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!

1. Start out with a good recipe

Sure those mixes in the box are tasty but if you’ve got the time, then splurge for the homemade cupcake recipe version. You’ll be glad you did. Also try to set aside the time to make your own cupcake frosting. Homemade frostings are rich, tasty and most definitely worth the effort.

2. Bake your cupcakes in paper cup liners…and muffin pans

The pan keeps the cupcakes shape while the liners keep them from sticking. It also gives them a protective cover when its time to serve; helping to keep fingers clean.

3. Make sure you have the right equipment

You should use rubber spatulas for spreading the frosting onto the cupcakes. They’re gentler than knives or metal spatulas and you’re less likely to cut the tops of your cupcake. After all you want your cupcakes to look as good as they taste.

4. Frost a cupcake, top-down

It’s best to place a dollop in the center of the cupcake and work your way around by going in a circular motion, a little further out with every turn. By using this method your cupcake will have a smoother top and not have frosting falling of the edges.

5. Select the right decorating tip; one that’s proportional to your cupcake

By using this cupcake decorating tip your result will be much more professional looking. If you use a huge decorating tip on such a little cupcake, it will become overwhelmed with frosting. So when in doubt, leave it out. Cupcakes kept simple with little features, and less of them, will stand out more than so many things on one tiny cake.

I really hope that these tips helped your cupcakes. Just remember, less is better; homemade beats store-made; and most importantly keep even proportions. By following even one cupcake decorating tip your cupcake will be good; follow all the tips and it’ll be amazing! Happy cupcake baking and decorating!

Now, for starters, there are two main types of tips for cupcake decorating. There are those little metal things you screw onto a pastry bag… tips. Or there are those little hints people give you to help you create a smoother, more professional-looking cupcake… also tips.

Well today must your lucky day because you’re learning about some of both. I know in my kitchen, I will take all the cupcake decorating tips I can get!

First off, lets start with the little metal tips you could use to decorate your cupcakes. There are obviously many different types.

First, there’s the star tip; its pretty much a classic. This type of tip gives you piping line that has points on it like a star and its frequently used for large cake borders.

The second tip is called the basket weave which is a type that resembles a thin rectangle. There are two varieties of the basket weave. In one, both of the sides are flat, which gives you a ribbon-like look. The other type has one flat and one rigid edge. This tip uses the rigid edge to create a textured effect, frequently used to give the illusion of a traditional basket-weave.

The flower, leaf, and rose petal tips are fun as well. These tips are commonly used on cupcakes and when you use these tips, it makes a flower or a leaf in one step. When you are mass producing cupcakes, these tips are very useful to keep the designs simple, yet elegant. It is a huge time saver in the kitchen.

The final tip is the round tip. (Of course, there are still many more types of tips out there; but these are the four basics and the ones that I find myself using most often.) The round tip is the most commonly used tip. It is about as simple as it gets. The round tip delivers a round dot, pretty much as large or small as you’d like, depending on the size of the decorating tip. It can make dots or if you steadily move it, it can make lines or letters. If you’d like to write anything on your cakes or cupcakes, I’d definitely suggest this tip. Some choose the basket weave tip with two flat sides but usually that tip is too wide to get a clean finished product. Remember… you are working in a very small area.

So that’s some simple cupcake decorating tips. Are you still looking for something more? If so, it’s possible you were looking for decorating tips; those little hints people give you to help improve your baking and to create the best decorated cake or cupcake you can.

Of course, I want to make sure that I give you what you are looking for so if you are looking for cupcake decorating tips, I have written a second article based on the helpful hints for cupcake decorating in: A Cupcake Decorating Tip On Tips (Part 2) and you’ll surely find what you’re looking for!