Kid-Friendly Selections

• Children go for bright colors and candy, so since cupcakes are a treat anyway, indulge their desires with brightly colored candy sprinkles, bits of cookies and crushed candy bars. Small candy sprinkles look fine when applied with a heavy hand all over the top of the cupcakes, but use more caution with larger cookie bits or candy. Sprinkle fewer pieces toward the center of the cupcake or use a half cookie alone standing on its edge in the frosting.

Seasonal Themes

• Decorate with crushed candy canes or red and green sprinkles in December, candy hearts in February and small paper flags in July. Frost the cupcakes with the colors of your local football team in the fall and use candy corn, spider web decorations and candy pumpkins in October. If the bake sale occurs in the spring, go with bright green, colored coconut sprinkled on the frosting and three or four jelly beans. Dye coconut by shaking it in a plastic bag with a few drops of food coloring.

Appeal to a Crowd

• Stereotypes aside, provide girly cupcakes with piped flowers in bright pink shades as well as macho cupcakes with sprinkles of bacon on top of chocolate frosting. Some people have more austere taste and might even prefer a light layer of frosting with only a very light dusting of candy sparkles. For those with more expansive tastes, use a piping bag to create interesting swirls, rosettes or geometric lines with generous amounts of frosting.

Give a Clue

• Chocolate frosting is obvious, but if you flavor the frosting or the cupcake, decorate the top to let your customers know. For instance, if you grate lemon or orange zest into the frosting, top the cupcake with a candied lemon or orange peel. Likewise, if the cupcake or frosting has peanut butter in it, use crushed chocolate-peanut butter candies on top. For coffee-flavored frosting, top the cupcake with candied coffee beans, and for spiced cupcakes sprinkle on cinnamon sugar