Easy Cupcake Ideas for Everyday

Buttercream frosting with shredded coconut

When I make cupcakes for the family I tire of decorating them the same way and look for easy ideas for everyday.

I love the look of a plate of cupcakes with vanilla easy frosting and a cherry on top. Pink food colouring added to the frosting also looks great. Buttercream frosting piped onto the cupcake, with a sprinkling of candy confetti, shredded coconut or chocolate is always popular.

And who can say "no" to a butterfly cake that has jam, lemon curd, or cream as it's centre? When dusted with icing sugar, butterfly cakes become irresistible.

The other day I was invited out to lunch. It was already late morning so I quickly made a batch of cupcakes. I went to the pantry to get out the icing (confectioners) sugar to discover there was none left. I didn't have time to go to the shop so I improvised.

I grabbed a jar of choc hazlenut spread and used it as my frosting. It is a little stiff to spread so I needed a mug of boiling water to dip my knife into to make spreading easier. The cupcakes tasted fantastic. My lunch host was very impressed and asked for my frosting recipe!

If I'm invited to an afternoon tea and want to take a plate of cupcakes that will look spectacular, a really easy alternative is to use fondant for your frosting and decorations.

If the tops of your cupcakes are not flat, slice through the peaks so that you have a nice level surface to work with. Decide on two colours (I love pale pink and pale green) and carefully work a couple of drops of colouring into fondant - you don't need very much fondant.

When the colouring has been kneaded in, roll fondant to the desired width and use round cutters to cut circles big enough to fit over the tops of your cupcakes. Be creative with your designs. You can cut shapes in the contrasting fondant or you can use a third colour (white is always a good choice) to add dots, lines, flower centres etc.

Another of my family's favourites are jelly cakes. My mother and grandmother always used pink (raspberry or strawberry) jelly so that's what I do, however, I have a friend who uses orange jelly and they are also really popular. Mum always made jelly cakes for birthday parties but my family want them more often than that!

Lemon meringue cupcakes are perfect for afternoon tea. Like everythink else they are quick and easy to make but look as if you have spent hours in the kitchen!

If you're stuck for ideas, visit the local supermarket and browse in the candy aisle. Honeycomb, maltesers, jaffas, boiled sweets all make fantastic toppers.

Did you know that if you slice a musk stick it makes great star shapes?

Push a jersey caramel into the centre of uncooked batter and bake as normal and you will get a yummy, gooey caramel cupcake. This is expecially tasty if you replace sugar with brown sugar in the vanilla cupcake recipe.

Edible sugar toppers are readily available at the supermarkets so you can buy these to blend in with your theme.

Return from easy everyday suggestions to my home page for more decorating ideas.

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