12 Easy Cupcake Decorating Ideas

This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy.

Learn easy cupcake decorations! From candy to fondant, this post will give you 12 easy cupcake decorating ideas to make your cupcakes look beautiful in no time!

easy cupcake decorating ideas photo collage

When it comes to cupcake decorations, you can get as fancy as you want or just keep it simple sweetheart.

I’m all for the simple so I rounded up 12 easy cupcake decorating ideas so they look like a professional made them!

What Do You Put On Cupcakes? – 12 Easy Cupcake Decorating Ideas

1. Sprinkles

I know this one is pretty obvious. But I sometimes all you need is a little sprinkle to make your cupcakes come alive. They now make sprinkles now in all sorts of colors and for every season you could ever want. These are my favorite sprinkles. I just love the big confetti sprinkles.

There are all sorts of different types of sprinkles to choose from: from pearl sprinkles, traditional jimmies, sanding sugar, and non-pareils. There are really tons of options!

Wilton also makes sprinkles for every occasion. I usually buy them on Amazon, but you could also pick up them up at your local craft store like Michael’s. Sometimes I wait until a holiday is over or close to it, when they are super discounted and stock up!

Like these rainbow cupcakes with gold sprinkles I love making for St. Patrick’s Day!

2. Chocolate

You could also decorate your cupcakes with chocolate molds like these chocolate footballs I made on top of these superbowl cupcakes.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with just topping with a few chocolate chips if you’re in a pinch for time!

green frosted cupcake with chocolate footballs

3. Fondant

Now fondant might not seem like an easy cupcake decoration but I promise you it is! For special occasion I love using fondant and creating fondant flowers to top my cupcakes with like with my perfect vanilla cupcakes. They are so pretty and simple.

You can use these fondant molds to make quick flowers and just place a simple pearl sprinkle in the middle. If you are short on time, you could also get pre-made flower icing decorations like these ones from Wilton.

vanilla frosted cupcakes with purple fondant flowers on top

4. Buttercream Flowers

You can pipe flowers directly onto the cupcakes like with these hydrangea cupcakes or use Russian tips if you’re not too confident in your piping skills. But when your cupcakes look like a beautiful bouquet you don’t need anything else!

You can read my full tutorial on using Russian tips here (includes a video too!)

6 russian flower tips with 6 buttercream flower cupcakes

5. Cake Crumbs

One of my favorite and easy (and free!) ways to decorate a cupcake is to simply crumble one cupcake into crumbs and sprinkle some on top like with these easy one bowl red velvet cupcakes.

You can simply save one cupcake to reserve as your cupcake decoration. I always sacrifice one and turn that into the crumbs!

6. Fruit

Basically anything that is going to complement the cupcake flavor. Like these banana chips for my banana cupcakes or berries on these lemon mixed berry cupcakes.

Get creative! You could use toasted nuts, coconut, citrus zest.- really anything natural that really tells you what the cupcake flavor is and highlights it.

banana cupcake topped with a banana chip

7. Candy

Of course this should be a no brainer too if you ask me. Here are a few ways I’ve used candy to top my cupcakes:

bird nest cupcake with a bite taken out of it

8. Homemade Sauce or Drizzle

I love using a homemade sauce or jam that again complements the cupcake flavor. Like caramel sauce for these salted caramel apple cupcakes.

Don’t feel like you have to use a homemade dessert sauce or jam. You can use a store-bought version like the jelly for these peanut butter and jelly cupcakes.

9. Cookies or other treats

I mean what’s better than a cupcake?

A cupcake with a cookie on top is what’s better. You can use a chocolate chip cookie, oreo or how about a Rice Krispie Treat? It’s like two desserts in one.

cupcakes topped with a rice krispie treat on a plate

10. Two Tone Frosting

If you’re feeling up for it. Go ahead and swirl your frosting in all sorts of colors! I have a quick video for you to watch with this post so you can rock out two tone frosting easily.

11. Torch It

When all else fails just torch it. Ok just kidding. But with my S’mores cupcakes (yes they did get a square of chocolate) but all they needed was a quick torch with my kitchen torch.

12. Ganache

Is there anything better than a drizzle of chocolate? I think not. I used that to decorate these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. And ganache is easy. I stick to an easy ganache ratio of 1:1 heavy cream and chocolate for easy drizzling.