Cupcake decorating part 1

from http://www.cakejournal.com

Over the last few days I have been preparing at little cupcake decorating guide to show you a little more on how I make my cupcakes. What cupcake tools I like to use, favourite cupcake recipes, how I build up a buttercream dome, so that I can decorate my cupcakes with rolled fondant and how I pipe my buttercream swirls.

You’ll never know, it could all end up with a little cupcake give away So let us begin with my favourite cupcake tools.

Cupcake pans:

I mostly use a regular standard sized cupcake (muffin) pan and a mini cupcake (muffin) pan to bake my cupcakes in. When I bake cupcakes I only have 1 pan in the oven at a time, except with the mini pans where I can can bake 24 in one go.

Cupcake paper cases:

One thing that I dont like when I bake cupcakes is the paper cases that look greasy and translucent after baking. A lot of paper cases does that So I was happy when I found a brand that makes greaseproof paper cases and that even keeps the color after baking. I think that it is the best cupcake paper case ever! They are also a little higher than the paper cases you usually buy (50mm base x 35mm wall (2″ x 1 3/8″). They come in pretty rainbow colors, polka dots and other patterns.

Note: The mini cupcake paper cases are just some regular ones, and not the greaseproof ones.

You can get the “wonder” paper cases here:
Australia
England
America

Of course if you cant get your hands on the paper cases you can always wrap your cupcakes in stylish cupcake wraps to cover up any “blemishes”.

Pastry tips & more:

To make those large swirls on my cupcakes I use large pastry tips. Many use the Wilton 1M tip, but I like those really large tips that is best used with a disposal piping bag. I got my pastry tips from a professional bakery supply store here in Denmark. But after browsing online for such large pastry tips, Ateco should be the brand to look for if you want really large pastry tips.

Now I have not tried the large pastry tips from Ateco yet, but I would really love to try them out one day. You should try and look for these large pastry tips below next time you are out shopping for cake supplies:

Open star:
# 827
# 828
# 829

Closed star:
# 847
# 848
# 849

French/fine star:
# 867
# 868
# 869

Round:
# 807
# 808
# 809

Another little tool that I like to use is my small offset spatular, that I use when I am making buttercream domes for rolled fondant covered cupcakes. But more about that in another post

Happy Caking

Louise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9qtZwHHmx4&feature=player_embedded#