tips & tricks Archives

{Tutorial} Spring Cupcakes

April 25, 2013 by Betsy Eves 3 Comments

Vanilla cupcakes don’t have to be… well, vanilla! They can be fun and exciting and beautiful too! Just think of a vanilla cupcake as a blank canvas for creating any color or theme to match your event or party. This tutorial will teach you how simple it is to transform a basic vanilla cupcake into a beautiful Spring cupcake full of color and fun!

Supplies

Damask grease-proof cupcake liners in various colors from Sweets & Treats Boutique
Vanilla cupcakes baked in damask liners
Vanilla buttercream
Wilton tip #1M
Disposable piping bag
Green & Yellow Wilton gel coloring
Royal Icing Flowers (Tutorial HERE)
Sugar sprinkles in the same colors your used to color your royal icing flowers.

Technique

Bake your cupcakes in damask grease-proof cupcake liners. Use several different colors.
Color your buttercream by using both green and yellow Wilton gel coloring. Add a small dollop of both colors to your buttercream and combine with a spatula until uniform.
Fit your disposable piping bag with the Wilton #1M tip. Fill the bag with buttercream.
Using this technique, pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cupcake.
Sprinkle sugar sprinkles onto each cupcake and top with a royal icing flower. Use the same color sprinkles as the flower you are topping the cupcake with.

Filed Under: tips & tricks, tutorials

{Tutorial} Royal Icing Flowers

April 24, 2013 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I am making vanilla cupcakes today for a friend and I wanted to do more than just a white cake with white frosting… so, I decided to try something new! Royal Icing Flowers! Yup – you know those sugar flowers you can buy at the grocery store? Well – you can make them yourself at home… and it’s super easy!

The great thing about these flowers is that you can make a lot of them at once… store them… and then use them all year round. You can top cupcakes with these flowers or even decorate cakes with them! Super simple, super fun and super cute!

Supplies:

Disposable piping bags
Wilton #1M tip
Wilton #4 tip
Royal Icing (see recipe below)
Wax paper
Flat surface

Prepare your work area:

Cut the tip of your disposable bags off and place the piping tips inside.
Fill the bag with the Wilton #4 tip with the yellow icing and fill the bags with the #1M tips with the other colors.
Place a large piece of wax paper on a flat surface – if you have something to hold the corners of the paper down, do so.

Technique:

Hold a filled piping bag fitting with a #1M tip at a 90 degree angle to the wax paper. Place the tip directly above but not touching the wax paper.
Apply firm pressure to the bag so that the icing flows out. Immediately begin to rotate the bag, keeping it straight and continually pressing icing out. After the bag has been rotated about a quarter turn, release pressure and pull the bag straight up. Repeat this process with each color of icing.
Using the yellow icing with the #4 tip, pipe a small yellow dot in the center of each flower.
Let flowers set out over night to dry.

Storage:

After the flowers have set out to dry overnight, store them in an air tight container.
If stored properly, they will keep for up to a year.

Royal Icing for Flowers

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3-4 cups of Royal Icing

Ingredients

4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp meringue powder
6-9 Tbsp room temperature water
Wilton gel coloring (yellow for center of flowers + any other colors you want)

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Mix on low for 30 seconds.
Add 6 Tbsp of the water to the sugar and mix on low until it becomes clumpy and all the sugar is wet.
1/2 a Tbsp at a time, add water until the mixture becomes smooth. GO SLOW and be sure not to add too much water. You want a stuff frosting. I added about 2 Tbsp more water at this point, but depending on the temperature and humidity of where you're at, you may need less or more water.
Beat on high for 7 minutes. Lift the whisk out, scrape the sides of the bowl and test the texture and consistency of the royal icing. You want a thick icing - but not so thick that you can't push it through a piping bag & tip. Add 1/2 Tbsp of water if necessary to loosen it up.
Beat on high for 2 more minutes.
Separate icing into the # of bowls you are coloring. For example if you are making pink and purple flowers, you'll need three bowls of icing. Two for the flowers and one for the center dots in yellow.
Using a toothpic, add a very small dollop of gel coloring into each bowl and mix in with a spoon until uniform in color.

Notes

I watched these videos before I made this royal icing to help familiarize myself with the technique.

Royal Icing Basics: http://youtu.be/ux5hfEn2o7Q

How to make Royal Icing: http://youtu.be/RnxHBne-uVo

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://javacupcake.com/2013/04/tutorial-royal-icing-flowers/

Filed Under: frosting and icing, recipes, royal icing, tips & tricks, tutorials

{Video Tutorial} Cupcake Piping 101

April 16, 2013 by Betsy Eves 4 Comments

Have you ever wondered how to get perfect swirls of frosting on your cupcakes? Have you ever looked in awe through the glass window at the bakery counter at the perfect mounds of frosting that seemed to be piped perfectly onto the top of your favorite cupcake? Did you ever think it was possible that you could do that to?

