Last winter when Kate posted her darling Candy Penguin Cupcakes, my favorite part were the cute little beaks. I started thinking about what other sorts of animals you could make with beaks like that (not that there are tons of choices) and remembered doing these cute little chickies when I was a kid. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with fancy cupcakes. They’re so fun to look at, but some of them are SO labor intensive that when you’re all finished creating your little pieces of art it almost hurts to see people bite into them. So I LOVE projects like these Spring Chick Cupcakes that literally take an extra 2 minutes of your time, but look totally adorable.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Cupcakes – Store bought, from a box, or homemade. This recipe will make enough toppings for 12 standard sized cupcakes, but is very flexible for more or less, mini vs. standard size, etc.
- Frosting – Store bought or home made. We love this Buttercream Frosting.
- Shredded coconut – Like you find on the baking aisle. Sweetened or unsweetened will work.
- Yellow food coloring – This is used to tint the coconut. I like adding just a little to the frosting to make it a nice pale yellow as well!
- Mini M&Ms – For the eyes. I like to just grab a tube of mini M&M’s, but you can find them in larger bags on the candy aisle or sometimes by the chocolate chips as well. Chocolate chips would also work.
- Orange Starburst candy – Or other pliable orange candies, like orange Tootsie rolls. The bulk bins at Winco make it easy to grab a few of what you need without getting all of the other flavors. For Starbursts, you can get about 6 beaks per candy.
How to Make Spring Chick Cupcakes
- Mix up some coconut flakes with a few drops of yellow food coloring. It may look weird at first, but keep stirring and eventually the color will be evenly distributed.
- Cut your orange candy into small pieces and mold each piece into a triangle.
- If desired, tint your frosting with yellow food coloring. Frost your cupcakes and cover with coconut.
- Place two M&M’s on for eyes and add a candy beak.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished cupcakes at room temperature, tightly covered, and enjoy in 2-3 days for best results.
- These make darling mini cupcakes, too! Use mini M&M’s or mini chocolate chips for eyes.
{Easy} Spring Chick Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 12 cupcakes
- frosting of your choice we love this one
- ¾ cup shredded coconut
- 2-3 drops yellow food coloring
- mini M&M’s
- orange starburst tootsie rolls, or other soft moldable candy
Instructions
- Mix coconut and food coloring with a fork until color is evenly distributed.
- Cut orange candy into small pieces and mold into beak shapes.
- Frost cupcakes (tint frosting yellow if desired) and cover with coconut. Place 2 M&M's on for eyes and a candy beak.
Notes
- Store finished cupcakes at room temperature, tightly covered, and enjoy in 2-3 days for best results.
- These make darling mini cupcakes, too! Use mini M&M’s or mini chocolate chips for eyes.
Questions & Reviews
Sarah!
You found my blog….Check it out again. I made something for Ben for his birthday that I think your boys would love! Especially since they love the dinosaur eggs! Yes we need to chat. Want to send me your email address? Or I think that mine might be attached to this note. Oh, these are super cute cupcakes! Will definitely have to make these 🙂
THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting a cake/cupcake/holiday recipe that doesn’t take so much work. I love looking at all the super-uber-ultra creative and intricate cakes and desserts out there, but that doesn’t mean I want to make them. This, on the the other hand, I can totally do! And I showed my kids the picture and they thought they were adorable, plus they can help with them since they are not too difficult!
I LOVE this!
I have the same question about using coconut that Jennifer McCormick did. Is there any other option? Mine is not b/c of a school reason. I just don’t care for coconut. 🙂
I tried these with yellow frosting and they were super cute. You could probably also use a star tip (I’m not sure if that is the right term) to frost the cupcakes and it would look more like “feathers”. I just didn’t have the drive to do that at the time, but I think I will try that next time since my kids are not coconut fans. Hope this helps!
Jennifer… if you use a leaf tip and pull out a little it will actually recreate feathers 😉
I LOVE how cute and simple these are! And yes I know what you are talking about with the fancy ones! Excellent idea thanks so much!!
These are adorable and sound so easy. Our family had a blast trying your April Fools day cupcakes. We just might have to try these out too!
These are adorable!
My sister and I were at Winco on Saturday. We picked through the gumballs because we needed only red, white and blue gumballs. I can just see you picking through the mini M&M’s for the brown ones!
I made the elephant, monkey, penguin and lion cupcakes from a certain cupcake book (hmm, I wonder which one?) last year for my granddaughter’s third birthday, then several of the dog cupcakes for my grandson’s second birthday. They took forever and exactly what you said- when they started getting eaten I almost wanted to smack them out of the people’s hands!
(P.S. We don’t mind your parenthesis usage.) 🙂
I made these for a barnyard theme party for my little boy last year. But I didn’t think about making them for Easter—great idea! Good candy suggestions for the beak, too!
Every time we see my grandpa he asks us what the magic word is. If we tell him he gives us tootsie roll, the regular old chocolate kind. No one eats them; we just leave them on a table in his house to find later. The other flavors of tootsie rolls would be great though. Also, the cupcakes are super cute 🙂