20 Graduation Cupcake Ideas + Recipes

Graduating is a HUGE accomplishment! Whether it’s college, grad school, beauty school, high school, or even graduating from the first to the second grade, graduation is worth a celebration. We’ve collected some of the best graduation cupcake ideas from cupcake toppers, graduation party cupcakes ideas, and graduation cakes for your celebration.

How to Make Graduation Cupcakes

I’ve helped out with a number of graduation parties over the past few years. My favorite go-to graduation cupcakes ideas is mini cupcakes with school colors and nice-looking cupcake toppers. They work out really nicely because they are bite-size and less messy than a large cupcake. If your school color is red, it’s extra fun to go with a red velvet cake batter when making your cupcake mix. The red is vibrant and contrasts beautifully with the traditional white, black, and gold of graduation decor.

15 Awesome Graduation Cupcake Ideas

There are tons of ways to dazzle your guests with your graduation cupcakes. The possibilities are endless when it comes to designs, flavors, toppers, and personal touches you can add to your cupcakes. Curious how to make graduation cupcakes, and how to make your cupcakes stand out from the average cupcakes? We have you covered. You may also choose to opt for a cupcake cake or a regular cake instead.

Although cake can be problematic, because everyone has to wait for the cake to be cut, it also can be beautifully decorated and leaves more room for writing, and larger cake toppers as opposed to smaller cupcakes. Cake is also great if the graduate is a huge fan of fillings, or if you’re looking for a nice eye-catching centerpiece. If you’re looking for something more in the middle, a “cupcake cake” is where you arrange your cupcakes in a shape and frost the tops to connect like a cake top. This can be a really fun option, that doesn’t require any cutting, plates, or silverware, because the cupcakes pull away from the “cupcake cake” like regular cupcakes. See our post for DIY instructions on how to make the perfect graduation cupcake ideas for your party.

Fondant Caps and Diplomas

Pinned by Juniper Cakery on Pinterest

How adorable are these fondant grad caps and diplomas!? This is something you can make yourself if you’re familiar with fondant, or you can request from a local bakery. Another option is to order the fondant grad caps on Etsy to top on your own cupcakes.

Order these fondant caps and diplomas here.

Graduation Fondant Toppers

Order these cupcake fondant toppers here.

Love the fondant toppers, but looking for some more variety for your graduation cupcake toppers? Try mixing in these grad-year stars with your fondant caps and diplomas. The possibilities with graduation cupcakes ideas are endless.

Glitter Year Toppers

Get these glitter toppers here.

Every celebration could use a little bit of sparkle! Although not edible, these sparkly grad-year toothpick toppers make a perfect celebratory addition to any graduation party. You can add whatever frosting, cupcake wrappers, and sprinkles to add to the fun of your glittery grad year toppers. (Just make sure they aren’t getting any non-edible glitter on your cupcakes.)

Almond Rocha Caps

Pinned by Get Your Holiday On, On Pinterest

This is a terrific idea for graduation cupcake ideas that aren’t technically cupcakes but they’re candy and you can add these to cupcake toppers as well.

Pinned by Special Creations By Nelly on Pinterest

Look, this girl is a SUCKER for Amond Rocas. and the gold typically is a gorgeous touch for any graduation celebration. These Almond Roca graduation cap cupcake toppers are an easy DIY for anyone, no need to have fondant experience for these graduation cupcakes ideas.

Cupcake Cake

Pinned by Spaceships and Laser beams on Pinterest.

Cupcake cakes may seem intimidating, but trust me, I spent some time working as a cake decorator in a bakery, and they are really pretty easy! You can order cupcake cakes from a grocery store bakery, or you can make it yourself. There are two ways you can do this at home. Either arrange the already decorated cupcakes in the desired shape, as you see above. Or you can assemble your cupcakes in the shape you want, (like a grad year), pipe frosting onto each cupcake, and then gently spread the top of the cupcakes to connect. This second method is what a barkery would do and gives you a nice cake top look, but has the ease of pull away cupcakes. Just be sure to use a stiff enough buttercream (not your standard grocery store frosting, it is too gooey to pipe easily.)

