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Beach Cupcake Tutorial~ A Free Blog Tutorial

June 4, 2011 By Melissa Diamond 27 Comments

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Today I’m going to show you how to make adorable beach cupcakes, featuring brightly colored Lollipop Fish Cupcake Toppers and funny Buttercream Crabs!

I love how quick and easy these colorful designs are. These cupcakes would be perfect for pool parties and beach themed parties, or just because!

 

Adorable Beach Cupcakes featuring colorful fish and crabs! MyCakeSchool.com free cupcake tutorial!

 

Let the fun begin!

How to Make Crab Cupcakes

First, let’s make some buttercream crabs.  I used our Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Recipe for this project.

My blue buttercream frosting is piped on with a simple round tip 12.

For the crab’s body, I used a Wilton petal tip 104. You may be able to see in the photo that the small end of the teardrop shaped opening is facing me. The opening of the piping tip should be parallel to the surface of the cake.

Adorable Beach Cupcakes featuring colorful fish and crabs! The perfect cupcakes for pool parties and beach parties! Free tutorial by My Cake School.

 

Now…for the eyes!  I used Sixlets candy, which I bought at Party City…but any white candy will do. (White fondant would work too…or even dots of stiffened white icing!)

I drew little black dots onto the white candies with a black food coloring pen to give a funny google eyed effect, and then piped a little ridge of red buttercream with a small Wilton tip 3 to help them stay in place.

CUTE Beach Cupcake Tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com! Perfect for beach parties and pool parties!

Now, for the top of the crab shell, pipe a ribbon of buttercream across the eyes using a Wilton tip 104 as demonstrated in the photo. (Again, the small side of the 104 tip will be facing you so that you have a nice thin ribbon of frosting.)

Cute beach themed cupcakes! Colorful fish and crab free cupcake tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com!

Next our crabby needs some little crab legs and claws. Pipe these on with a small round tip (Wilton tip 3 or similar). That’s all there is to it! I much prefer this cute frosting crab to the little crabbies I see running around at the beach.

He looks like a little muppet ;0)

 

The cutest beach themed cupcake tutorial by My Cake School! Free tutorial!

And here’s the whole crabby cupcake crew…. aren’t they funny? I like how each one looks a little different- who knew that google eyes could be so expressive?!

Adorable Step-by-Step Beach Cupcake Tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com! Perfect for beach and pool parties!

 

How to Make Fish Cupcakes

Next, we’re onto the school of fish—-a very special variety of lollipop fish for our cupcakes!  I used flat round lollipops and Dots candy for this project.

Any lollipop would actually work for these cute cupcake toppers–but I really had my mind set on the flat round ones.   We tracked down a bag at a party supply store (Party City) after looking with no luck at grocery stores (how dare they not carry these lollipops!)   So be warned…you may have to go with a different variety of lollipop fish.

As you’ve seen in other posts, I like Dots candy because it rolls very easily into thin, colorful pieces. You can use your candy of choice..or even fruit roll ups…

Adorable Fish and Crab Cupcakes! Free cupcake tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com!

Next, cut out your thinly rolled fish tails and fins and press directly onto their lollipop bodies. They are just tacky enough that they stay in place with no piping gel or light corn syrup “glue” required. We drew on little eyes with our food coloring pen.

 

 

The cutest fish and crab cupcake tutorial by My Cake School! Perfect for pool parties and beach parties!

 

Next, pipe little buttercream fish lips on with a small round piping tip (we used a Wilton 4).

 

Adorable crab and fish themed cupcakes! Perfect for beach parties and pool parties. Free cupcake tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com!

And here they are!  I think these lollipop fish cupcake toppers came out so cute, and the more colorful the combinations, the better! I pushed these right into our cupcakes which have been frosted with buttercream shells and swirls.

A note about refrigeration

*If your cupcakes require refrigeration, you may want to apply the fish closer to the event. (Either that or you can pop just one fish topper in the fridge to make sure that the candy pieces behave themselves! Moisture levels vary so much from refrigerator to refrigerator that it’s best to do a test run to be on the safe side!)

 

Adorable fish and crab cupcake tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com! Perfect for beach parties and pool parties!

We hope that you enjoyed this fun beach cupcake tutorial! If you give it a try, we’d love to hear all about it!

 

Adorable Beach Cupcakes! Free Tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com! Perfect cupcakes for pool parties and beach or luau parties!

 

**Ready for more beach and summertime cuteness? You may like our Flip Flop Cupcake Tutorial!

These adorable Flip Flop Cupcakes are perfect for summer! Free cupcake decorating tutorial by MyCakeSchool.com!

