These little treats were so much fun to make and turned out so great! They were so easy that anyone can do it as long as you are willing to put in the time. It did take quite a bit of time, but it was well worth the effort.
As I was doing it I was almost overwhelmed with just the smell of sugar. We haven’t had much sugar in this house recently, so just the smell was a bit much. I had done a TON of research trying to find flourless sugarless cupcakes and how to make a sugarless frosting that could be decorated so that we could stay on dear hubby’s diet, but it wasn’t worth it! The options were VERY limited and didn’t even sound good at all. Also, I knew these cupcakes were going to be for extended family as well and I figured they wouldn’t be as keen on eating the crazy diet Brian does. So I caved and went all out!
Koa’s 2nd birthday was in March and he LOVES apples. I told him I would either make him cupcakes that looked like apples or that looked like fish. Both of which he was fascinated with. Daily he asks for an apple for snack. He doesn’t want it cup up or pealed. He wants to just eat it “by self”, which means he doesn’t eat it in a circle around the core like most people, but from one side through to the other! He decided he wanted the apple cupcakes and that’s what we did!

[amazon_link id=”054724181X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]

Both of these recipes I got from the cupcake cookbook called [amazon_link id=”054724181X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]“What’s New, Cupcake?” by Karen Tack and Alan Richarson.[/amazon_link] I’ve gotten plenty of ideas from this book. It is very clear and the instructions are detailed and easy to understand!

Ingredients:

• 10-12 cupcakes = 1 box cake mix
• 1 can white frosting
• 1 cup red sugar
• 6 chocolate mini doughnuts
• 6 tootsie rolls
• 3 green tootsie rolls

How to:

1. Bake whatever flavor cupcakes you like and let them cool completely.
2. Cut mini doughnuts in half. Place half of doughnut (chocolate covered work best since they are a little harder) on top of the cupcake.
3. Cover with pink/red frosting. I just purchased white and colored it with food coloring. After covering, roll in red sugar. It is best to do this right after frosting. If you wait too long the frosting starts to dry out a little bit and then the sugar won’t stick. You can either purchase red sugar or just color white sugar with red food coloring. In the past I tried coloring natural cane sugar and it just didn’t turn out as pretty… since we were caving in SO many areas I just went with the white!
4. Unwrap tootsie roll and cut diagonally lengthwise. Mold/shape with fingers to make it bend a little like an apple stem. Place the pointy side into the hole of the doughnut.
5. Unwrap the green tootsie rolls. Heat in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds and they become soft. Roll out flat and cut in the shape of a leaf. Use a table knife to create markings like the veins in a leaf. Place one or two of the leaves on the top of the cupcake next to the stem.

As if this weren’t enough! Baby Aisling was born at the beginning of February and her dedication was at the end of March and we had a huge family gathering afterwards and I decided to make little teddy bears for her! They were a hit and tasted great as well. Since I had just made a batch of unhealthy treats earlier in the month it was easy to make the same excuse and do it again. Once you fall off the band wagon, it’s easy to do it again. What a shame! 😉

These took a little more time than the apples, but were Oh so cute! A HUGE hit with the kidos present! My boys couldn’t get enough looking at them and asking for them as well. I did let them help with these and they really enjoyed that! However, I will say my candy for decorating disappeared pretty quickly! Oh well! Water under the bridge!

The instructions below are just for the white bears, but you can make any color you like!  Just be sure to color the frosting AND the coconut and you will need some of the gum drops to be different colors as well.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 cupcakes = 1 box cake mix
• 1 can white frosting
• ½ can chocolate frosting
• 12 doughnut holes
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 60 white gum drops
• 24 cheerios
• 12 brown mini M&Ms

How to:

1. Bake cupcakes and let cool completely.
2. Use a dab of frosting to attach the doughnut holes to the back of the cupcake.
3. Cover the entire cupcake and doughnut hole with frosting.
4. Take two cheerios, cover one side with frosting and attach to top of doughnut hole for ears.
5. Sprinkle coconut over entire cupcake; gently shake off excess.
6. Add dab of frosting to each gum drop and attach two feet to front of cupcake, two arms at the sides (3 o’clock and 9 o’clock of the top of the cupcake) and one to the center of the doughnut hole for a nose
7. Place chocolate frosting in a sandwich sized Ziploc bag and snip a VERY small corner off. You can always make the hole bigger if you need it, but can’t make it smaller. So just take the smallest part off first.
8. Use the chocolate frosting to make eyes, claws, pads on feet and hands and mouth for the bear.
9. Add dab of frosting to one of the mini M&Ms and place at the center of the nose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were so much fun! Unfortunately we had left-overs and we HAD to eat them! I tried to have the kids and I enjoy them at lunch when hubby didn’t have to see us eating and enjoying sugar! But of course he had a few as well! 😉