Decorating Cupcakes

Last time my mom came to visit, she let me in on her pie-making secrets. This time, I got an introduction to one of her other great talents - cake decorating! For my birthday, she brought me a Wilton starter's kit, which includes the most-used cake decorating tips, along with some frosting bags and other basic tools.

For the cake, we simply used a Duncan Hines butter cake mix. It requires the stand mixer to make the batter, but the extra effort is definitely worth it. By filling the cupcake cups only about half full, we were able to get 24 full cupcakes and 12 mini ones, without any of them spilling over and making a mess.

We got plenty of use out of the mixer for this project! The cupcakes baked up perfectly.

We frosted the cupcakes by just making spirals with the star tips, which turns out to be easier and more fun than frosting with a spatula, and looks better too! (Compare with these disasters.) Pushed for time, Mom then added some simple rosebuds using the petal tip and leaf tip. They turned out pretty and delicious! I'm looking forward to trying my own designs.

Trying my hand at it.
Tasty! Mom's (rather, Gertrude Bieber's) buttercream recipe is just too good to share here.

3 comments:

  1. Marie, I wish I could have joined you, Patrick, and Whitney during your visit. Looks like the desserts were wonderful. Whitney really enjoyed her visit to the Washington Duke Inn. I have a friend in Murfreesboro that thinks it is the best place to eat and stay of anywhere. Thanks for including Whitney in on such a nice splurge. Charlene

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  2. Patrick, you're a wonderful baking apprentice! I really enjoyed my visit and the lovely birthday dinner at Wash Duke Inn. It was especially fun to share some cake decorating "tips" with you.

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  3. Whitney, I really enjoyed the tasty mushroom pasta dinner that you and Patrick prepared. A special thanks for showing us the beautiful spring blossoms at the NC Arboretum...that was very uplifting for someone who comes from Snow Country. And don't forget that my new goal is to apprentice at the "Miel Bon Bons" Chocolate Patisserie in Carrboro!

    Charlene, thanks for your comments. We had such a nice time during our dinner last fall at “Top of the Hill”. We’ll have to do something like that again on another visit. (Can you all tell that I just figured out how to successfully post comments on this blog?)

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