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. Octopus Cake Tutorial! My Cake School
  2. Frog Cake Tutorial- My Cake School
  3. Spring Cupcakes!
  4. Cookout Cupcakes!~ Free Blog Tutorial
  5. Happy Halloweenie! Free Cake Video~ Featuring Topper & Tri-Colored Buttercream

Filed Under: Buttercream Techniques, Summer, Blog Tutorials, Cupcake, Cake Pop, etc. Methods, Seasonal & Holiday, Themes and Occasions, Animals/Animal Print Tagged With: Beach Cupcakes, fish cupcakes, crab cupcakes

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Comments

  1. Andrea June 4, 2011 at 10:04 am

    Hi Melissa! I love your beachy cupcakes! They are so nice and also be delicious. The crab is really spectacular. Good job!
    Andrea. (from Spain)

    Reply
  2. Melanie Couch June 4, 2011 at 10:21 am

    Those are just way too cute!!!!! Love them!!!

    Reply
  3. Jennifer June 4, 2011 at 10:27 am

    These are so cute! I work at a daycare, and have been trying to come up with a fun idea for birthday’s, these would be perfect!!

    Reply
  4. Trisha June 4, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Ooooooooh this crab is PERFECT for how I feel today!!! CRABBY!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHA….ok, LOVE these and the fishies….really creative Madame Cake Queen!

    Reply
  5. sweetmoments June 4, 2011 at 11:29 am

    Adorable! I see both designs in someone’s future. :)

    Reply
  6. Patricia June 4, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    I love them, summer is allready here with your beachy cupcakes.
    Best wishes from Spain Melissa

    Reply
  7. Brenda June 4, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Just love the inspiration. I have to put all things on hold for now. Veggies are in and I’m doing pickles today. Then Roma’s. Then ahhhh…..Maybe I can try some of your out this world ideas!

    Reply
  8. Melissa Diamond June 4, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    Thank you everybody!!

    Reply
  9. Grammy Sue June 5, 2011 at 12:36 am

    Soooooo cute. I especially love the crab!!! I am going to have to incorporate these into some sort of party this summer!!! Thank you for sharing your talents!!!

    Reply
  10. Renee @kudoskitchen June 5, 2011 at 9:49 am

    Hahaha, those crabs are just about the cutest things…ever! Love them so much!!!

    Reply
  11. BreEntertains June 5, 2011 at 10:03 am

    These are absolutely adorable!!

    Reply
  12. Paula June 5, 2011 at 10:05 am

    How original and cute!

    Reply
  13. mamzellecarnetO June 5, 2011 at 10:34 am

    love it !!

    Reply
  14. milenna June 5, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    love it!!! so cute!!

    Reply
  15. CakesOnTheLane June 5, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    Melissa, these are so cute!!

    Reply
  16. Lauren @ Crave. Indulge. Satisfy. June 5, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    Super cute cupcakes! I am always amazed at what you will come up with next! Your creativity is so inspiring! What a fun batch of cupcakes for the beach this summer!

    Reply
  17. sweetcakes June 6, 2011 at 12:08 am

    The crabs are adorable, but I really love the lollipop fish! Gotta try these out!

    Reply
  18. Serene June 6, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Wow…these are CUTE!! I’m going to have to try these for the next pool party we have!

    Reply
  19. Tesla's Mom June 8, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Such cute cupcakes! Perfect for a summer party! I love your blog! Makes me want to bake for sure!

    Reply
  20. Renata cortese May 1, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    Melissa,these are beautiful!!!!! Im your fan!!!!!!!

    Reply
  21. Heather - Chickabug May 18, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    Hi Melissa! I just wanted to let you know I included your crab topper tutorial in a post on my blog! Here’s a link:

    http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2012/05/under-the-sea-cupcake-decorating-ideas.html

    Thank you for the fantastic inspiration – as always! : )

    Reply
  22. Melissa Diamond May 18, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    Of course, thanks for the feature Heather! Love your site :0)

    Reply
  23. Brandee Wells May 7, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    there all look good

    Reply
  24. Krizza September 15, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    I love this beach theme! Great for summer get together. Thanks for the simple tutorial. :)

    Reply
  25. Maureen Zaccaria June 3, 2014 at 11:45 am

    These are so so so so cute!!! Love them!! Can’t wait to make these!! Thanks Melissa!!

    Reply
  26. Shea June 17, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    Hi, The crab is great. Do you mind sharing how you got the red/orange color? What type food coloring, please?

    Reply
  27. Melissa Diamond June 17, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    Hi Shea! We like Americolor Super Red ;0)

    Reply

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