If you’re look­ing for some fun treats for your child’s class party, these cup­cakes offer a bit of whimsy with a slight ick fac­tor. Just use a pack­aged mix – I like Cher­ry­brook Kitchen or Pamela’s Choco­late Cake mixes and use your imagination.

Active time: 40 min­utes
Total time:  60 min­utes
Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 box Gluten-Free Choco­late Cake Mix
1 box Gluten-Free Choco­late Frost­ing
12 large straw­ber­ries
12 gluten-free gummy worms
12 meringue cook­ies (I bought mine at Trader Joe’s)
orange and green food col­or­ing (I use Wilton’s that I bought at Michael’s)
coconut flakes

1. Pre­pare cup­cakes accord­ing to box. Cool completely.
2. In a zip-lock bag­gie, mix a dash of green food col­or­ing to 3/4 c. coconut flakes. Get a bit of air in the bag, then seal. Shake bag thor­oughly until all coconut is a nice, rich green. Set aside.
3. Pre­pare frost­ing and frost all cup­cakes, thickly. Sprin­kle each cup­cake with coconut grass.
4. With a plas­tic straw (one from an ath­letic water bot­tle works best) and run through a straw­berry, cre­at­ing a worm hole.
5. Pull the gummy worms and work between your fin­gers to thin out so you can work com­pletely through the hole in the straw­berry, so that the . Affix straw­berry to cup­cake with a toothpick.
6. For “pump­kin” meringues, dilute a small amount of green food col­or­ing in a table­spoon of water. Dilute a small amount of orange food col­or­ing (or a red-yellow combo) in a table­spoon of water.
7. With a pas­try brush, lightly brush the meringues with the orange water. Brush the very tips with green food col­or­ing and set gen­tly upon the cupcakes.