It’s spring and what a welcome season it is! The sun is shining, the snow is melting and the birds are busy singing their spring songs. After you have had a chance to get outside to enjoy the weather with a nice hike, bike ride or maybe some gardening, come on in and mix up a batch of cupcakes to decorate. It’s fun for the whole family!
Cupcakes make from scratch are the best tasting, but using a mix and store-bought frosting takes less time. There are lots of great recipes on the Internet, but my favorite cupcake recipes are from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. There are also lots of great cookbooks in the library if you need some more inspiration.
Look around the kitchen and see what you have to use for decorations such as cookies, chocolate chips, marshmallows, dried fruit, gum, different types of cereal, candy, or colored sprinkles. These are just a few things to look for, anything that is edible and would taste good on a cupcake is fair game.
You may also want to buy a small collection of candies such as taffy, M & Ms, Life Savers or whatever shapes and colors you like.
While the cupcakes are cooling, mix up a batch of vanilla frosting, or open the can and divide it into several small bowls. Add food coloring of your choice to make different colors. The more food coloring you add, the more intense the color will become. Add just a few drops at a time and then mix the frosting, continue to add color slowly until you are pleased with the shade.
There are endless themes and a huge variety of ideas that can be used for decorating the cupcakes. Spring brings images of flowers, sunshine and rain, birds, insects, green leaves and baby animals, but again the ideas are endless.
The book Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson has a huge collection of wonderful ideas. There are other nice cupcake decorating books available as well.
Use the candies and other foods to decorate the cakes. Instead of buying a frosting bag, use plastic baggies with the corner taped and then cut at an angle as your frosting tool. Decorating cupcakes can be as simple or as ornate as you want to make it and it is something that all ages can enjoy.
If you want to practice, use these paper cupcakes and decorate them with crayons, markers or colored pencils. Enjoy!
Kelly Dupre of Grand Marais is an artist, children’s author, and educator with over 20 years teaching experience with all age groups in a variety of settings. The activities in this once-a-month column are spin-offs and combinations of ideas she has used and learned from teachers, parents, kids, books, and workshops. Only some of the activities has she actually thought of herself! Do you have a project or an idea you would like to see on the Whirligigs page? Let us know! Send your suggestion to starnews@boreal.org.
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