What's Cooking Wednesday? Cakes and Cupcakes Edition

I have been meaning to post these things since April. Yikes! Where has the time gone?

Okay ... so here are some really cute (and relatively easy) kid cupcakes and cake ideas.

For EASTER. File this idea away for next year.

We made chocolate cupcakes with a cake mix and topped with the whipped vanilla frosting in a can (which is very light and fluffy-almost like marshmallow cream). I used my favorite cupcake decorating tool from Pampered Chef and then added spring-colored sprinkles. Insert toothpick into bottom of Peeps of your choice and stick into top of cupcake. Make sure the toothpick goes into the cake a little bit-you might have to press down into the frosting to do this. [This would be super-cute with green-colored coconut (like grass) and the yellow chick Peeps.]

For David's frog-themed FIRST birthday party ... a frog "smash" cake for David and frog cupcakes for the guests.

Here was my inspiration for the cupcakes.

Here is my version. Not too bad, but I had to improvise on the eyes a little bit.

Will helped me with the green frosting, and then I topped them with an Oreo cookie. Next came black gel frosting dots on two mini-marshmallows for the eyes. I used the black gel frosting to "glue" the eyes to the top of the cookie. The tongue is a piece of fruit stripes chewing gum, cut in half. I also cut a triangle tip to make it more tongue-looking.

Next came the frog cake. I baked about half a yellow cake mix (maybe 2 cups batter) in an 8-inch round cake pan. Two extra cupcakes (frosted in white frosting) served as the eyes. I cut off the rounded top of the to make a flat surface for the face.

I frosted the "face" and sides of the "eyes" with green frosting. Then, I took a tube of store-bought black frosting and attached a fine tip to make the eyeballs, mouth and outline the eyes and face. The cheeks are 2 halves of a strawberry marshmallow. (You could also use pink Necco wafers.)

Ready for the party!