Food Friday: A Roundup of Summer Birthday Cupcakes for Kids

Poor Henry—he’s been two for a few days and we haven’t yet given him any chocolate cake to shove in his face yet. (I did make good on my chocolate promise and gave him a few chocolate chips before bed on his birthday. “YUMMY!” he reported.)

We celebrated with ice cream and presents this week, and he had cupcakes at school, but we’re focused on Sunday for a combined birthday/Father’s Day celebration and I HAVE BEEN BUSY, mostly just drooling over the choices out there in kid heaven on the web.

Will had a cake full of sea creatures that we made here at home when he turned two, but with Henry, I’m going simple and doing cupcakes. I was leaning towards dogs and cats, but then I turned to the glorious Internet and have you SEEN what’s out there?

Butterfly cupcakes
(We had these beauties at an April birthday party, and creative mom used white yogurt-covered pretzels, very pretty.)

Hedgehog Cupcakes

Should you ever need to know how, here are instructions for making a HEDGEHOG cupcake. Someone, someday will google that and I will BE HERE READY with that handy information.

Flag Cupcakes
Perfect for a birthday anywhere near Memorial Day, Flag Day or July 4.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Though even as a child this struck me as being a little redundant (cake inside a cone), they sure are cute.

Clown Cupcakes

If there are any kids out there who don’t think clowns are creepy. These cupcakes, however, are not creepy.

Shark & Beach Cupcakes

I’m so making these. Probably for MY summer birthday.

Froggy Fun Cupcakes

If only I had known about these when Will, dubbed Froggy in utero, turned one. I just couldn’t visualize a frog-green cake, so I opted for the safe, white haven of piped organic cream cheese frosting with egg-free, milk-free organic carrot cake baked into a sheep mold. Hey, we take our food allergies seriously in our family.

Lollipop Cupcakes

These are too sweet for words. Literally. I can think of lots of little ones who would love these.

Fishy Cupcakes

What kid ISN’T a fish fanatic?

Bug Cupcakes

LOVE these. I wish I could make these for Henry, but I don’t want to traumatize him. He runs from flies and bees, saying, “Scary!”

Okay, I need to figure out which ones I’m making and get cracking! Oh, how I love cakes and cupcakes. This was so much fun I think I need to make this a regular event. In the meantime, I have a date with some chocolate buttercream.

Anna Sawin

Anna Sawin is a Connecticut-based portrait, wedding, and editorial photographer. She lives in the shoreline town of Stonington with her family and has discovered the perfect cupcake. Just ask, she is willing to share her secret.

16 Comments

  1. MelodyA. on June 13, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    How about unicorn cupcakes? Up for the challenge?

  2. Maggie on June 13, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Oh my goodness, those are all adorable! I love decorating, and now I feel like I need to make some cupcakes!

  3. The Lisa Show on June 14, 2008 at 4:38 am

    Gorgeous cupcakes! I love the butterflies best. And the bug cupcakes. The frogs, not so much. I’ve always hated frogs.

  4. itsallabouthallie on June 14, 2008 at 7:22 am

    I love these cupcakes! It reminds me of when the twins turned on I made a sailboat cake http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=1aa876ecfd22f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=chocolate%20cake&rsc=header_8
    it was a hit! I loved it!

    The fish cupcakes and beach and shark look awesome!

    Have a great celebration!

  5. Christina on June 14, 2008 at 8:34 am

    Anna, you are my hero. I am totally bookmarking this for Nadia’s birthday in the fall. I’m gonna see if I can sway her towards a butterfly party – those are TOO CUTE! We’ve done the ice cream cone cakes before.

  6. Sarah G now B on June 14, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Happy b-day boys and father’s day b !!! What a fun month you have…

  7. Katy on June 14, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    never mind the cupcakes. did you see the lady on page 172 of the “real simple” that arrived in your mailbox today?

  8. Sara on June 15, 2008 at 12:16 am

    The only thing better than cake, is a cupcake! These are adorable, thanks for all the inspiration.

  9. Crunchy Domestic Goddess on June 16, 2008 at 1:27 pm

    those are all awesome. 🙂 i am looking for a good pig cupcake template to use for ava’s bday party at the farm this weekend.

  10. arizaphale on June 22, 2008 at 3:11 am

    Those are amazing. I’ve never seen so many different types of cupcakes all in one spot! I do a decorated cake each year for the BA and Small Boy but I don’t know if I’d have the patience for all those little cupcakes. Maybe a production line with the BA??? I think my faves were the sharks cos they’re so fun!

  11. arizaphale on June 22, 2008 at 3:13 am

    Oops…jsut realised that first link is a bit convoluted. Try this

    cake

  12. Suzanne on June 25, 2008 at 10:24 am

    I get to live vicariously through all of these. Like you, I have to take those allergies seriously. I’m hoping that Gameboy grows out of the food dye allergy, but at 12, I’m thinking he’s stuck with it.

  13. The Mom Crowd » Fourth of July Link Round Up on July 3, 2008 at 12:46 am

    […] Really cool cupcake ideas at HankandWillie.wordpress.com. […]

  14. […] Someone found me by Googling hedgehog cupcakes. […]

  15. Tonya on February 1, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    You found some really nice cupcake ideas. Make sure you stop by Martha Stewart’s website she has listed some really unique ideas especially for kids.

    Enjoy!
    T2 | Cupcake Ideas For You

  16. susan on May 18, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    What did you use as “sand” on the beach cupcakes?

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anna

Anna Sawin is a Connecticut-based portrait, wedding, and editorial photographer. She lives in the shoreline town of Stonington with her family and has discovered the perfect cupcake. Just ask, she is willing to share her secret.