What's great about cupcakes is that a few basic skills, tools and ingredients are all you need to make cupcakes for any occasion, whether they're for a party that's a month away or you're in the mood for a spur-of-the-moment batch.

Equipment:

Cupcake pans (mini and regular)

Paper baking cups available in a variety of colors and prints. Find them in supermarkets, party, craft or specialty cake decorating stores.

Resealable food-storage plastic bags for piping icings and glazes.

Staples:

Boxed cake mixes in a variety of flavors.

Ready-to-spread frostings. Decorating icing, assorted colors.

Decorating gels, assorted colors.

Food colors (liquid, gel or paste). Try paste food color for more vivid color frosting.

Assorted colored sugars and edible glitters.

Assorted candy sprinkles.

Baking Pans

A box of cake mix makes 24 to 30 cupcakes in regular-size cupcake pan. There are also pans that have mini, large and jumbo cups.

If you have only one pan and a recipe calls for more cupcakes than your pan will make, just cover and refrigerate the rest of the batter while baking the first batch. Cool the pan about 15 minutes, then bake the rest of the batter, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.

An easy way to fill baking cups is to use an ice cream scoop. Use one that measures out 1/3 cup batter when filling regular-size cups. Use one that measures out 2 tablespoons batter when filling mini cups.