Well… I’m here to tell you, IT IS! I have created a six and a half minute, very simple tutorial that will teach you to use a piping bag and coupler and how to frost the perfect mound of frosting swirls onto your cupcake!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Disposable piping bag (I used 12in Wilton disposable bags)
Coupler
Wilton 1M tip (or any medium open star tip)
Bakery Crafts 9PT tip (or any large round tip)
Scissors
Medium rubber spatula
Frosting & Cupcakes
Video tutorial (below)

The super cool part about this video tutorial is that you can almost any piping tip and create beautiful swirls of frosting on your cupcake. In the graphic below, I’ve laid out 7 different ways to frost a cupcake using 5 different piping tips… and all you need to do is follow the instructions in the video below!

Please, let me know if you have any questions with the steps listed in the video. I’m here to help!

Enjoy!

If for some reason the video isn’t showing up in your browser… visit my YouTube channel to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtS-xxxbVIU

Filed Under: frosting a cupcake, tips & tricks, tutorials, video

Tutorial: Sesame Street Cupcakes

April 3, 2013 by Betsy Eves 6 Comments

My son celebrated his 1st birthday three times… I may have gone a little bit overboard. But hey – you only turn 1 once! In February we celebrated with a birthday photo shoot with my favorite local photographer Allie Beardsley Photography. She took some amazing photos of my family including Matthew with his smash cake! (You can read all about his smash cake here!)

Next up was Matthew’s actual birthday on March 5th. We had a small celebration at home with my, his big sister and our neighbors. Unfortunately, my husband was training for deployment and wasn’t able to be there. Bummer, I know. But, it was still a fun time! For this celebration, I made funfetti cookie cakelettes filled with buttercream frosting! Super yum!

And finally – it’s time for Matty’s official birthday party! You know – the one where you invite everyone you know and there is food, games, lots of kids and of course CAKE! We celebrated this big party just this past weekend and I teamed up with a local baker, Tiny Kitchen Cakes, to make the Sesame Street themed cupcakes for the party.

Matty and his Sesame Street cupcakes by JavaCupcake

I have admired Kathy of Tiny Kitchen Cakes work since I moved to Germany. She can do things with fondant that are so amazing – I wouldn’t even know where to begin to make some of the amazing cakes she does! I contacted Kathy in January and asked if she would be willing to help me put together the fondant eyes, noses and mouth/beaks for the Sesame Street cupcakes and without hesitation, she agreed! I was THRILLED because I had no clue how I was going to pull these off without her help!

When I baked these cupcakes, I wanted to use matching and coordinating liners for all of them. So I used blue, green, red, and yellow chevron cupcakes all courtesy of Sweets & Treats Boutique. If I haven’t said so before, I am completely in love with these liners. The best thing about these liners – they hold up to ANY kind of cake you bake in them. The colors are bright and vibrant and the size makes a perfect cupcake – every time! I may never use another liner ever again!

JavaCupcake Sesame Street cupcake liners courtesy of Sweet and Treats Boutique

When it came time to put these cupcakes together it really wasn’t too difficult… it just took some planning, time and organization. Kathy of Tiny Kitchen Cakes was generous enough to write a brief tutorial to share with my readers on how she made the fondant pieces… how awesome is that? And really, the process is quite simple.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this process – I’ll do my best to answer them for you!!

Good luck and Enjoy!

Eyes, Nose, Mouth & Beak (by Tiny Kitchen Cakes)

Materials:

white, black, orange, yellow, pink and light blue fondant
knife
1″ round cookie cutter
small oval or leaf cookie cutter
piping tip
rolling pin
straw
small brush
clear vanilla extract or vodka
powdered sugar

Steps:

1. Set up your work area with all the tools you will need. Dust work surface with a little powdered sugar.
2. Roll white fondant into small 1/4″ balls. You’ll need two eyes for every cupcake you plan to make.
3. Roll out black fondant into a thin sheet. Using the end of the straw, cut out circles for the pupils and attach to eyeballs.
`
4. Roll out pink fondant for Big Birds eyes. With a piping tip cut out circles, carefully attach to eyeballs. Roll 1″ thin, lines of blue and attach next to the pink for the eyeshadow. NOTE: If the pieces don’t stick, use a very small dab of vodka or clear vanilla extract onto one piece before attaching.
5. Roll out black and pink fondant. Using the round cookie cutter cut out circles for the mouth. Cut teardrop shapes of pink fondant and attach to the center of the circle for Oscars tongue. Fold to a 90 degree angle.
6. Using the orange fondant for Elmo’s nose, form into an egg shape with one end slightly smaller than the other.
7. Form yellow fondant into beak shapes. With a knife cut open the ends and pull apart. Cut pink triangle shapes of fondant and attach as tongue.
8. Store in an air-tight container for up to a month. Best if used with-in a week.

Assembly (by JavaCupcake)

Elmo

Materials Needed

Cupcakes
Red frosting
Eyes, orange nose and black mouth
Wilton grass tip #233
Piping bag

Assembly

1. Fit the piping bag with the grass tip and fill with red frosting.
2. Hold the bag straight up over the cupcake and with medium pressure, squeeze frosting onto the cupcake. In a quick, steady motion, pull bag straight up and release pressure. Repeat this process until the entire cupcake is covered from edge to edge. Apply a second layer of frosting so that a round mound (like a head) is created.
3. Position the eyes toward the top of the cupcake so that they are touching. Place the nose directly under the eyes with the fat end toward the mouth. Press the mouth into place under the nose.

