by Kaitlin Musante ’19 and Kaelyn Bowers ’19
To celebrate the winter season and the holidays, this issue we bring you three cupcake toppers that will add a delicious and festive update to plain, vanilla cupcakes.
 
Christmas Tree Topper
Ingredients:
1 14-oz. bag of shredded coconut
1 4-oz. bag of pretzel sticks
1 12-oz. bag of green candy melts
Rainbow sprinkles
 
Directions:

• Melt a bag of green candy melts according to the instructions until smooth and combined. Place the melted candy into an icing bag. (Melted white chocolate with green food coloring can be used instead of candy melts, but it may take longer to dry.)
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pretzel sticks about ½ inch away from each other in rows.
• Take the icing bag and, beginning at the top of each pretzel stick, squeeze the icing in a zigzag formation to resemble a christmas tree. Then, go back over the part of the formation that is covering the pretzel with the icing to form a solid base. Shower with the rainbow sprinkles. Let cool for a few minutes, then slowly peel the topper from the parchment paper.
• To resemble snow, lightly sprinkle frosted cupcakes with a thin coat of coconut. Finally, stick the pretzel end of the cooled trees into the cupcake and enjoy!

 
Snowman Toppers
Ingredients:
 
1 14-oz. bag of shredded coconut
1 12-oz. bag of white candy melts
1 4-oz. bag of pretzel sticks
Rainbow sprinkles
 
Directions:

• Melt a bag of white candy melts according to the instructions until smooth and combined. Place the melted candy into an icing bag. (Again, white chocolate chips can also be substituted.)
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pretzel sticks about ½ inch away from each other in rows.
• Take the icing bag and draw 3 circles varying in size, with the largest at the bottom and smallest at the top, to resemble a snowman. Then, go back over the part of the formation that is covering the pretzel with the icing to form a solid base. Once finished, place two sprinkles of your choice across from each other for eyes in the top circle and three sprinkles vertically down the middle of the larger two for buttons. Let cool for a few minutes, then slowly peel the topper from the parchment paper.
• To resemble snow, lightly sprinkle frosted cupcakes with a thin coat of coconut. Finally, stick the pretzel end of the cooled snowman into the cupcake and enjoy!

 
Melting Snowman Topper
Ingredients:
1 14-oz. bag of shredded coconut
1 10-oz. bag of large marshmallows
1 12-oz. bag of mini chocolate chips
Vanilla icing
Orange dye
 
Directions:

• Separate the vanilla icing into two bowls. In one bowl, place a few drops of orange dye and mix until the desired color is reached. If orange dye is not available, combine red and yellow dye to achieve the same result.
• Lightly sprinkle a coat of coconut over frosted vanilla cupcakes. Then, place a large marshmallow slightly off-center.
• Take two mini chocolate chips and spread a small amount of the plain vanilla frosting along the back of each. Then, stick them to the marshmallow to resemble the eyes of the snowman. Finally, smear a small amount of the orange frosting in a triangle shape below the eyes to resemble a carrot nose and enjoy!