Easy Butterfly Cupcakes

These cupcakes are the lazy version of the ones found in Hello, Cupcake!. I received the book a couple years ago for my birthday and I've used several ideas out of it. It's a cute little addition to your cookbook shelve if you're like me and always looking for new ones to add.

Back to the cupcakes~ they are a strawberry cupcake with vanilla frosting. The butterflies are the hardest part and they are not hard. At all.

Here is how I made my beautiful butterfly cupcakes.

1)  Draw a butterfly shape on waxed paper.

2) In a zip top bag or a disposable pastry bag, put some chocolate Candy Melts. Melt them by microwaving a few seconds at a time and massaging the bag until all the melts are, well, melted. Do the same in another bag of any color you like, I did pink. Then, pipe a heavy line of chocolate around the outside and fill in with the colored candy melts. I sprinkled mine with white cake sparkles, but you could also use white nonpareils or sprinkles. Or nothing at all if that's how you roll. Naked butterflies could be pretty too :)

3) While you let all the butterfly wings cool, ice your cupcake with some incredible frosting (I used a large star tip on these).

4)  Peel the wings off the waxed paper and just stick them into the newly frosted cupcake. You could make a body, but I didn't. They probably would have looked nice with one, however these were for my 4 year old's birthday party and when it gets down to the cupcake time they just want to eat. Sometimes simpler is better!

There they are! A whole platter of pink butterflies just waiting to be birthday goodies. These were some of the easiest decorated cupcakes I have ever done for a birthday. I would do them again in a heartbeat. These might look nice added to a larger cake, on the sides or top as well.

A very pretty, very easy way to make a special cupcake even a little more special for someone you love :)