Cute Cupcake Ideas for Babies

Your baby's first birthday is a special occasion, and whether you're having a big party or just celebrating with the immediate family, you'll want to make some special cake. A large birthday cake is the traditional way to go, but if you make cupcakes the birthday child can have her own personal cake to smash and eat. This leaves the rest of the refreshments untouched while the family enjoys the innovative designs you can create on small cupcake forms. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Caterpillar

Create a caterpillar on the serving tray with a number of colorful cupcakes. Frost the cupcakes smooth and flat in a number of bright colors. Mix frosting in small bowls with different colors of food coloring to achieve a rainbow of frostings. Cut shoestring licorice into 3-inch pieces and stick two of them into the side of each cupcake. Arrange the cupcakes on the tray with the licorice sticking up on the first one for antennae, and the licorice sticking down on the rest for legs. Use gel icing in a tube to draw a face on the first cupcake.

Elmo

Make your baby's cupcakes in the shape of a recognizable friend. Frost the cupcakes in bright red icing. Slice a marshmallow in half horizontally, leaving you two marshmallow discs. Set the two discs near the top of the cupcake for Elmo's eyes, and place a dot of black gel icing on the eyes for pupils. Use an orange jelly bean for the nose, and pipe a black gel smile across the bottom of each Elmo face, or use half of an Oreo cookie for the mouth.

Ladybug

Cut a piece of shoestring licorice 2 inches long. Set the licorice across the cupcake, about 2/3 of the way toward the top. Frost the lower half of the cupcake in red and the upper half above the licorice in black or dark brown. Cut another licorice string and lay it vertically in the middle of the cupcake from the first string down to the bottom, to separate the wings of the ladybug. Add spots to the ladybug wings with black gel frosting in a tube.

Balloons

Set out a round tray for serving your cupcakes. Frost your cupcakes in colors according to your party theme, or do them in a rainbow of colors. Stick one string of shoestring licorice into the edge of each cupcake, to serve as the string on a balloon. Arrange the cupcakes on the tray in the shape of a bunch of balloons, with all the strings pointing downward and bunched together at the bottom.