Summer Fun Cupcakes

The cool beach scene and hidden ocean fish is what makes these cupcakes special. Just mix up a batch of your favorite store-bought white cupcake mix and mix in some blue food coloring so you end up with ocean blue colored cupcakes. Pour the batter in a muffin pan lined with baking cups, but just before baking, tuck 2 Swedish fish candies down inside the batter of each cupcake. Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Then cool the cupcakes on a wire rack. To make them even more fun, you could use bright blue wrappers to simulate the ocean water.

Buy 1 or 2 tubs of vanilla icing (I always use 2) and color 1/2 the icing blue and leave the other 1/2 of the icing white. This will allow you to make the beach area and the ocean water area on top each cupcake simply by frosting each half (one half white, one half blue). While the frosting is still "wet", sprinkle blue crystal sugar on the blue frosting. To create the sand, sprinkle the white frosting half with either brown sugar OR grind up some graham crackers to get fine crumbs.

Use 1/2 a piece of fruit stripe gum to create the beach chair, a gumball to create the "beach" ball, and a paper umbrella (you can buy these at party supply stores).

These cupcakes make great gourmet desserts for a pool party or unique beach favors for a luau. You can buy cake favor boxes and send each guest home with one of these tasty treats!

Another super easy-to-make cupcake for summer! These cupcakes are all about summer party favors. Simply bake up a batch of your favorite cupcake flavor. Cool the cupcakes and ice them with a tub of vanilla icing that has been tinted with a few drops of blue food coloring. You can sprinkle them with blue granulated sugar to get a bit of depth and sparkle. To achieve the look in the photo, you can cut fruit roll-ups into 1 1/2" long pieces for the "beach towel" where you can lay teddy (teddy graham bear shaped snacks). For the teddy life-preservers, you can use gummy lifesavers and tuck Teddy inside, then place him on the ocean frosting. You can also use fish-shaped crackers, Swedish or gummy fish, along with paper drink umbrellas for decorations.

Idea and photo from Betty Crocker.

The Cupcake Club on Squidoo is an ever-growing collection of the best cupcake recipes ever. It's also home for cute and unique decorating ideas, debates about chocolate vs. vanilla frosting, recommendations for the best kitchen gadgets, cupcake sightings at hot bakeries around town, colorful cupcake photography... If you've got a sweet tooth for cupcakes, you're in the right place. You can make pages for your favorite cupcakes (and even earn money from them).


If you are a sweet tooth like me, then the cupcake club might be the perfect way to get started on Squidoo. In addition to cupcakes, I love whipping up gourmet cookies, candy bouquets, and delectable chocolate desserts to share with friends and family!

Don't worry, there are plenty of great options if you prefer to bake cookies instead of cupcakes. Check out the cookie bouquet shown to the right from Gourmet Cookie Bouquets. They have taken summer themed cookie cutters and cut-out some summertime favorite shapes such as flip flops, palm trees and beach balls. By icing them and artfully arranging them in a container, they have created a fun floral-like display that would look great as a party centerpiece or as a gift for any occasion!

You can make something similar at home using refrigerated sugar cookie dough that you roll out and cut out using summer themed cookie cutters. The icing doesn't need to be nearly as elaborate as that shown in the photo to get the fun and festive "Happy Summer" effect. You could use store-bought vanilla icing and add food coloring to get your desired frosting colors such as green for the palm trees or pink for the flip flops. Use piping gel to create things like the flip flop toe thong.