Easy Cupcakes

This rattle cupcake, perfect for a baby shower, is a variation of a design seen in a Betty Crocker publication. Change colors and candies for a less feminine look, or for variety. These rattles would also be cute with a baby’s name written on them in icing.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; lollipop stick; large yellow gumdrop; 5 small gummy candies; 5 purple candy-covered sunflower seeds; 1 small white candy; 1 white jellybean; length of pink gingham ribbon.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Insert lollipop stick into one side of cupcake, piercing through the wrapper. Stick other end into rounded part of gumdrop. Decorate with candies as shown, or use your imagination!

A medium-sized star tip is the trick to these pink Valentine’s Day cupcakes, which have a heart perched on the top of each start.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; candy heart sprinkles; pastry bag and metal star tip (I used #21) or use tubed icing.

How to Make It: Use star tip to make pink stars all over top of cupcake. Carefully place a colored candy heart on top of each star.

Spice up Valentine cupcakes by simply arranging red hot candies in the shape of a heart.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted pink; red hots (cinnamon imperials).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Place red hots on cupcake in a heart shape.

These pink pig cupcakes get their sweet, textured ears from sugar wafer cookies with waffle pattern.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; frosting tinted pink; pink sugar wafer cookie; large pink candy-coated mint or similar pink candy; 2 blue mini M&Ms; white icing in tube or pastry bag; knife.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Use knife to cut cookies into triangle shapes and place near top of pig’s head for ears. Pipe 2 white dots on pink candy for nose and place in center of face. Add M&M eyes.

Here’s a pig cupcake with a nice, big snout. All of the decorations are candies, so no need for pastry bags, tips or piping!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; 1 pink Mentos; 2 black or dark brown M&Ms; 2 pink Jordan almonds or candy-coated chocolate eggs; 2 brown mini M&Ms.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Stick Jordan almonds near top of cupcake for ears. Use dab of icing to attach 2 mini M&Ms to Mentos for snout and place in center of cupcake. Add M&M eyes.

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!

I combined ideas from a few different Easter bunny cupcake designs I’d seen online and in magazines to make this cupcake, who has two unusual features: pretzel whiskers and paper ears. For best results, insert the paper ears just before serving.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; pink frosting; 4 stick pretzels; 1 red jellybean; mini blue M&Ms; pink cardstock; scissors.

How to Make It: frost cupcake. Place red jellybean in center for nose. Add blue eyes directly above nose. Break or cut off a bit of pretzel ends if you think they’re too long (I did). Cut ear shapes, both at once, from pink cardstock, fold slightly and insert between cupcake and paper liner.