Happy times with kids call for cheerful cupcakes. Easier to serve than cake, cupcakes require no slicing, no plates, and no forks -- and every child gets her fair share of icing.

The designs on this page start as Chocolate Cupcakes or Vanilla Cupcakes iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream -- perfect for spreading in thin layers or sculpting into thick mounds (and licking from the bowl).

The cupcakes can be baked a week ahead and frozen, but decorate them no more than a day before serving. Set up an assembly line, and put kids in charge of affixing candy eyes, gumdrop cheeks, and other trimmings. Pack the cupcakes in a shallow plastic container, and stuff crumpled waxed paper in between. Then dole them out and watch kids marvel for a second before opening wide!

Turkey Cupcake How-To
Kids will gobble up these tasty turkeys! Their heads are store-bought coconut marshmallows; make holes in them with a toothpick dipped in water, and insert chocolate sprinkles for eyes. Gummy fish are the perfect shape for beaks and tail feathers. Toasted coconut "feathers" sprout from the turkey's chocolate buttercream bodies.