These cupcakes, made to look like little frogs are so adorable you could just eat them right up (if they don’t hop away first!)

Follow these easy directions and you and your child will have one unforgettable afternoon creating these cute frog cupcakes oh, and I bet it will be an afternoon in the kitchen that you and your child will not soon forget.

Ingredients:

• Cupcakes (check out my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe )
• Green Frosting (homemade vanilla with just a touch of green food coloring will do)
• Green Gum Drop (one per cupcake)
• White chocolate chips (2 per cupcake)
• Black Icing (a small tube will be more than enough)
• Red Icing (a small tube will be more than enough)
• Red Licorice (I use Twizzlers)

Directions:

1) To get started, take your pre-made cupcakes and frost them with the green frosting. After thats done, take some gumdrops and slice them in half (long ways). Just as a safety precaution, you might want to slice the gumdrops for your kids. Family time is fun, but it should always stay safe.

2) After you have sliced enough gumdrops for two halves per each cupcake, set them aside. Next, count out the white chocolate chips so that there are 2 for each cupcake. This step is extremely popular with the younger kids who are learning to count in school. Use this as a time to have fun in the kitchen and to reinforce newly learned math skills.

3) When I made these cupcakes for a birthday party, I had one of my 5 year old neighbors help me count out the ingredients (gumdrops and white chocolate chips). She really enjoyed showing me how high she could count and it was a fun time for the both of us!

4) After you have counted out the chocolate chips place them tip down into the center of the sticky side of the gumdrop. Press the gumdrop lightly into the frosting on the cupcakes to resemble eyes with the white chocolate chips facing outwards. Once all of the eyes are in place, take the black frosting and put little dots on the white chocolate chip for the little frogs pupils. If you want to get really creative use the red icing and draw in tiny frogs tongue off center of the mouth line. Kids in the kitchen really love this touch and it brings out the laughs!

5) Now, take some of your candy licorice and pull them apart until its just one strand. Take that strand and cut (or tear) off a piece about 2-3 inches long to use for the frogs mouth. Continue this step for all of your cupcakes and soon you too will see a cute little frog smiling back at you!

This easy cupcake decorating idea is great for family time, perfect time of combining learning and fun for the younger kids, and a huge hit at the parties! If you wanted to alter the design a little bit, you could take away the mouth and use light blue frosting instead of green. Take a small knife and pull it across the blue icing in little squiggles to create the look of waves. By doing these subtle changes, your frog is now partly submerged underwater looking out at you! What a hoot! Who wouldn’t crack up with this suggestion for a cupcake decorating idea. In fact, I bet your cupcakes will be the talk of the party.

I would recommend this design for kids of all ages! Its easy, fun, and after you make the frogs you can enjoy baking and eating them with your kids.

Who knows, now you might want to go to the library and check out that frog and amphibian book to read with your children! No matter how you slice it, you’re bound to have fun in the kitchen decorating cupcakes and your kids will too. This cupcake decorating idea gets two thumbs up from me… and a ‘RIBBET’ from the frogs!

Sounds all fancy doesn’t it!

The cupcake is a convenient way to enjoy the deliciousness of chocolate cake, without the guilt of a “far too big” portion.

These chocolate cupcakes are great for parties, gatherings, or just for the fun of baking them!

Keep reading and give one of my favorite chocolate cupcake recipes a try.

Yield:16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with foil or paper liners. Depending on the time of year, you can really have fun with this step because many liners come animated (flowers for spring, pumpkins for fall, snow flakes for winter, etc). Of course you could also just use a bold color to spice up the look of these little cakes or a muted color for a more formal occasion. After all the cups are lined, set the pan aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

2) Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl until the batter is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, slowly, one at a time and then stir in the vanilla. Add in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk; beating well.

3) Fill the muffin cups ¾ full. If you’ve got any extra cupcake molds left over in the pan, then simply remove the prepared liner and fill the mold with a little bit of water, to prevent the pan from buring. You can store the liner away and use it again some other time.

4) Put the chocolate cupcakes in the oven. Bake the chocolate cakes for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let them cool completely and then set aside.

(Optional) After your cupcakes are completely cooled you can use a purchased can of frosting or some of your own homemade frosting and lightly frost the cupcakes.

Depending on your specific tastes you can alter the type of frosting you use. For those chocoholics out there, use a delectable chocolate frosting or if you want a lighter taste I would recommend a complimenting white frosting.

Either way, these cakes turn out delicious but each frosting offers a completely different taste! So have fun with it, save this recipe, enjoy these chocolate cupcakes, and maybe even share a few!

This vanilla buttercream frosting recipe is perfect for a vanilla or white cake that seems a little plain Jane or even for a chocolate cake that seems a little too sweet. Any way you spread it, this vanilla buttercream frosting takes the cake.

Yield: 4 cups; enough to frost one 9-inch 2 layer cake or one 8-inch three layer cake

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• a pinch salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, each stick cut into quarters

Directions:

1) Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. (Do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.) Whisking gently but constantly, heat the mixture until it is thin and foamy and registers 160° on an instant-read thermometer.

2) Beat the egg mixture at medium-high speed until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature which usually takes about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, one piece at a time.

3) After adding ½ the butter, the buttercream may look curdled; but no worries, it will smooth out with additional butter. Once all the butter is added, increase the speed to high and beat 1 minute, until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined.

4) Once you’ve thoroughly combined all the ingredients, your rich vanilla buttercream frosting is ready. So once your cake is completely cooled frost it and serve up a slice.

Any leftover frosting that you may have can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

The perfect thing about having leftovers is that it gives you an excuse to make another cake with that delicious vanilla buttercream frosting.

Lather the frosting on your favorite cake and enjoy!