Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cupcake Decorating: Ideas And Techniques

By Anya Shiela Richards


People often assume that cupcake decoration options are limited because they are so small, compared to regular size cakes. This article will show you that there are hundreds of different creative ways to decorate cupcakes. Read on to discover how you can use your imagination (and the ideas below) to create delightfully attractive (and tasty) cupcake decorations.

Cupcake decoration ideas include using any of a number of colored cupcake frosting recipes with chopped nuts or candied fruit mixed in, glazed icing topped with swirls, stars or flowers made of frosting (using a piping bag and special tips) or intricate shapes made of fondant, molded sugar or marzipan.

Parties are always made brighter with food that goes with the occasion or theme. Edible cake toppers make this easy and these are available in a wide variety. For example, if you are hosting a birthday party for a child, you can get cupcake decorations in the shape of balloons, clowns, birthday messages and so on. Or you could pick a popular cartoon character and recreate its image on the cupcakes, a surefire way to please the kids.

Adults as well as children appreciate personalized cupcake decorations. Use a piping bag to write the names of your guests in frosting on the cupcakes, or decorate individual cupcakes for each of your guests using cupcake topper forms that reflect that person's interest (baseball forms for sports lovers etc).

You can easily decorate cupcakes for special holidays using edible Christmas, Easter, Halloween or Valentine's Day cupcake toppers too. Since edible cake toppers are made of sugar, fondant or royal icing, they don't just make your cupcakes more attractive; they enhance the flavor as well. Choose from the wide array of readymade cupcake decorations. For Christmas, you'll find cake decorations in the form of reindeer, Christmas tree ornaments, Santa Claus figures and much more. For Easter, use pastel colored frosting and jellybeans, for Valentine's Day use red frosting and heart-shaped icing decorations etc.

Another great idea is to decorate your cupcakes in such a way that when they are arranged and ready to serve, the patterns on each form a unified design. This gives you a larger canvas, so to speak, and you can create scenes that fit in with the theme of your party.

If you're stuck for ideas, go online for inspiration; you will find an endless array of cupcake frosting designs in various themes. You can also buy items such as food coloring that can be mixed into frosting, or that can be sprayed on, and these are great for culinary creativity.

Cupcake decorating kits are great time savers when you need to decorate your cakes in a hurry. Most of these come with cupcake cups, piping bags (and various tips) and some even include a selection of stencils you can use to create beautiful, intricate designs or borders on your cupcakes.

Cupcakes are a delicious treat that most people enjoy, and for the person who is creating these sweet snacks, cupcake decorating is the most enjoyable part of preparation. This is an area where you can really let yourself go, creatively speaking, and you'll have loads of fun planning the look of the frosted cupcake. You'll also love the appreciative oohs and ahs of your family and guests when your beautifully designed, imaginative cupcakes are served.




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