Oscar the Grouch

Materials Needed

Cupcakes
Green frosting
Brown frosting
Eyes and black mouth with pink tongue
Wilton grass tip #233
2 Piping bags

Assembly

1. Fit the piping bag with the grass tip and fill with green frosting.
2. Hold the bag straight up over the cupcake and with medium pressure, squeeze frosting onto the cupcake. In a quick, steady motion, pull bag straight up and release pressure. Repeat this process until the entire cupcake is covered from edge to edge. Apply a second layer of frosting so that a round mound (like a head) is created.
3. Position the eyes a 1/3 from the top of cupcake so that they are touching. Press the mouth into place under the eyes.
4. Fill another piping bag fitting with the grass tip and fill with brown frosting. Pipe a “m” shape above the eyes to create eyebrows.

Cookie Monster

Materials Needed

Cupcakes
Blue frosting
Mini chocolate chip cookies
Eyes
Wilton grass tip #233
Piping bag

Assembly

1. Fit the piping bag with the grass tip and fill with blue frosting.
2. Hold the bag straight up over the cupcake and with medium pressure, squeeze frosting onto the cupcake. In a quick, steady motion, pull bag straight up and release pressure. Repeat this process until the entire cupcake is covered from edge to edge. Apply a second layer of frosting so that a round mound (like a head) is created.
3. Position the eyes a 1/3 from the top of cupcake so that they are touching. Press the cookie into place under the eyes.

Big Bird

Materials Needed

Cupcakes
Yellow frosting
Eyes with eye lids and beaks
Wilton open star tip #4b
Piping bag

Assembly

1. Fit the piping bag with the star tip and fill with yellow frosting.
2. Hold the bag straight up over the cupcake and with medium pressure, squeeze frosting onto the cupcake. In a quick, steady motion, pull bag straight up and release pressure. Repeat this process until the entire cupcake is covered from edge to edge. Apply a second layer of frosting so that a round mound (like a head) is created.
3. Position the eyes a 1/3 from the top of cupcake so that they are touching. Press the beak into place under the eyes.

Filed Under: cupcake toppers, fondant, Sesame Street, tips & tricks, tutorials

Blue Ombre Cake Tutorial

August 26, 2012 by Betsy Eves 22 Comments

One of my closest friends celebrated her husbands birthday this past weekend and asked me to make his birthday cake and cupcakes. Jody didn’t want anything special, “just something simple… vanilla is good!” he told me. Hmmm… I don’t do simple . Ha! But… I do make a killer vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream! And a blue ombre cake would be even better! This is an easy ombre cake tutorial that anyone can follow!

So, simple cake it is… but definitely not simple decorating! I decided that I’d use this cake as another opportunity to make an Ombre style cake. This cake, however, couldn’t be like my last cake… pink and girly. This cake had to be fit for a soldier and a man! Blue ombre cake layers covered in blue ombre buttercream. PERFECT!

I found the process to make this cake pretty easy. Only a few extra steps were needed to color the cake layers and the buttercream frosting. Having a cake turntable and the right supplies really helped the process too!

How to Blue Make Ombre Cake Layers

Supplies:
Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes & Buttercream (I used a double batch)
Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue
Toothpics
4 bowls & spatulas

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Use 4 8in cake pans and grease, flour and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Step 2: Prepare batter as recipe described. Divide batter evenly into 4 bowls. Set one bowl aside, it will not be colored.

Step 3: Dip a toothpick into the food coloring gel and transfer a very small amount of food color gel into one bowl of batter. Use spatula to incorporate until uniform in color. Set aside.

Step 4: Dip another toothpick into the food color gel and transfer a slightly larger amount of gel into a second bowl of batter. Use spatula to incorporate until uniform in color. Set aside.

Step 5: Finally, dip one last toothpick into the food color gel and transfer a large amount of gel into the last bowl of batter. Use a spatula to incorporate until uniform in color.

Step 6: Spread batters evenly in the 4 pans. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Step 7: Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

How to Frost a Blue Ombre Cake

Supplies:
4 Cake layers (double batch of the recipe above)
Buttercream (triple batch of the recipe above)
Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue
Toothpicks
4 bowls & spatulas
Small offset spatula
Cake turn table

Step 1: Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap & freeze for about 30 minutes or until ready to use. Spread a generous layer of buttercream between each layer of cake and apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the outside. Freeze for another 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and place cake on a cake turntable.

Step 2: To prepare buttercream into Ombre colors (light to dark), separate the buttercream into 4 parts (reserve a little extra for the white) and place in 4 bowls. Set aside the white buttercream. Using Wilton Food Color Gel in Sky Blue, dip a toothpick into the food gel getting a VERY SMALL amount of color onto the pic. Smear the pic into one bowl of the buttercream and use a spatula to incorporate until uniform. Set aside. Repeat this process for the rest of the buttercream, but use a little bit more gel color on the tooth pic each time. In the end, you should have three shades of blue and white buttercream.

Step 3: Begin with the darkest shade of blue. Using a small spatula (I used an offset spatula), spread an even 1/2 inch thick layer of buttercream around the bottom 1/3 of the cake. Using the edge, hold the spatula flush against the dark layer to smooth out any massive bumps of buttercream. Wipe the spatula clean before moving on to the next color.

