Happy Crafty Kids: How to Make Care Bear Cupcakes

My mom and I spent the day doing a little retail therapy. At Ross I found a fantastic collapsible cupcake holder. I'ver been eyeing similiar ones for months, but didn't want to cough up the $30. So today I found this awesome one for $20 - I was sold! This evening I was inspired by the Care Bears movies my kids and I watched last night and attempted to create a cute Care Bear cupcake. Remember, I'm not an artist or a pastry chef and I'm sure most of you could do a much prettier job. This is just to give you an idea of what you can do. Most of it is easier than you think.

OK, the rainbow is a little ugly -- but lesson learned for next time. Use piping gel or icing for a cleaner look.

Age: 8+. I made the cupcake and my kids watched and enjoyed licking the icing off of the utensils.
Time: About 4 minutes per cupcake. But if you do an assembly line, it would be much quicker.
Mess/Cleanup: Surprisingly clean. I did not mix any icing colors and used store bought icing. I just had a few knives, spoons, and sticky kids to wash up.
What You Need:

Cupcakes. I used a white cake mix, but substituted applesauce for the oil (1-1). I also added about 2 tablespoons of watermelon sugar sprinkles. I wish I added more. There was a slight hint of watermelon, but I think 4+ tablespoons could have made these super fabulous.
Pink Icing (Betty Crocker makes a pink cherry icing that is pretty yummy)
White Icing
Mini Marshmallows (about 2 per cupcake)
Edible Color Markers (Red, Yellow, and Blue - like these)
White Candy Melts (1 per cupcake, like these)
Scissors
1 Baggie (I like the non-zippered gallon size)

Why I Like This Craft:
Moms like to craft too! Since our Buzz Lightyear cupcakes are such a hit, I wanted to try to make another character cupcake. I happen to have much love for Care Bears (circa early 80s) and my daughter was the cutest Care Bear for Halloween, how could I not try to make this treat?

I think the cupcakes made her happier than wearing this costume!

Step 1:
Frost the cupcake white.

Step 2:
Add pink frosting to the baggie. Twist the open end and squish all of the frosting to a bottom corner of the bag. Snip a small corner off the baggie with scissors.

Step 3: Make the Pink body
Freehand a Care Bear head. It's not that hard. Really.

Step 4:
Add some arms and a belly. You can use a toothpick to smooth out the squiggly lines of the frosting.

Step 5: Make the Nose, Chin & Eyes
Snip a mini marshmallow in half lengthwise. Reserve the half for the nose. Snip the remaining piece in half again (1/4 of the marshmallow). Reserve one quarter for the chin. Snip the remaining piece in half again. You now have 2 eyes. You may need to reshape some of the pieces to make them work on each cupcake.

Step 6:
With the nose piece, use the red food marker to make a small heart near the top of the marshmallow. With each of the eye pieces, use the blue food marker to make a small blue dot.

Step 7: Make the Belly Badge
Using the color markers, draw a rainbow on the white candy melt. My markers were a little dry. I think if I had piping gel or royal icing on hand, I would have used that to make a much prettier belly badge.

Step 8:
Place the pieces on the cupcake to make the Care Bear's face. Add the belly badge. Voila! In this picture I also added to little marshmallow bits for the ears. I guess they're optional.