A cupcake straight from the oven would be too plain to serve. Even those being served would consider it bland just by looking at it. But with the addition of a little color and decoration, it transforms into real eye candy and one can assume it is delicious without actually tasting it. Cupcake decoration is an easy and fun task to do. You can use as many shapes and designs on your cupcakes as you wish. When musing over what cupcake decorating ideas to use, consider the theme of the occasion. Are the cupcakes part of birthday celebrations, baby shower, Christmas or other holiday celebration? Or are you making them for the kids to enjoy during the lovely summer weather?
There are themes to go with each celebration so base your decoration ideas on that. For example, a summer rose would be an appropriate theme during the summer. For the kids, superman is great! Snowman, Santa Claus, elf shapes and fairies would make perfect Christmas cupcake decorations. A theme makes it easy to choose the shapes and colors to work with. You will use sugar icing to make your cake decorations. Follow the given sugar icing recipe carefully in order to get the consistency right. It should be creamy and not runny, in order to stick to the cake. Alternatively, you can buy pre-made sugar icing from department stores.
Equipment you will need to make your work perfect includes a frosting spatula, icing bags, icing tips, toothpicks and foil or greaseproof paper. A frosting spatula ensures that the icing is spread evenly. Buy icing tips of different shapes - stars, leaves, shells, roses, v-shaped, round-shaped ones and any other shapes you can find.
Shape the different decorations using the sugar icing mixture on the foil. This is where the icing tips come in handy. Petal shaped tips will help you shape the flower and bows; round ones will help you write letters and numbers. Let the decorations dry then paint on any additional details you want to feature in your decorations. Toothpicks work well for this. Your cupcake decorations are now ready to use!
Spread the icing or frosting on the cakes. You can also use pre-made fondant. This does not have to be in plain color. Add food coloring to give it some color before spreading it on the cupcakes. Then take your decorations and stick them onto the icing. They stick very well on butter cream icing. Now your cupcakes are ready to show off to your friends!
As you perfect the art of cake decoration, you can slowly incorporate more complex shapes, such as fondant flowers - daffodils, mushrooms and sunflowers among others. Some more cupcake decorating ideas you can try out include falling flowers where you shape a stalk and petal and place it on the cupcake top, so that the stalk lies on the icing and the petal falls to the side. Cover the top with more petals in different colors. You can also paint the faces and names of your guests on the cupcakes. Present each guest with the corresponding cupcake that has their name and face! They will feel special.
Knowledgeable contributing creator Anya loves giving her useful imaginative ideas regarding home baking. Not to mention her number one hidden-secret will be her location for obtaining cupcake decorations and Christmas Tree Decoration Cupcakes.