Step 4 & 5: Repeat Step 3 using first the next lightest shade of blue buttercream to spread on second 1/3 of the cake. Overlap just slightly the two colors where they meet. Finally, use the lightest shade of blue buttercream to spread on final 1/3 of the cake. Remember to smooth the sides with the edge of the spatula.

NOTE: Leave a 1/4 border of non-frosted cake at the top. You’ll need room for the white to come down from the top in the next step.

Step 6: Using the white buttercream, spread 1/2 inch layer of bc on the top of the cake making sure to cover all the way to the edges. It’s okay if the buttercream goes over the edge, you want to fill in that 1/4 inch of cake that you left unfrosted in Step 5. Using the edge of the spatula, smooth side and top of the white buttercream.

Step 7: Create the ribbon effect by holding the tip your spatula sideways against the darkest color & bottom edge of the cake. Pressing gently, slowly & smoothly spin the cake turntable while simultaneously dragging the spatula up the side of the cake. You may need to stop and wipe any excess frosting after each revolution if you are pressing too hard. Continue turning the cake and dragging the spatula up until you reach the top of the cake.

Step 8: Wipe the spatula clean. Gently press the tip of the spatula into the middle of the top of the cake and spin the turntable while simultaneously dragging the spatula towards the outside of the cake. You may have some excess frosting along the edges, simply press your spatula on the edge where the top and side meet and spin the turn table until it is smooth.

NOTE: Imperfections are very easy to cover up with with style of decorating. Don’t be afraid to go over the ribbon of swirls until the colors have smoothed together how you want them.

Step 9: Place cake back in freezer for about 20 minutes so that the buttercream sets up. Transfer cake to your cake stand or plate for serving.

Filed Under: buttercream, buttercream, cakes, decorating ideas, desserts, frosting and icing, ombre, tips & tricks, tutorials

Mardi Gras Cupcakes

February 20, 2012 by Betsy Eves 12 Comments

Tomorrow, I’ll be ON THE RADIO!!!! AFN Bavaria here in Germany is hosting me for a 2 hour segment to talk cupcakes and baking! And, well… since it’s Mardi Gras tomorrow, I thought it’d be a perfect reason to make some party cupcakes!

Since I needed to color the batter, I needed a basic white base to start with. So, I whipped up a simple vanilla buttermilk cupcake. But… you know me, nothing I do is ever basic. These cupcakes have my favorite Madagascar vanilla beans, buttermilk and some added sour cream for flavor. There is nothing basic about the flavor of these bad boys!

I topped them with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and them embellished them with some fun sprinkles and mini cupcakes made with pb cups. Topsy Turvy Cupcakes!

These cupcakes will be READY TO PARTY tomorrow morning! I hope the radio station is ready for the sugar rush!

Mardi Gras Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 2 dozen cupcakes

These cupcakes are ready to PARTY for Mardi Gras!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
the seeds of 2 Madagascar vanilla beans
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups Buttermilk
¼ cup sour cream
3 cups cake flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Green, Purple and Yellow food coloring gel (I used Wilton brand)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pans with white liners.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes.
While that is creaming, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the buttermilk, vanilla beans, vanilla extract and sour cream. Whisk until combined. It will look lumpy, which is okay.
Add the wet mixture to the butter/sugar and mix on medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is incorporated. NOTE: It will look curdled. DO NOT FRET! It will smooth out once you add the flour.
Add all the flour at once and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Don't over mix!!
Separate batter evenly into three bowls.
Add food coloring and mix until uniform in color.
Using a tablespoon, scoop one color into the liner against one edge. Quickly, scoop the second color next to/overlapping the first color. Finally, add the third color. NOTE: By the time you get to scooping the third color, you should still be able to see a 1/3 of the bottom of the liner.
Add another smaller scoop of each color until the liners are 1/2-2/3 full. NOTE: Do not fill these more than 2/3 full. They puff up nicely and you don't want overflow!
Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate pan after 12 minutes.
Cool in pans for 7-8 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting and decorating.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://javacupcake.com/2012/02/mardi-gras-cupcakes/

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

Is there anything better than cinnamon and cream cheese together?

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt
green, purple and yellow sprinkles
Rolo candies
Mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
1/4lb at a time, add the powdered sugar. After the first addition, add the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Beat until smooth.
After the next additions of powdered sugar, add whipping cream and beat on high until smooth. After the last addition of sugar, add enough cream until you get your desired consistency.
Add the pinch of salt and beat on high for 5 minutes.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://javacupcake.com/2012/02/mardi-gras-cupcakes/

How to assemble Mardi Gras cupcakes

Ingredients

Baked & cooled Mardi Gras cupcakes
Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting
green, purple and yellow sprinkles and rainbow jimmies
Mini Reese's peanut butter cups
piping bag with star tip
purple food coloring gel

Instructions

Reserve 1/2 cup of frosting and tint with purple food coloring gel. Put it in a piping bag with a small star tip. Set aside.
Using the white frosting and a large star tip, pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake. Embellish with sprinkles and jimmies.
Put a swirl of the purple frosting on top of the Reese's pb cups and embellish with sprinkles and jimmies. (You want it to look like a mini cupcake.)
Place a pb cup on top of each cupcake, off center.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://javacupcake.com/2012/02/mardi-gras-cupcakes/

