Cupcake Tutorial #1

It's SO incredibly easy to make a cute cupcake design with a simple round tip and a spatula.  I'm using a large muffin-size cupcake, and a Wilton #10 or #12 round tip is perfect here.  Load up a bag of buttercream and a round tip, grab your spatula, and let's go!

Step 1:  Lightly ice the cupcake in the color of your choice.  I chose to go with white for the base coat.  Then, using your icing bag with a round tip (I used Wilton #10), pipe a border of round balls on the outside edge of the cupcake.  Don't worry too much if they have a point on them.  This will be taken care of in the next step!

Step 2:  Using your small spatula, go to each icing ball and "drag" the icing inward towards the middle of the cupcake.  Do this for each ball.  It is recommended that you wipe off the spatula between each "drag."

When you finish dragging the icing for each icing ball, your cupcake will look like this!  They look like petals.  Already pretty!

Step 3:  Move in towards the middle of the cupcake near the end of the "petals" you created in the first round and pipe a second round of icing balls.

Step 4:  Just like we did in step 2, use your spatula to "drag" in the balls of icing to create petals.

We're almost finished!  The cupcake is covered in icing  Time to finish the middle of the flower!!!

Step 5:  In the very center of the cupcake, pipe four balls of icing, in a square pattern....and pipe one on top of the four in the middle.

Step 6:  Using a tapered spatula since the workspace on the cupcake is getting small, drag OUTWARD for each of the four balls you just piped.  Don't touch that last one.  It sits on top just as is.

Look how pretty that is!  Just add some colored sanding sugar in matching color and you have a really pretty blossom cupcake that is made up of simple balls of icing and a few swipes of the spatula.  Don't tell anyone how easy it was!!!

If you are using standard size cupcakes instead of the jumbo muffin size cupcakes I used here, then a Wilton #5 or #7 round tip will be needed instead.  If you piped smaller amounts of icing, you could probably even get away with the #10 tip, although it wouldn't have as many petals.  Using a smaller icing tip will also mean your tool to "drag" the icing would be better if it was smaller.  I recommend the flat end of a seafood fork!

Now go make some beautiful cupcakes!!!  Make Madam Buttercream proud!!!