earth day cupcakes

Celebrate Earth Day with fun, kid-friendly treats made with eco-friendly products.

How to Make Earth Day Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about baking is that once you have a basic recipe down, there are endless possibilities with enough creativity. To celebrate Earth Day, I was inspired to make Earth-colored cupcakes decorated with fluffy clouds and sour rainbow candy. If You Care baking cups and parchment paper are two of my favorite baking products: They're compostable so I don't feel bad using a single-use product AND they're made without toxic chemicals. Basically a win-win! 

These Earth Day cupcakes are a great activity to invite kids to help you bake, because the fun tie-dye cake technique doesn't require too much precision and can easily be spooned into the baking cups with even the tiniest of hands. You can make them together to teach your kids about Earth Day or have them ready as a fun afternoon snack when they get home from school! Any way you make them is the perfect combination of baking and arts and crafts. (Trust me, I have a whole cookbook with fun baking combinations.) Happy Earth Day! How are you celebrating?

Ingredients for Earth Day Cupcakes

How to Make Earth Day Cupcakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

  2. Divide your cake batter into two bowls. Add 2-3 drops of green food coloring in one, and 2-3 drops of blue food coloring in the other. Stir well until no streaks of color remain.

  3. In a lined cupcake pan (I use If You Care compostable baking cups), spoon about a teaspoon of green batter into each section. Repeat with the blue and layer in alternating colors until your cups are a little more than half full.

  4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is springy when you touch it. Remove the cupcakes from the pan to cool completely before frosting.

  5. Meanwhile, make your piping bag. You can either use a reusable piping bag or fold a square of parchment paper in half, so it forms a triangle. Then form a cone by pulling the left corner and right corner to meet at the top corner. The points should form an M shape. Fold down the points and fill the parchment paper with icing and cut your tip about ¾” in. 

  6. Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe clouds over the cupcakes in an easy swirling motion, making sure to fill the middle with frosting too. Repeat with each cupcake. 

  7. Decorate the cupcakes with rainbow candy and serve!  

What You'll Need

We selected these products because we love them, and hope you do too. Baked by Melissa has an affiliate relationship, so we may get a commission if you purchase something through our links. Items are sold by the retailer, not Baked by Melissa.