Filed Under: buttermilk, candy cupcakes, cinnamon buttercream or frosting, cream cheese, cupcake recipes, cupcake toppers, decorating ideas, featured, frosting and icing, holiday, Madagascar vanilla beans, Mardi Gras, novelty cupcakes, recipes, seasonal, seasonal and holiday cupcakes, tips & tricks, vanilla, vanilla cupcakes

Graveyard Cupcakes

October 29, 2011 by Betsy Eves 4 Comments

Today is the Fall Festival for my husband’s Battalion here in Germany. I am also an FRG Leader for one of the companies in the BN so I had a huge part in planning the festivities for today! One of the events is a Bake Off (my idea, of course! hehe)! I wanted to make something that was not only delicious, but spooky and on theme for Halloween!

I decided to make an Oreo cupcake and decorate it like a graveyard as well as an orange flavored candy corn cupcake! I know that candy corn typically isn’t orange in flavor, but my friend Sarah sent me a package of blood orange candy corns… so this works out perfectly!

For the Graveyard cupcakes I made this oreo cupcake… it’s a favorite recipe of mine that works out perfectly every time I make it! Instead of a cream cheese frosting like the recipe calls for… I used a standard buttercream and added oreos. I made 1.5x the amount I’d normally make for a dozen cupcakes, just to make sure I had enough frosting. Here’s that recipe:

Oreo Buttercream
12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
10 Oreos, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the butter until smooth.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, alternating with a small amount of cream at a time, and beat until smooth and creamy.
Mix in the vanilla.
Add the chopped Oreos and mix on high for 2 minutes or until all the big chunks of Oreo are gone.
Add more cream until you get your desired consistency. You may not need all the cream.
Mix in the salt until well combined.

Assembly of the Graveyard cupcakes is really a quite simple process.

Here’s what you’ll need:

6 Milano chocolate cookies, halved

Wilton Foodwriters pen

10 Crushed Oreo cookies (just the cookie, not the cream)

Top the cupcakes with a generous mound of frosting.
In a medium bowl, dump the cookie crumbs. Turn your frosted cupcake upside down and dip it into the cookie crumbs. You’ll want to put some pressure into the crumbs so that the cookies coat the entire top of the cupcake and frosting. Roll the sides too if needed.
Using the palm of your hand, pat the cookie crumbs until they form a nice round mound, like a grave.
Using the food pen, write any spooky phrase you want on the cookie halves. I wrote RIP. Place each cookie into the frosting.
You could also put hands or bones, maybe gummy worms or other spooky creatures in your grave… really, the possibilities are endless!

Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, cookie cupcakes, cooking icing, cupcake recipes, decorating ideas, featured, frosting and icing, halloween, holiday, recipes, seasonal, tips & tricks

Fall Recipe Round-up

October 21, 2011 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

Updated: November 2012

I’ve made a ton of yummy desserts and baked goods that are perfect for Fall over the years… so I thought I’d put them all together in one place!

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes w/ decorating tutorial

Cupcakes

Black Velvet Pumpkin Cupcakes w/ Tutorial

Bread/Muffins/Donuts/Scones

Apple Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Syrup

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Cookies/Bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

Filed Under: featured, holiday, recipes, seasonal, tips & tricks

Banana bites

October 16, 2011 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

After making my Chocolate & Banana cupcakes, I had some extra peanut butter buttercream, banana slices, and melted chocolate. So, I decided to make a little treat for the family!

Banana Bites!
Sliced bananas
Peanut butter buttercream
Melted Chocolate

Squeeze a dollop of buttercream on a banana slice.
Add a dot of chocolate on top.
Pop in your mouth and enjoy!

Filed Under: banana, buttercream, chocolate, peanut butter, recipes, snacks, tips & tricks

3 easy steps to core & fill cupcakes

September 10, 2011 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

Recently, I made Caramel Apple cupcakes where I needed to core and fill both mini and regular size cupcakes. I realized how simple the process was and decided to take a few pictures so I could share the process with you.

Mini Cupcakes

Tools:
Apple corer
Piping bag

3 Steps:

-Press the apple corer into the center of the mini cupcake. Twist gently and pull out the center piece of cake.
-Fill a piping bag with your mixture, cut off the tip so you have about a 1cm opening.
-Pipe the mixture into the cupcake just until it reaches the top.

Standard Cupcakes

Tools:
Sharp knife
Mini ice cream scoop

3 Steps:
-Using a sharp knife, cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake. Make sure the knife goes almost to the bottom of the cupcake when cutting the cone. Trim off the bottom of the cone so what you have left is a flat top.
-Using the mini ice cream scoop, scoop a dollop of filling into each cupcake until it’s full.
-Replace the flat top of cake back on top of the filling and press down until it’s flat.

Filed Under: featured, filled cupcakes, tips & tricks

Mini Cupcakes for the Win!

August 24, 2011 by Jenn Magofna 2 Comments

I heart mini cupcakes. I know that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think that they’re pretty fantastic… especially for 1st birthdays! We took a little road trip down to California for my god-daughter, Savannah’s 1st birthday party… and as a good cupcakin’ auntie, I made all of the cupcakes for the party!

