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Decorative Desserts: 40 of our Favorite Seasonal Sweets

You don't have to be a pastry chef to make cute decorated cupcakes or decorative cakes and cookies. We've gathered some of our easiest and most fun decorative dessert recipes and sorted them by season, so you can enjoy a whole year of great-looking desserts! Your friends and family will be so impressed by how great they look, you might be asked to make these time and again! The best part? You won't even have to tell them how easy it was to make these decorated dessert recipes! 

Table of Contents

Spring

These beautiful spring cupcakes were created and shared by our friends Alan Richardson and Karen Tack, authors of the hugely popular cookbooks "Hello, Cupcake!" and "What's New, Cupcake?" They're perfect for your Easter celebration or anytime!

Our Chocolate Garden Pie is a chocolate pie recipe that was created as a salute to Earth Day. But we all know that a chocolate mousse pie that looks and tastes as good as this one does is perfectly good all year-round!

You don't have to be a skilled baker to produce something pretty in the kitchen. Here, we started with a box of cake mix and spruced it up with a few simple tricks that anyone can master. Give our Bouquet of Flowers Cake as a heart-warming gift or make it a potluck centerpiece, either way you'll get rave reviews!

These are no ordinary Baseball Mitts. These whimsical baseball-themed tarts will have all your bases covered when it comes to a crowd-pleasing dessert. This kid-friendly recipe is sure to win you a home-run! 

Looking for a unique cake to make for a kids' party? When you present this fun caterpillar cake, it's gonna be time to celebrate a birthday or ANY day!

Whimsical and scrumptious, our eye-catching easy Easter Bunny Cake will probably become one of your go-to Easter recipes every year. This Easter dessert will surely take the cake.

Turn ordinary cupcakes into spring flowers with easy decorating tips to make Spring Flower Cupcakes, using mini candies like jelly beans, Jordan almonds, licorice and more. Perfect for showers, weddings, graduation or any party.

What better way to showcase the spring season than by making your own Ice Cream Garden? This ice cream recipe is great for kids too! They'll love making their own gumdrop flowers, and then gobbling them all up afterwards!

You'll have everyone peeping in your kitchen when you bake up these Easter Candy Cakes! Bake these and you'll make every egg-hunters happy this Easter.

Hands down, the kids will give these a "thumbs-up!" Let them help make these little coconut cookies with their thumbprints to create the perfect edible basket to fill with holiday jelly beans! We're talking tasty fun!

Summer

It's green on the outside, pink on the inside, and has edible seeds....Yup, it's watermelon... cake, that is! Perfect for a summer barbecue or a potluck supper, you might say that making this recipe is a "piece of cake!"

For these Corn on the Cob Cupcakes, simply line up a trio of jelly bean-studded cupcakes to resemble corn on the cob and top with butter pats made of fruit chews. It's a novelty cupcake recipe sure to impress.

Four simple ingredients are all you'll need for this show-stopping patriotic dessert. Perfect for the 4th of July, our American Berry Trifle is so easy to make and it's big enough to feed a crowd! For those last-minute dessert planners, this recipe could be a lifesaver. 

Your summer party will be the hit of the season when your guests "dive into" this incredible looking watermelon fruit basket! With all the goodness of healthy fruit and the eye catching appeal, you'll make a big splash with this one!

One wants ice cream, one wants cake. Can't decide? Make these unique cupcakes in ice cream cones for a portable dessert that's sure to please. And don't worry, they won't melt!

Hooray for the red, white, and blue! Our All-American Pudding Cake will surely earn you your baking stars and stripes! This scrumptious homemade poke cake, filled with creamy pudding, is a delight for your senses!

Watermelon is sure to be the star attraction for dessert when you serve our "no cake mix required" luscious watermelon Star Cake! What a healthy treat that will earn you sweet raves!

Wait 'til you try our fun Watermelon Snow Cones that are simply frozen watermelon balls rolled in yogurt, coconut, and sprinkles then scooped into ice cream cones to enjoy as a hot weather refresher.

