How to Make Cupcakes and 6 Creative Ways to Decorate Them

If you’d like to have a sweet treat to share with your family, you can always make cupcakes really fast and use ingredients you already have at home. The great thing about simple recipes is that you can create different flavors by just replacing one ingredient.

5-Minute Crafts will teach you a basic cupcake recipe to try at home and 6 easy ways to decorate your cupcakes.

Vanilla cupcake recipe

Ingredients:

• 5.3 oz (150 g) of wheat flour

• 1.7 oz (50 g) of room temperature butter

• 3.5 oz (100 g) of sugar

• 1 egg

• 0.17 oz (5 g) of baking powder (or chemical leavening agent)

• Vanilla essence to taste

Procedure:

• In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth.

• Add the egg and then mix again until well-integrated. Add a few drops of vanilla essence.

• Add flour and milk alternately. Use a spatula to fold in the ingredients.

• Grease the cupcake pans (you may use silicone ones) with some butter, and pour the batter in at ¾ of their capacity. You may also place a liner in each mold.

• Bake at 350°F (175 °C) (low to medium temperature) for 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center to make sure they are done. If it comes out dry and clean, you can take them out of the oven.

• Let them cool off before removing them from the pan.

• Your cupcakes are now ready to be enjoyed or decorated.

• You can add 1 tablespoon of orange or lemon zest instead of vanilla essence, if you prefer those flavors.

• 1.7 oz (50 g) of flour can be replaced with the same amount of cocoa powder to make chocolate cupcakes.

Easy ideas to decorate your cupcakes

1. With marshmallows

• Place a marshmallow on each cupcake.

• Bake until the marshmallow melts and looks golden brown.

2. Owl’s face

• Use chocolate frosting to decorate the top part of the cupcakes and shape it into the owl’s ears.

• Open a sandwich cookie and place the halves on the cupcakes to act as the eyes.

• Use multi-colored chocolate candy for the eyes and the beak.

3. Cookie Monster

• Fill the pastry bag with blue frosting and use a special nozzle to get your frosting to come out in long strands like in the photo.

• Frost the cupcakes with this to simulate the Cookie Monster’s fur.

• Use marzipan for the eyes and half a chocolate chip cookie for the mouth.

4. Surprise filling

• Make a hole in the center of each cupcake.

• Fill it in with rainbow sprinkles.

• Coat the sides of the cupcake with the frosting of your choice.

5. Rainbow frosting

• Spread different colors of frosting on a square of plastic wrap.

• Carefully fold it. Place the roll in a pastry bag.

• Frost the cupcakes.

6. Strawberries and sprinkles

• Put a pastry bag in a glass and open it.

• Spread some strawberry jam (or any flavor of your choice) on the inside of the bag. Then, fill it up with white frosting.

• Decorate the cupcakes and add some rainbow sprinkles.