For this specific day I wanted to work on my frosting piping skills. We've piped frosting a few times before but Patrick has been the froster extraordinaire. Now I'm ready to step into the frosting spotlight! I debated coloring the buttercream for these cupcakes but decided I should focus on one thing and I had chosen piping. After some research I decided that the Wilton 1M star tip would give me the results I was looking for. I wanted something that would be impressive with just a few swirls around the cupcake. The Wilton website describes the 1M star tip as: "...another quick way to decorate your cupcakes or cakes. It just takes minutes to pipe a fancy iced swirl and add colorful sprinkles."
The lucky beneficiary of these cupcakes was a local friend who was celebrating her birthday a few weeks ago. We had them over for dinner and a game night complete with surprise birthday cupcakes. The remaining cupcakes went with Patrick to work. His co-workers may have a steady stream of sweets coming in over the next little bit.
I tried a new buttercream frosting as well. It was from Betty Crocker's "The Big Book of Cupcakes". I chose it because it doesn't have shortening in it - the ingredients are simply butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting from Betty Crocker
Frosts 24 cupcakes (makes about 3 1/2 cups)
Ingredients
6 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla
3 to 4 tbsp milk (I had to double this amount)
Directions
In large bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla and 3 tbsp of the milk.
Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.
On to the next trial - mixing frosting colors!
Oh man, these look so good!
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