Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Easy-to-Follow Tips In Decorating Cupcakes

By Sam Johnson

Tricky as it sounds, decorating a cupcake is very attainable especially with the following tips.

Magazines and cookbooks usually feature cupcakes and when you come to think of it, you would already break out sweat just by the thought of the piping bags and sugarcraft flowers. Fortunately, products which help us achieve wonderful looking cupcakes are already out in the market.

When we talk about choosing the right colours for the icing, a cheat or two may do the trick.

Colours are Very Important

Even if it is tempting to open up all those food colourings and take a hold of and start to make tons of icing right away, it is still important to think forward and do a bit of planning. Consider the people whom you are to give your cupcakes. Is it a girl or a boy? A teen or an adult? Male or female?

For a girl's event, it is best to choose light coloured icing. On the other hand, choosing bright coloured icing such as bright blue or bright green may fit to a seven year-old boy's birthday party. Some products may not be all natural in content, so always bear in mind of all the possible adverse effects and sensitivity to food colourings. But many naturally made food colourings can also be found in decorating shops and superamarkets.

Limit the colours chosen when dealing with adults. A light coloured chocolate or coffee flavored icing may be more appropriate. And golden shaded sprinkles would best fit to these dark colours. It is important to keep in mind that the small metallic sugar balls can cause your tooth to be damaged. All sorts of decorations such as minute stars or mini hearts, and all those ready to eat glitter in various colours, are available in the market as well as from the different cake decorating sellers.

Cupcake Cheat

Looks can be deceiving. Producing such beautiful and serene looking sugarcraft flower-topped icing from scratch can conjure anything except for one thing-calm. Spending so much time pressing these small petals together to form a mini rose, and when everything is just going smoothly, they all decide to crack up all together just because they dried up. Now that does not exude calm. Now fortunately, a variety of ready made sugar flowers available in the market and can also be bought online, as well as from cake decorating dealers. Any shapes, from lilies to daisies, they are all available and all you need to do is remove them from their individual packaging, and you are now set to decorate your cake!

Be creative. Don't just stick to what is usual, try something new. Try to check out the confectionery aisle instead of sticking at the baking aisle in the supermarket.

Icing Cupcakes - It's Easy! Here's How

There are many approaches as to how a professional looking icing cupcake is made, and these are easy. We have the flat-iced cupcake and the pipe swirl usually found on many professional cakes.

For flat-iced cupcake, level the tip of the cake with a knife and then pour the icing, using a teaspoon, and be leveled out to dry. Before it can dry up completely, the decors should be placed on top.

As for the piped swirl icing, buttercream icing is usually used. Choose colours and flavours carefully then pour them into a piping bag (available in differently shaped nozzles). The icing should be flowing quickly out the nozzle. Start applying from the outside then into the center finishing at the central peak.

Professional Finish? Easy as 1-2-3

Expert and professionals are most likely to be featured in those magazines, and you could say that they do everything perfectly. But, it is still possible to achieve a great deal of good looking cupcakes at home. Just don't put too much pressure on yourself because in the first place, baking is supposed to be fun!

Practice is important. Try to bake for your family and friends. Don't commit to making perfect ones especially if it is your first time. Through practice, you will be mixing colours confidently and using piped bags with ease in no time. Experiment on the available products. Enjoy baking.

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