It is officially Graduation Season! Whether you are celebrating a kindergarten graduation, a high school senior, or a college grad, hosting a graduation party is a lot of work.
Between the decorations, the food, and the guest list, the last thing you want to do is spend $100 on a custom bakery cake or stress over complicated fondant decorations.
Enter the ultimate graduation party dessert hack: Graduation Cap Cupcakes!
By using a simple combination of miniature peanut butter cups and chocolate squares, you can transform a basic cupcake into an adorable, edible graduation cap. It is the perfect graduation cake inspo for busy parents, and it is so easy that the kids can even help you assemble them!
🛒 The Ingredients (The “No-Bake” Decorating List)
You can absolutely bake your cupcakes from scratch, but to save time for party prep, I highly recommend using a box mix or even buying plain unfrosted cupcakes from the grocery store!
The Base:
- 12 Chocolate or Vanilla Cupcakes, baked and cooled.
- 1 batch Vanilla or Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
The “Graduation Cap” Pieces:
- 12 Miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped.
- 12 Flat Chocolate Squares (Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares or After Eight Mints work perfectly for the flat top of the cap!).
- 1/4 cup Melted Chocolate Chips (This is our edible “glue”).
- The Tassel: You can use a mini M&M for the center button, and a thin sour belt candy (like Airheads) cut into a thin strip, or simply pipe a line of colored frosting!
👩🍳 Step-by-Step Instructions (Assembly Line Method)
Step 1: Frost the Cupcakes
Pipe a smooth, relatively flat swirl of frosting onto each cupcake. Pro-Tip: Don’t pipe the frosting too high or into a sharp peak, otherwise, your graduation caps will slide right off!
Step 2: Construct the Caps (The “Edible Glue” Hack 🛑)
Do not assemble the caps directly on the cupcake!
Place a miniature Reese’s cup upside down (wide base facing up) on a piece of parchment paper. Dab a tiny drop of melted chocolate onto the center of the Reese’s cup. Immediately place the flat chocolate square on top and press gently.
Why melted chocolate? If you use frosting to glue them together, the top will slide off if the room gets warm. Melted chocolate hardens and acts like superglue!
Step 3: Make the Tassel
Once your caps are glued and set (you can pop them in the fridge for 5 minutes to speed this up!), it’s time for the tassel.
Pipe a tiny dot of frosting in the center of the chocolate square. Attach a mini M&M. Pipe a thin line of colored frosting draping off the side of the square to look like the tassel string. (Tip: Match the frosting color to the graduate’s school colors!)
Step 4: Crown the Cupcakes
Carefully lift your assembled graduation caps and place one gently onto the center of each frosted cupcake.
💡 Party Display Tip:
To make your dessert table really pop, arrange these cupcakes on a tiered serving stand alongside rolled-up pirouettes cookies tied with a ribbon (to look like little diplomas!). It makes for the absolute best Pinterest-worthy photo!
