Cupcake Deco 101 (part 1)

Since this blog has a cupcake theme, with the background to the header I've decided to give some tips on cupcake decorations. I am no expert, so don't expect too much ok! :p I like to look for designs online and try my best to follow and perfect those designs.

I've tried my hands on cupcake deco before, and once I start I can't stop. I just wanna decorate more and moreeeee. It's addictive I must say :D

Okok, moving on!!

So, before starting cupcake deco, the most important thing that u really need is...

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CUPCAKES OF COURSE!!!

duh :p Sorry la, I know Im being lame but bear with me :p

Other than cupcakes, there are some things u may need to make decorating easier. The essentials would be:

1. Paper Cones. Make these in advance, and have at least 5 so that you won't have to make it halfway through decorating when it runs out. Paper cones are handy as decorating require piping out designs, from wordings to lines. It also saves me money, rather than using plastic piping bags. So, it is better to use home made paper cones rather than plastic piping bags, more environmental friendly.

Wonder how to make paper cones? Click here to find out.

2. Nozzles are also important. It can give us shapes and cute shapes, especially flower petals. Without the nozzles, we cant make any flower petals with buttercream.


3. Other than buttercream as deco, we can purchase these ready made bottled decoration stuff. All are edible so no worries :)


4. To make various buttercream colours, we will need food colouring. Also we need the palette knife, i don't know if it's called that, but it is used to spread the icing on cakes and cupcakes.

Here is a basic vanilla cupcake recipe. If u haven't baked any b4, I would recommend this recipe, as it will not be so expensive compared to recipes like orange chocolate chip cupcakes if anything goes wrong with the cupcakes. (Many things can be added into this recipe to zest it up. You can be creative, add in choc chips, raisins, strawberries, or some orange or lemon rind, and u will get orange or lemon flavoured cupcakes! :))

Basic Vanilla Cupcake

Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter (if using salted butter, don't use salt in this recipe)

200g castor sugar*

3 eggs (at room temperature, cold eggs will make the batter curdle, so don't use cold eggs, I've experienced this many many times b4)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g cake flour (sieved)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (sieved together with flour)

1/4 teaspoon salt


*If u have vanilla sugar, then substitute half of the castor sugar with vanilla sugar. This will enhance the vanilla flavour of the cupcakes. I have the method of making the vanilla sugar, I will post it at the end of this post.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C and line cupcake tray with paper cups of your choice.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. After all the eggs are beaten, add in vanilla essence and salt.

3. With the mixer on a low speed, add the flour, in few additions. (It is better to not use the mixer at this stage. Use a spatula to hand mix in the flour. Over beating the flour mixture will cause the cupcakes to be hard as gluten will form).

4. Fill the batter in the paper cups on the cupcake tray until 3/4 full. Don't be greedy and fill it to the brim, it will puff up, and it will be difficult to decorate later on. Bake until top is golden brown, and to test if it's cooked, poke a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean it is cooked. Remove from oven, and cool completely on wire tray.

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Vanilla Sugar(Recipe from Cupcake Blog)

1 vanilla bean

250g castor sugar

1. Split the vanilla bean into half but do not scrape out the seeds. Put the vanilla bean together with the sugar in an airtight container. Shake it once in a while. Keep up to 5days before using.

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Ok, I will stop here. Will continue with the second part of cupcake deco another day :) stay tuned!