Easy Cupcakes

Whether you’re in a state voting on Super Tuesday, or if you’re reading this post on the 4th of July, or even in the November general election, these patriotic star-themed cupcake are just the ticket. Now your toughest decision will be chocolate or vanilla, or perhaps a third-party cupcake candidate such as lemon or devil’s food.
What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white frosting; candy stars; 1M metal icing tip; pastry bag.
How to Make It: Fit 1M metal tip to disposable pastry bag (the 1M tip is larger than standard size; a disposable bag means you won’t have to cut so far into a cloth bag). Fill pastry bag halfway with white icing (we used canned icing, but homemade may make for more appealing, stiffer swirls). While squeezing out icing, move arm in a circular motion and cover the top of the cupcake with a swirl of icing. Then, starting a little bit in from the edge this time, make a second swirl on top of the first one. Immediately add candy stars (we used Wilton brand). If the 1M swirl sounds confusing, stay tuned, as Easycupcakes.com will have more detailed instructions soon.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and for the local scrapbooking “Crop for a Cure” event, easycupcakes.com made a batch of these pink ribbon cupcakes. We even found pink ribbon cupcake liners, made by Fox Run. Don’t worry if you don’t get the ribbon “just right.” It’s all for charity!

What You Need: 1 cupcake (baked and cooled); white frosting; red paste or liquid food coloring; pastry bag and coupler; icing tip #104.
Make That Cupcake!: Frost cupcakes using white icing. Tint reserved white icing pink. Using coupler, attach tip #104 to pastry bag. Fill bag halfway with pink icing, squeeze out air and twist top closed. With the narrow end of the tip facing you, hold the bag at a 90- or 45-degree angle (depending on the “look” you want) and, in one motion, “draw” ribbon shape. Stop squeezing before you lift the tip up, and be sure to wipe the tip off between cupcakes.