupcake and add sprinkles. Roll out yellow fondant. Cut out circle. Then use circle cutter or spatula to cut out part of the moon. If you don’t have fondant, try rolling out a yellow gumdrop or use fruit rolls.