Here is a picture collection of some of my favourite cupcakes that I have done this year, along with brief instructions for recreating them at home. Enjoy!
Simply Swirly
Simple swirls or stars are a fast and effective way to decorate your cupcakes. These are great because they can be done in all sorts of themes, with any tip shape that you have handy. To up the wow-factor, I recommend garnishing the cupcakes with a slice of fruit or berry. The picture below is for banana-chocolate cupcakes, but this technique also looks awesome for dark-chocolate cupcakes with a raspberry on top, and chocolate-mint cupcakes garnished with a mint leaf.
Daringly Drizzled
One sure-fire way to make your cupcakes irresistible is to drizzle them in syrup or caramel. I think the best way to do this is using a home-made syrup, such as thick chocolate sauce or caramel. If the recipe you use comes out too thin, try stirring in one or two teaspoons of cornstarch- this should thicken up the mixture. You want the texture to be easy enough to pour that you can get a constant stream going but not so thin that it will easily run off the edges, unless that is the look that you want. It is best to do the drizzling once the syrup has cooled down so that it does not melt the icing, and to start from the inside, making a small circle outwards to properly cover the cupcake. Make sure to do this over a pan so that the syrup doesn't coat your counters!
The Grass is Always Greener
Another simple but adorable decorating idea, is to use a line tip to make grass. With this, you get endless options of spring, easter, outdoor, and golf themes! All you need is a single thin line tip, or a multiple-holed icing tip. You will have to go over the cupcake several times to get a 'solid field', but the final product is definitely worth it. You can either squeeze fairly continuously to get a more smooth grassy look (as pictured below), or squeeze down and quickly release for more of a 'fresh-cut grass' appearance. I love this look for Easter carrot-cake cupcakes!
Blooming Beauties
These flowers are a bit more time consuming, but are extremely simple to do. All you need is two shades of icing (meringue or buttercream work best), a leaf tip, and some Oreos. Place the Oreo on top of the un-iced cupcake, then begin to make petals using your leaf tip, starting from the base, outside ring of the cookie. Continue to make layers of petals, moving towards the inside of the cupcake, until just a bit of Oreo is visible. You can choose what sort of pattern you want for the petal colours; below I have shown just a standard alternating patten, but there are of course many things you can do with it. You can also use Golden Oreos if you want lighter flowers, or if the flavour of your cupcakes don't compliment chocolate.
Deliciously Dipped
One of the simplest, and fastest way to give your cupcakes a gourmet appearance, is to dip them before you ice them. This can be done with a variety of different flavours, but the ones that I recommend are chocolate and caramel. Chocolate dips are very easy to make- just melt chocolate and butter together. Caramel requires a little bit more effort; you have to melt brown sugar and butter but watch it extremely carefully because the mix is quick to burn. When it comes to dipping the cupcakes, make sure that they are fully cooled beforehand! Otherwise you may end up with quite a mess. As well, don't dip all the way to the outside of the cupcake, unless you are ok with them having drizzle down the sides.
Pretty Petals
Decorations like this are perfect for when you have leftover icing in the fridge. It doesn't really matter if the icing flavours you use for fine detailing don't really go with the flavour of the cupcake itself, because the taste won't be strong enough to make a big difference. For this reason, whenever I have leftover chocolate icing in the fridge, I like to make pretty flower cupcakes, with chocolate stems. Flowers can be made using all sorts of icing tips, but my favourite is the same tip we used to make the petals for the flowers I posted earlier.
Switching It Up
To really personalize your cupcakes, try dying the batter! The same way that chocolate cupcakes are dyed red to give them their signature shade, you can dye the batter of a vanilla cupcake any colour you like. I recommend saving the dying for the very last stage, right before you put them in the oven, to avoid dying your utensils. This will also give you the most control over the final colour of your cupcakes. Some fun ideas for this are Canada cupcakes with a red base and white top, and princess cupcakes with a pink base and purple icing. The picture below is from when I made pink and green coconut cupcakes.
Other Fun Ideas
Below are some of my favorite cupcakes that I made this year. They don't have to be any specific colour or require any real technique- just a bit of creativity! Happy baking.
RSS Feed