Here’s the thing about mini cupcakes, they don’t really look like a ton of cupcakes when they’re on display, but 120 mini cupcakes goes a long way!

Instead a super long post with step-by-step directions for each cupcake, I figured I would link to the recipes that I used, just so you can get an idea of what worked for me

I made 2 dozen mini cupcakes in 5 different cupcake varieties:

I modified all of the recipes to make 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes, which basically turns into 2 dozen mini cupcakes. I kept it simple and used white, mini cupcake liners and 2 pastry tips from Bake It Pretty (Giant Closed Star Pastry Tip and Super Star Giant Pastry Tip).

I think the biggest hit of the party was cookie dough, but I’m guessing that’s because they had little chocolate chip cookies on them

Cupcakes & cookies=win for the kids! I went with a semi-homemade version of these cupcakes and instead of making chocolate chip cookies, I just bought a bag of bite sized chips ahoy cookies.

If you’re planning a party, consider mini cupcakes. The birthday girl had about 3 banana & nutella cupcakes… she totally loved them! I decided to display them on a large platter, just to keep set-up easy since we were at a park… but, I also have a mini cupcake stand that is super cute!

If you have any questions, as always, please let me know!

Mahalo! xo-Jenn

Filed Under: mini, posts by jenn, tips & tricks

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

July 29, 2011 by Betsy Eves 43 Comments

As soon as I saw the recipe for Cherry Limeade cupcakes on Annie’s Eats I was certain it would make it into the rotation sometime this summer. I put the call out to my friends that I’d be making them this week and got a couple orders for these little summer goodies.

The recipe from Annie’s Eats was a pretty basic recipe, but I wanted to kick things up a bit and really bring out the lime flavor. In the original recipe, they noted that most of the lime flavor came from the lime syrup that was drizzed on top, but I really wanted a punch of lime to come through in the cake itself. I zested two limes and pressed that into the sugar, bringing out the natural oils and flavors creating a lime sugar. I also added the juice of the two limes into the batter. I also added a bit more lime juice concentrate than the original recipe called for too. :) And a few other tricks.

I’m really happy with the intense lime flavor of these cupcakes. Paired with the sweet cherry frosting, it’s a perfect summer treat!

Enjoy!

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
Makes 4 dozen cupcakes

Cake
5 1/4 cups flour*
3/4 cup corn starch*
1 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced

10 oz can of limeade concentrate or lime margarita concentrate, thawed and at room temperature

6 eggs

1 cup milk
1/3 cup hot water

*NOTE: This combo of corn starch and flour is to make cake flour. If you have cake flour on hand, use 6 cups of it.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, prepare the sugar by working the lime zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar. This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant. Set aside.
In another large bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt, baking powder and soda three times. You really want to make sure the corn starch is very incorporated into the flour. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the lime sugar and mix on high until light and fluffy.
Add the entire can of limeade concentrate and lime juice. Mix until combined. Don’t worry if it appears curdled… it’s normal at this point!
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
In three parts, add the flour mixture. Between each addition of flour, add half the milk. Mix only until the flour is just combined.
Add the hot water and mix by hand until incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX!
Fill liners 2/3 full, or use an ice cream scoop to distribute one full scoop into each liner.
Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Lime Syrup

1 10 oz can of lime juice concentrate or lime margarita concentrate, thawed

1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together the powdered sugar and thawed concentrate until all the sugar has dissolved into the concentrate.
Once the cupcakes are cool cool, poke 7-10 holes in each cupcake with a toothpick. Drizzle a tablespoon of syrup over each cupcake, allowing it to soak into the cake.

Cherry Buttercream

Double this recipe to have enough to frost 4 dozen lime cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
5-6 tbsp Maraschino cherry juice
3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp Wilton Christmas Red food color gel

Maraschino cherries, for garnish
Lime wedges, for garnish

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.
Add the sifted powdered sugar, one cup at a time, to the butter. Cream after each addition.
After half the sugar has been added, add the cherry juice and mix until combined.
Add enough whipping cream until you get your desired consistency, you may not need all of it, or you might want to add more.
Mix in the coloring.
After everything has been combined, mix on high for 30 seconds.
Pipe onto cupcakes and top with a cherry and lime for garnish.

Tips & Tricks – Lemon & Lime Sugar

When using lemon or lime in a recipe, to really add a punch of flavor, zest the fruit into your sugar before creaming with the butter. By working the zest into the sugar, you’ll create a fragrant sugar full of the oils and acids from the fruit creating an extra dimension of flavor to your cupcakes that will really make them stand out! I do this almost every time I use lemon or lime and it really creates an exceptional product! Good luck!

Filed Under: cherry, cupcake recipes, featured, frosting and icing, fruit, fruit frosting, fruity cupcakes, lime, recipes, tips & tricks, top posts sidebar

How to frost a cupcake!

May 27, 2011 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

We all know how fantastic Bake it Pretty is. The cupcake supplies, baking supplies, party supplies… seriously, that website is amazing. (If you’re that 1 person who has been living under a rock and doesn’t know BiP, go now, check them out. I’ll wait. Patiently) [Read more...]