Custom Color Toppers

Get these toppers in your school colors here.

Another adorable graduation cupcakes ideas, check out these sparkly toothpick toppers. They come in a variety of celebratory shapes, and you can custom order them in your school colors. This is one of the easiest yet custom graduation cupcakes ideas.

Cupcake Tower

Photo by Christina’s Dessertery on flickr

Looking for something extra classy? Opt for a cupcake tower. You can mix and match cupcake toppers with your tower. I love the classy simple black gold and silver that this decorator choose, the black graduation cap on the top of the tower was a great touch to this cupcake tower design.

Star Student

Order toothpick star toppers here.

Looking for a simple decoration? These glitter stars make a great celebratory decoration for any grad celebration. I especially love them for a younger graduate or a smaller party. No need to go over the top, but these simple toppers paired with a gold cupcake wrapper are simple, elegant and perfect for any graduate!

Simple Black Glitter Caps

Order the black glitter caps here.

The toothpick toppers are going to be more affordable than the fondant ones. These ones can be ordered online or created using simple materials from a craft store. Pick up some sprinkles in your graduate’s colors and some nice matching cupcake wrappers.

Peanut Butter Caps Cupcake Recipe

Recipes by Somewhat Simple.

Yummmm! Another candy topper and I’m here for it. Use a little dab of frosting to assemble the chocolate bar, M&M, Twizzler, and peanut butter cup to create your own edible graduation cap cupcake topper. Adorable, easy, and delicious graduation cupcakes ideas!

Custom Face Toppers

Order custom face toppers here.

Have a grad with a sense of humor? Order these custom cake toppers with their face. These are also super easy to make yourself if you have the time and a printer. Photoshop a grad cap onto a photo, and. print a bunch out. Cut them out and glue them onto toothpicks or decorator’s sticks, and viola the perfect comedic face topper! These make a great graduation cupcakes ideas.

Mini Cupcakes

Photo by clarescupcakes.co.uk on fliker

Mini cupcakes are bitesize, moist, easy, and delicious. You can decorate them the same as larger cupcakes, but of course, make sure your toppers are appropriate for the size of the cupcake. I’d lean towards small cookies, gel decorating, and sprinkles, like this artist used above.

Cakepops

Pinned by Williams Sonoma on Pinterest.

Cake pops are my favorite! If you have the skills and tools to DIY these can be a super fun project for any cake decorator. If not, you can custom order them from many (but not all!) bakeries.

Custom Graduation Cakepops

Order your graduation cake pops from Candys Cake Pops here.

Another great graduation cake pop design. These simple black and white cake pops are a classy and unique addition to any graduation party.

Cupcakes in a Jar

Find these cupcake graduation jars here.

This is a great idea, especially for a more covid conscious party, or as a “to go” style desert. You can print your own labels or print your own stickers to top these adorable mini mason jars.

5 More Graduation Cake Toppers

Most of our post ideas are for graduation cupcake recipes, but here’s a handful of interesting cake ideas that’ll inspire you with cake toppers and decorating ideas for your cupcakes.

Elegant Letter Cake Recipe

Get this elegant letter graduation cake recipe here.

These gorgeously decorated letter cakes have been all the rage with influencers and celebrities, and will no doubt cost a pretty penny to order from a bakery. you can DIY by freezing sheet cakes and cutting the shape/ decorating while the cake is still frozen. Then pipe these gorgeous designs using a variety of decorating tips. This is a great project for a more experienced decorator, but definitely doable if you set your mind to it. This cake is great for anyone it tends to be especially popular for girls graduating high school and college.

Graduation Tassel Cake

Pinned by Wilton Cake Decorating on Pinterest

Major Specific Custom Cake

Pinned by Cakes Decore on Pinterest.

Name Cake Topper

Custom Colored Cake Toppers

More Graduation Party Ideas

Be sure to pin 20 Graduation Cupcake Ideas for later on Pinterest so you can get back to it!

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