Who says doodling is only for paper? These silly little cakes are so fun to decorate and a great way for kids to get creative in the kitchen while learning how to use a piping bag. We used cupcakes as the base here so there’s no pressure of an entire cake – just let loose and have fun doodling with frosting! Keep reading to see all our tips and tricks.

• Cupcakes
• Frosting
• Food coloring
• Powdered sugar
• Piping bag

Step 1
Bake your cupcakes according to the box, or whichever recipe you’re using. Allow to cool completely. Carefully remove the paper wrapper and discard.

Step 2
Depending on the shape of your baked cupcakes, you may need to do a little bit of trimming. If the tops are fairly rounded/domed, use a knife to carefully even it out so that you have a nearly flat surface. If the top of the cupcake overhangs a little bit, you can also trim those, keeping in mind to maintain a round shape.

Note: Instead of baking cupcakes, you can instead bake a sheet cake and use a large round cutter to make your own mini cakes. This method allows easy layers if you like, but will waste some of the cake between the cut-outs. 

Step 3
If you have time, it helps to freeze the cupcakes prior to icing – frozen cupcakes tend to leave less crumbs into the frosting. If you don’t have time for this step, not to worry. Simply apply a dollop of frosting onto the top of the cupcake and use a spatula or knife to carefully spread it around the sides and top.

We chose to do this step on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet. Once iced, the cakes can be moved individually with a spatula but the icing on the sides may be disturbed a little bit. If you prefer, you can frost the cupcakes separately on smaller pieces of wax papers or miniature cake boards.

Step 4
Once the base layer of frosting has been applied to all the cupcakes, it’s the fun part! Use black food coloring to tint the remaining frosting, and add a little bit of powdered sugar to stiffen it slightly. Mix well and scoop into a piping bag. Use scissors to cut a small tip off of the bag. Test it out on a plate to make sure you’re happy with the line, cutting the hole slightly bigger if needed.

Kids will love drawing doodles onto the mini cakes and can create whatever designs they like! We went with faces and different expressions but you can of course doodle anything! Practice piping your ideas onto a scrap of wax paper first, or even draw them out with a pencil if you like.

Happy doodling!