Cupcake Flavours

Peanut Butter: chocolate chip-peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting
Peanut Butter Chocolate: chocolate chip-peanut butter cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting
Strawberry: vanilla cake with strawberry butter cream frosting
Red Velvet: red velvet cake with chocolate filling and sweet cream cheese frosting
Carrot: carrot cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting
Lemon: delightful lemon cake with lemon-vanilla frosting speckled with zest
Lemon-Blueberry: delightful lemon cake with lemon curd filling topped with a pure blueberry cream cheese frosting
Lemon-Coconut: fragrant lemon cake with lemon curd filling and coconut cream cheese frosting
Coconut: fragrant coconut cake with cream cheese frosting and shaved coconut
Dark Chocolate: Belgian dark chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate cream cheese frosting
Black & White: Belgian dark chocolate cake with creamy vanilla frosting

Covering Cupcakes with Fondant

When working with fondant it is better if the buttercream is chilled.
It makes it easier to work with and less messy.

1) You have your cupcake covered with buttercream

2)Roll out your fondant

3)Imprint it with imprints or leave it plain

4)Now use a cutter to cut it out. Cutter that works best is 3 1/16″ -78mm

5)Next cover the cupcake with the fondant ensuring it fits correctly

6) Your end product:)

Wondering how it looks when you cut it?

How to Make a buttercream dome

This is how you spread buttercream on a cupcake, and you can use the same method to apply chocolate ganache

Step 1:

Step 2:

Go anti-clockwise with your spatular, while you are building up a short top of buttercream, but do not go all the way out to the paper case. It do not need it to be very smooth at this point, as you will need to add 1 more thin layer of buttercream. Try and keep the paper case clean from the buttercream. Place the cupcake in the refrigerator and start with the next cupcake. By the time you have made 3-4 cupcakes, the first one should be firm and ready for the final layer.

Step 3:

Apply the last thin layer of buttercream. Here you apply buttercream all the way to the paper case. Then chill again and with a warm spatular smooth the buttercream dome. Depending on how many cupcakes your are making, place the cupcake back in the refrigerator until you are ready to decorate with the fondant top.

Colorful Mini Cupcakes

I found this gorgeous photo and absolutely love this. The colors, the lil flowers.. everything.

A women called Yulia owns this company and her work is really amazing.

You will need

Yellow Icing

Pink icing

Purple Icing

Orange Icing

Green Icing

Lil fondant flowers in the ffg colors

pink

blue

orange

yellow

green

purple

small fontan pearls

Round fondant imprint tops

Banana Cupcakes

Banana cake or cupcakes:

125g (4oz) butter
175g (6oz) sugar
2 eggs
2 large mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp Baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling milk
1 tsp baking power
225g (8oz) flour

Cream butter & sugar till light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time.

Mix in mashed bananas.

Add baking soda that has been dissolved in hot milk.

Lastly mix in sifted flour & baking powder. Dont overbeat the batter.

For a cake bake it in a 20cm ring pan on 170 C (325 F) for about 45 mins.

This mixture will produce around 18 standard size cupcakes and they are baked at 170 C (325 F) for approx 18-25 mins. You want them to be light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Dome Shape Cupcakes

Dome Shaped Cupcakes are important to get when making these beautiful cupcakes below.
They are perfect for dipping into liquid fondant.

The recipe for these dome cupcakes is the great vanilla cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking a fabulous website. See below how to alter the recipe to get these dome cupcakes.

Domed vanilla cupcakes:

1. Warm the milk with the butter so that the butter melts and set aside to cool down if too hot.

2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until thick and creamy with the electric handheld mixer. Be careful not to whisk for too long as this can give to many air bubbles.

3. Mix in the milk and butter mixture.

4. Add the dry ingrediens and mix it all just until smooth and with no flour lumps.

This batter is more liquide, so I transfer the batter into a pitcher and pour it in to the paper cases. You can use a spoon to catch any batter drips there may come. Normally I would fill my paper cases 3/4 full with batter. If you only fill 3/4 with this vanilla recipe (egg & sugar), it will still make a nice little dome. But here I have added a little more batter about 2-3 tsp extra. This gives me, a higher dome and the cupcake rise as close as it can to the top of the paper cases. This also makes it easier to get a nice cover with the poured fondant. Place the cupcake (muffin) pan in the middle of the oven and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

During baking there can be some “vulcanos” in between, but that can easy be fixed the minute you take them out of the oven, by simply smoothing the cupcakes with the back of a spoon. This can also happen with the “original” method.

Cupcake Guide: 3) Ways to Decorate

1) Cupcake domes covered in Liquid Fondant


To get these cupcake tops like domes, use this recipe in which the eggs and sugar is whisked and butter and cream is not beaten. This ensures a light and airy texture. Ideal for domes and liquid fondant.

