For my son Gabriel’s first birthday I made Vanilla Cherry Toadstool cupcakes. I make all my cupacakes gluten free and dairy free. The one exception on these cupcakes is the M&M’s. I’m also big on semi-homemade especially when it comes to parties.

What you need for the cupcakes

1 box cake mix (I use Betty Crockers gluten free yellow cake)

1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Use white cupcake wrappers for these cupcakes. Just follow the mixing and baking directions on the box adding a teaspoon of vanilla to the mix before baking. Then let the cupcakes cool.

Frosting

1 can of frosting (I use Duncan Hinez butter cream frosting)

1 small jar of marischino cherries.

1 cup powdered sugar

Red food coloring

1/2 cup white M&M’s

Drain the cherries completely and then blend them up in a mixer or I use my magic bullet. Mix cherries and frosting then use the powdered sugar to stiffen as the juice from the cherries will make the frosting more liquid. You could also use cherry extract if you wanted to instead of the marischino cherries. I would use 1 teaspoon. Add your red food coloring. It takes a lot of food coloring to turn frosting red so be prepared. Another option would be to use red sugar and coat the frosted cupcake with that to get the red color.

Once the cupcakes are cool you can frost them and then add your white M&M’s with the letter side down. These are so simple and so cute for any forrest, fairy, woodland, or gnome party.