Cupcake Decorations for the Time Challenged

When you last walked past your local bakery, were you tempted by some of the great decorations that you saw on some of the cakes on display? Decorating cakes is a very special art that is only growing, especially as food technology progresses. Indeed, some people have based their entire livelihood upon this craft. Cakes are decorated in all colors and shapes. Some of the edible toppers that grace them look so divine that you would not want to spoil them by eating even a single piece of them. Others are really lifelike, such as baby birds made from marzipan or fondant icing, that you really don’t have the heart to eat them!

If you enjoy baking, you don’t have to spend too money purchasing these creations from a bakery. You can also make them at home. The best and easiest way to indulge a passion for cake decorating is to make cupcakes. These little cakes are so cute, and you can decorate them any which way you want, in several varieties. If it is Christmas, you could make Christmas tree decoration cupcakes. If it is your partner’s birthday, you could make some personalized decorations on a theme that is close to their heart, such as an edible football cake topper if soccer is their passion. All you need is a good recipe and a certain amount of creativity.

But what if you don’t have much time to make these decorations? Some of them are very ornate, after all.

Here are a few ideas to decorate your cupcakes the “easy” way, and still have fun:

- The apple cupcake – Take a cupcake and decorate with red frosting (from confectioner’s sugar mixed with red food coloring). Then take a pretzel stick, dip it into melted chocolate and attach to look like a stem. Use a green gumdrop to look like a leaf-and you have an “apple” cake!

- Balloon cupcakes – This is a great way to ice and decorate a platter of little cakes. Take a selection of cupcakes and frost them in a variety of colors – red, yellow, blue, green, white. Then attach a selection of colorful ribbons and attach them to the bottoms of the cakes, so that it looks like a bunch of little balloons. Very colorful and pretty on the plate!

- Footprints – Frost cupcakes with white or light chocolate icing. Add some coconut sprinkles to make the cakes look furry. Then take a chocolate mint and place it in the center for the “sole” of the foot and surround with three chocolate chips as toes. These should look like little paws, and they will taste delicious!

- Grape cupcakes – These little clusters are made by icing the cupcake purple and then placing purple gumdrops on the top in the shape of a cluster. A couple of little green gumdrops complete the look as the “leaves” of the vine.

- A bed of roses – Add green food coloring to some coconut and put on top of the cupcake and put some candy roses on top of that. You can also make your own roses from pink frosting and put on the top.