You'll think it's a slice of watermelon but it's not! Our eye-catching recipe for Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe is an ice cream novelty that will have everyone doing a double-take!

Dress up your red, white and blue bash with Flag Cake, a spectacular dessert that's short on work and definitely takes the cake!

Fall

Savory and sweet Spooktacular Cupcakes will be the talk of your child's Halloween party. Make these quick and funny little cupcakes on Hallow's Eve and you'll make every little witch happy. 

At Halloween, or anytime you're looking for a frightful treat, serve up this cake with a spiderweb design on it and get ready for all the screams! First they'll say, "OOH!!" and then they'll say, "OOH IT'S SO GOOD!!"

It doesn't matter if you start off with a store-bought frozen pie or a homemade one, you can make it unique by dressing it up with edible autumn pastry leaves; they give any pie an extra bit of pizazz. They're simple yet they'll make everybody think you're a fancy pastry chef!

Bake sales are wonderful fundraisers for causes close to our hearts, and these melt-in-your-mouth ribbon-shaped Pink Ribbon Cookies were created especially with Breast Cancer Awareness events in mind. Even if you aren't having a bake sale, these sugar cookies are great for sharing.

At your next Halloween party, your little ghosts and goblins will all turn friendly when you serve these decorated chocolate cupcakes that are monstrously good!

Mr. Food creates smiles with his super easy idea for decorating Game Day Cupcakes. These cupcakes are sure to score lots of points for you. No need to buy store-bought when homemade cupcakes look and taste this good!

Our spooky-looking Halloween Witch's Cupcakes will be the hit of your ghostly gathering. These scrumptious Halloween cupcakes that are decorated to look like witches are wickedly good!

Our whimsical Pumpkin Patch Cheesecake is a ghostly good treat for your haunted Halloween party. This easy pumpkin cheesecake recipe with its yummy cookie crumb crust is literally to-die-for.

Our Graveyard Dirt Cups are a diabetes delight. If they aren't reason enough to throw a Halloween party, we don't know what is! The kids will love to help make this decorative dessert recipe. They will wow all your guests!

Dress up your crispy rice balls with spooky faces! This great Halloween recipe for Crispy Jack O' Lanterns is sure to bring out the kid in every member of your household. It's a treat that'll leave all your ghouls giggling!

Winter

Poinsettia Cookies are as tasty as they are lovely. Red candied cherry wedges and butterscotch chips create the pattern of a poinsettia on each cookie. For an elegant addition to your Christmas table, these cookies are just the thing. 

You'll feel as lucky as a Leprechaun when you bake up a batch of our shamrock-shaped butter cookies. Our recipe for Shamrock Shortbread is sure to be as welcome as a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Nothing will thrill your sweetie more than this homemade heart-shaped brownie covered in a rich 'n' creamy topping and finished with fresh strawberries and a chocolate drizzle. Our Sweetheart Brownie is one of our most decadent desserts.

Be the star of the Christmas cookie swap this year with this creative layered cookie wreath. It looks pretty enough to be part of the table decorations, so make sure everyone knows it's edible too! 

Cut out these tasty butter cookies into dreidels, menorahs and other Hanukkah shapes, or simply enjoy them round (and year-round) as the butteriest butter cookies you'll ever eat.

These cookies look as good as they taste. Whether you're gifting 'em or setting them out on the Christmas table, our Candy Cane Cookies will bring out the holiday spirit in anyone lucky enough to take a bite! 

Your sweetheart is gonna love you for making Strawberry Sweetheart Cake for Valentine's Day or any day you want him or her to know how much you care.

A holiday treat for every little "Hansel" and "Gretel," your kids will love helping you create a whole village full of our Gingerbread People!

Kids will love to decorate fun, brightly colored Crispy Snowmen Treats. This recipe is great for young chefs!

These are the cutest cupcakes around! When you put out these Santa Cupcakes at your holiday party, kids of all ages are sure to be squealing over them... and over you, too!

If you're looking for an easy way to add a little decoration to your favorite cakes and desserts, be sure to check out our How To Make Colored Sugar page! 

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