Filed Under: tips & tricks, video

Video Tutorial – How to fill cupcakes with Wilton tip #230

May 10, 2011 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

Finally… I’ve had the time to record another quick “Tips & Tricks” video for you! Tonight, while making Nutella cupcakes I realized how EASY piping filling was into cupcakes and I just knew it would make the perfect video tutorial! [Read more...]

Filed Under: filled cupcakes, tips & tricks, video

Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcakes

May 9, 2011 by Jenn Magofna 2 Comments

I love love love these! They’re super easy and suuuuuper fun! Here’s the best thing, you pick your fav cupcake and add your favorite vanilla buttercream and then go from there!

Pineapple Flowers

April 25, 2011 by Jenn Magofna 3 Comments

These are courtesy of Martha Stewart’s genius. She uses them to top off her delicious hummingbird cupcakes. I say delicious, because they’re totally one of my favorite cupcakes. I thought these would be super hard to make, so I actually held off for a really long time. After I saw Betsy’s Aloha Cupcakes and we decided to make Hawaiian food for Easter, I knew I they would be just right!

S’mores please!

April 11, 2011 by Jenn Magofna 5 Comments

Saturday was the boyfriend’s birthday… he asked for S’mores cupcakes and since it was his birthday, I had to find a super awesome s’mores cupcake recipe! The best thing about this recipe is the all kinds of amazing marshmallow fluff that becomes the frosting. The 2nd best thing about this recipe is the little torch that you get to use to get that authentic s’mores feeling for your cupcakes Birthday boyfriend was not disappointed!

DIY Cupcake topper ideas by Icing Designs

February 21, 2011 by Betsy Eves Leave a Comment

Everyday I read dozens of blogs and in one of them I was linked to read Icing Designs. Right away I was hooked. Tons of great ideas for cakes, parties and even some cupcake stuff! [Read more...]

Filed Under: cupcake toppers, tips & tricks

Tips & Tricks: Valentine’s Day cupcake decorating ideas

February 3, 2011 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I’d do a round up of some of the love themed cupcakes I’ve made that would be perfect for your Valentine’s Day party! [Read more...]

Filed Under: decorating ideas, holiday, seasonal, tips & tricks, valentine's day

Cute kitties gone BAD & a few lessons learned

January 14, 2011 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

If my cats didn’t have their moments when they were so cute… if I didn’t feel guilty at the thought of getting rid of my cats… if one of them wasn’t a gift to my daughter for her birthday… [Read more...]

Filed Under: disasters, featured, fruit, strawberry, tips & tricks, white chocolate

A Collection of Homemade Baking Ingredients

November 29, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

With the Holiday Season in full swing, I’m sure you’ve got your baking lists ready and plenty of holiday cupcakes to bake! What better way to make your cupcakes then with a few homemade ingredients! [Read more...]

Filed Under: brown sugar, chocolate, tips & tricks, vanilla

Black Velvet Cupcakes + Pumpkin Tutorial

October 25, 2010 by Betsy Eves 9 Comments

It’s Halloween… so yeah, I’m making Black Velvet cupcakes. Are they any different from red velvet, white velvet or green velvet… not really, but they sure are spookier!! [Read more...]

Filed Under: cream cheese, holiday, seasonal, tips & tricks, top posts sidebar, velvet

Tacoma Harvest Fair

October 18, 2010 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

Yesterday was a big day for me. HUGE actually. I gave my very first cupcake decorating demo at the Tacoma Harvest Fair! [Read more...]

Filed Under: cupcake demos w/ javacupcake, events/meet ups, tips & tricks

Chocolate Trees

October 5, 2010 by Betsy Eves 3 Comments

I made cupcakes today (recipe tomorrow!) but wanted to test out the chocolate trees I’ll be using as a part of my “Cupcake Decorating 101” class at the Tacoma Harvest Fair. Here’s how they turned out!

I ran out of leaves, otherwise there’d be more on the green frosting like they were fallen leaves!

To learn how to make these trees… check out this tutorial by Crazy Delicious Food!

Filed Under: seasonal, tips & tricks

JavaCupcake at the Tacoma Harvest Fair

September 22, 2010 by Betsy Eves Leave a Comment

On Sunday, October 17 at 12:00pm (noon), Betsy of JavaCupcake, will be giving a “Cupcake Decorating 101″ demo at the Tacoma Harvest Fair! This will be my first public cupcake demonstration and I’m so super excited to be participating!!

This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! [Read more...]

Filed Under: cupcake demos w/ javacupcake, events/meet ups, featured, tips & tricks

Guest Blogger: Katherine Shares Her Secrets to Taking Amazing Cupcake Photos

April 15, 2010 by Betsy Eves Leave a Comment

Katherine Moore is a friend I met through the power of Twitter and social media. We realized quickly that we lived only a few miles from each other and had a lot in common… our husbands are both deployed and we both have a love for cupcakes! [Read more...]

Filed Under: featured, guest blogger, tips & tricks

Guidelines for Shipping to Deployed Service Members

April 1, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I was asked by my friend Carrie of Fields of Cake to put together a “How-To” for shipping goodies to deployed service members. [Read more...]

