Enjoy cupcakes for the birthday dessert.
Cupcakes are an easy alternative to the traditional birthday cake. Their small size can be customized to the party theme, allowing guests to have their own personal dessert. In addition to easy decorating, the flavors can vary -- such as chocolate, red velvet and lemon -- to accommodate a variety of taste buds. When decorating, consider the birthday person's age or their favorite sport, insect, animal to incorporate into the design on the top of the cupcake. Does this Spark an idea?
Sports Theme
Create a sports theme cupcake using a baseball, basketball, or soccer ball. The already-round shape of the cupcake makes decorating simple and fast. Create a baseball cupcake by spreading white icing over the top of the cupcake, and using a red gel icing to make the stitching. Cover the basketball cupcakes with orange icing, and use black gel icing for the lines. Spread white icing onto soccer ball, and detail with black gel icing to create the black octagons.
Insect Theme
Create insect-theme cupcakes, such as butterflies and caterpillars, for a birthday party. To create the butterfly cupcake, slice the cupcake top off, and spread yellow icing on the remaining cupcake bottom and separate cupcake top. Carefully, cut the cupcake top in half and place on the remaining cupcake with the rounded edges touching in the center. The flat, cut edges will be facing out on either side. Add purple icing dots to the wings and dab two eyes at the top of the cupcake with black gel icing. Create a caterpillar by icing several cupcakes with red, blue, yellow and green icing. Place the cupcakes on a platter, so that they are in a line touching each other. Dab two black eyes using black gel icing on the head cupcake, and draw four black toes on the bottoms of the remaining cupcakes.
Animal Theme
Make a penguin or shark cupcake for a birthday party using icing and Thin Mint cookies. To make the penguin, you will need white icing, and three half pieces of Thin Mint cookies. Spread the icing on the cupcake, and place one Thin Mint cookie half at the top of the cupcake. The rounded edge of the cookie will be against the rounded part of the cupcake; this is the penguin head. Place the other two cookie halves in an upside down "V" shape directly under the first half of the cookie. Use orange gel icing to put two eyeballs on the top cookie half and two feet in the bottom center of the cupcake. Create a shark cupcake by spreading blue icing on the cupcake. Cut a half of Thin Mint cookie in half to create a shark fin. Stand the fin up on the cupcake by pushing it down into the icing. Create teeth and eyes on the shark using white gel icing.
Age Theme
Go traditional by incorporating the age of the birthday adult or child onto the cupcake. Spread the cupcake with a favorite icing color such as pink, blue or yellow. Add dots in a coordinating color such as purple, green or red to amount to the birthday person's age. Use gel pens to write the age number on top of the cupcake instead of icing dots.
Tags: black icing, Thin Mint, white icing, cookie half, cupcake with, birthday party, birthday person