To get this dome cupcakes use the great Vanilla Cupcake Recipe from Joy of Baking a fabulous baking website.
Remember whisk the eggs and sugar and melt the butter seperately with the milk. This method is only perfect if you going to dip it in liquid fondant.

2) Cupcake with Icing

3)Cupcakes with Cream Cheese topping

4)Cupcake with Italian Meringue Butter cream

5)Various other ways to decorate.

Cupcake Guide:2)Piping Bag

Once the cupcakes are done, you can decorate it in various ways.

To decorate it you will definately need a piping bag, nozzles and a flat spatula.

A Flat Spatula

This is used to give your cupcakes a smooth neat finish.







Piping Bag and Nozzles

Different nozzles can creat different and beautiful swirls on cupcakes.

For large swirls use a larger nozzle and for smaller swirls a smaller nozzle. Use smaller nozzles for mini cupcakes. For normal cupcakes , larger nozzles look better.

Cupcake Guide: 1) The Pans and Papercups

Cupcake Pans:

Have one pan in the oven at a time, unless you cooking mini cupcakes then put two pans in.

Cupcake Papercases:

Try using greaseproof papercups, so after baking the papercups don't look greasy and lose color.

Wrap up ur blemishes if you want in Cupcake Wraps.

Cupcake Wraps

A new item in the cupcake world is these absolutely gorgeous couture cupcake cups. Click here to learn more.

Two Tone Frosting

I absolutely love two tone icing on cupcakes.

Here's how to get it.....

1)For two toned frosting, just fill the piping bag with two different colours. Fill it in so that when you squeeze the piping bag, both come out more or less at the same time. Make sure that you have a good contrast between the colours for a pretty effect! Make space and try and put both the colors in such a way that both come out simultaneously.

2)The second method is by Wilton.

Brush Striping
Produces more intense multiple colors because it is done with straight icing color brushed into the bag. Apply one or more stripes of icing color with a decorating brush, then fill the bag with white or pastel-colored icing. As the icing is squeezed past the color, decorations will come out striped.

If done correct this is what two tone icing should look like! A perfect treat!

Handbag Cakes

Came across this gorgeous Juicy Couture Handbag Cake!

Mixing Color in Icing

Don't be afraid to try out new colors.

Looka round you for inspiration on different colors for icings.

Use a toothpick and swirl color into the white icing.

Use gels they will not change the consistency of the icing.

Always remember that the color of gels in the icing intensifies after 1-2hrs.

Royal Icing requires more color than buttercream icing to get the same intensified color.

Always make one whole batch of your icing for the work that you will be doing. If you making pink cakes with pink flowers, make the icing for everything, since duplicating the exact shade of color is very hard.

On Mixing Colors

When mixing color always mix a small amount of color to experiment. Start with base color and then add very small amounts of secondary color. Be sure to mix enough color for the cakes to be decorated as it is difficult to match an exact color.

ANTIQUE GOLD Add just an extremely small touch of Leaf Green to Golden Yellow
FLESH Add just an extremely small touch of Copper to white icing. Ivory can also be used. Light pink with a small amount of brown.

For more colors click here

COLOR TIPS

Deep colors: When making deep colors, such as black, brown, or red use Wilton paste food colors in larger amounts than normal. It can take as much as 1 oz. paste food color per one cup to obtain deep colors. Deep colors are recommended for accent colors only.

Fading colors: Sunlight or fluorescent light will cause some colors to fade. After the cake is decorated, it is best to keep in a cool room and out of direct light.

Stain removal: All deep colors in nature stain, like blueberries, but none of them are harmful. Paste colors can stain teeth and skin; however, simply washing skin area with soap and warm water will remove color. Bleach can be used on counter tops. Lukewarm water should be used first to spot stained color. Rinse thoroughly, allow to dry. If color is still visible use a commercial cleaner on garment, carpet, upholstery, etc. In the case of a color that has Red 3 as an ingredient use an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice to soak stain first. Proceed with lukewarm water and then allow to dry before using a commercial cleaner

Starting out

I decided to do this post for all those who are starting out.

Basically these are the simple basic things you need for cake decorating or cupcake decorating when starting out.

You can buy supplies individually or as a kit.

What you need:

* Flat spatula

*Gel food colouring

* Disposable or Reusable Piping Bags

*Frosting Tips

*Cake Decorating Book

*Turntable if you doing cakes

*Serrated Knife

*Cupcake papercups

*Fondant for decorating

*Cutters to make shapes of flowers

Fashionable Couture Cupcakes

Check out these delectable fashion cupcakes:)