Filed Under: life, tips & tricks

Spring Cupcake Decorating Tutorial by Karen Tack (VIDEO)

March 28, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

Author of Hello, Cupcake and What’s New, Cupcake?, Karen Tack, teaches us how to simply, but beautifully decorate cupcakes for Spring and anytime! [Read more...]

Filed Under: guest blogger, perfect for spring, tips & tricks, video

Quick & Easy Cupcake Ice Cream Cones (VIDEO)

March 25, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

This super, easy video tutorial for Cupcake Ice Cream Cones is sure to please anyone! [Read more...]

Filed Under: tips & tricks, video

Substituting Whole Wheat for White Flour

March 19, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I’ve been adding whole grains to my diet more and more lately and wanted to incorporate it into my baking as well. But I wondered, is whole wheat flour an even substitute in most recipes? I set out on a quest to find out… and this is what I learned. [Read more...]

Filed Under: tips & tricks, whole wheat

Guest Blogger: “I Heart Cuppycakes” teaches us why our cupcakes separate from the liners

March 3, 2010 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

JavaCupcake Note: This is a guest blog post from Clara at I Heart Cuppycakes.
Be sure to check out her blog and follow her on Twitter! [Read more...]

Filed Under: guest blogger, tips & tricks

How to make Mint Buttercream (video)

February 28, 2010 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

While making cupcakes tonight, I decided to try out my new iPod Nano video and make a buttercream tutorial. It’s my very first video tutorial! The video is “How to make Mint Buttercream”! Enjoy [Read more...]

Filed Under: featured, tips & tricks, video

Buttercream roses & leaves

February 18, 2010 by Betsy Eves 3 Comments

I’ve been researching how to make buttercream roses for cupcakes I’ll be doing this spring. [Read more...]

Filed Under: buttercream, flowers, tips & tricks, video

Fondant Cupcake Decorations

February 17, 2010 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

I know these are holiday… but this technique can be used for any occasion! [Read more...]

Filed Under: tips & tricks

Tips & Tricks for Successful Cupcake Baking with Butter Based Recipes

February 15, 2010 by Betsy Eves 5 Comments

JavaCupcake note: This is a guest post from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. Check out all her amazing blog posts, cupcakes, and her super smart tips and tricks! [Read more...]

Filed Under: guest blogger, tips & tricks

What would you ask?

January 31, 2010 by Betsy Eves 28 Comments

If you could ask your favorite cupcake baker or cupcake bakery owner a question or two and get a 100% honest answer? What would you ask? [Read more...]

Filed Under: tips & tricks

4 Easy Steps to Filling a Pastry Bag

January 29, 2010 by Betsy Eves 2 Comments

Over the past year, I’ve learned a few tricks that make baking cupcakes a lot easier! This is a simple trick that makes filling a pastry bag with frosting so simple!

4 Easy Steps to Filling a Pastry Bag

Place your pastry bag, tip down, in a tall cup. Fold edges of the bag over the side of the cup. Using a spatula, scoop frosting into bag.
Using the spatula, push the frosting down into the bag, holding the cup for support. Use the spatula to wipe off extra frosting, creating a smooth top.
Fold up the sides of the pastry bag.
Take the bag out of the cup and with your hands push the frosting down to the tip of the bag, trying to not let any air in the bag. Twist the bag at the top of the frosting.

Filed Under: tips & tricks

Guest Blogger: How to fill cupcakes

January 18, 2010 by Betsy Eves 7 Comments

JavaCupcake Note: This is a re-post of a blog from Nicole at Baking Bites! I used this technique to make the White Velvet Raspberry filled cupcakes. Be sure to check out all the other delicious creations Baking Bites is Nicole is making on her blog! [Read more...]

Filed Under: guest blogger, tips & tricks

Frosting Spring Cupcakes Tutorial

March 19, 2009 by Betsy Eves 1 Comment

From the Culinary Institute of America.

Thanks to Cupcakes Take the Cake for sharing this video on their blog!

Filed Under: perfect for spring, tips & tricks

Buttercream Flowers

March 8, 2009 by Betsy Eves 7 Comments

I found this video on how to make buttercream flowers on your cupcakes. It’s super easy!!!

Filed Under: buttercream, flowers, tips & tricks, video

May 2013
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Apr
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Keep In Touch

Supplies

Technique

Supplies:

Prepare your work area:

Technique:

Storage:

Eyes, Nose, Mouth & Beak (by Tiny Kitchen Cakes)

Materials:

Steps:

Assembly (by JavaCupcake)

Elmo

Materials Needed

Assembly

Oscar the Grouch

Materials Needed

Assembly

Cookie Monster

Materials Needed

Assembly

Big Bird

Materials Needed

Assembly

JavaCupcake Note: This is a guest blog post from Clara at I Heart Cuppycakes. Be sure to check out her blog and follow her on Twitter! [Read more...]

JavaCupcake note: This is a guest post from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. Check out all her amazing blog posts, cupcakes, and her super smart tips and tricks! [Read more...]

About Me

HOT RIGHT NOW!

Get Caught Up

Sponsors

Search by Category

Featured On…

JavaCupcake Note: This is a guest blog post from Clara at I Heart Cuppycakes.
Be sure to check out her blog and follow her on Twitter! [Read more...]