Valentine's Day Treat

This batch of cupcakes are my second that were sold at an event, this one a Valentine's Day bakesale. These sweet treats were an easy bake and I used my Wilton Color Swirl Kit (2 parts red, 1 part white) and Wilton tip # 2D. I used Valentine's Day conversation hearts for the top.

Toppings Used:

Buttercream Frosting
Valentine's Day conversation hearts
Wilton Color Swirl Kit

Birthday Cupcakes

Despite my birthday being in July, I decided to celebrate it at my school in January. Needless to say, I made cupcakes. I got a lot of baking equipment for Christmas, which I put to the test. For these cupcakes, I used the Wilton Color Swirl Kit, a tri-color frosting tip. I used the Wilton dyes Teal Blue, Purple, and a regular white.

For the piping, I used Wilton tip 2D (this might be one of my favorite tips). This tip is compatible with the Swirl Kit, and it worked very well. I also decorated the cupcakes with Wilton White Sugar Pearls.

This is the first set of cupcakes that I was actually pleased with the outcome.

Toppings Used:

Buttercream Frosting
Wilton Edible Pearls, White
Wilton Color Swirl Kit

Up on the Housetop

Christmas 2016 was a lot better then the previous one. I decided to do simple cupcake designs which turned out better than I thought. I simply used white buttercream, piped it with Wilton tip 2D, and then sprinkled red and green colored sugar on top.

Toppings Used:

Buttercream Frosting
Assorted Colored Sugar

Gobble 'till you Wobble

Thanksgiving 2016 could not be complete without one of my baking experiments. Every Thanksgiving I have family come over to my house. This year, my grandparents came down from New Hampshire to celebrate with us. The dessert this year was a Thanksgiving cake of my own creation.

To create this cake, I first made the leaves a few days beforehand. I used the "Skin tones" and "Neon Colors" Wilton fondant packages to create the colors of the leaves. I made the leaf shapes using leaf cutouts, then created the veins using a toothpick. I preserved the leaves in Tupperware containers and left them in a room temperature area of my house.

For the buttercream base, I heaped white frosting on the tops of the cake and then spread it to the edges using a butter knife (sorry to the professional bakers reading this). I repeated this process on the sides of the cake until it was fully covered.

I carefully placed the leaves around the edge of the cake, which hid many of my mistakes. I used a Wilton writing tip (tip # 4) to pipe the words.

Toppings Used:

Wilton Leaves Cut outs
Wilton Fondant, Skin Tones and Neon Colors
Buttercream Frosting

Arabian Nights...

These next set of cupcakes were my first cupcakes made for a professional event. My school was performing Aladdin and his Magic Lamp and they needed items for the concessions. I decided to bake something even though I was performing in the play (Aladdin's sister) and needed to focus on memorizing my lines.

To create these cupcakes, I first made the lamp decorations. I used regular, white-colored fondant and fashioned them into lamp shapes. I then used the Wilton Edible Gold Spray Paint to tint them gold. For the frosting, I colored the frosting a lavender purple, probably using a store brand frosting dye. I then frosted the cupcakes using a round tip (tip # unknown). Finally, for the purple glitter, I used Wilton Purple Sanding Sugar.

Toppings Used:

Buttercream Frosting
Wilton Fondant, White
Wilton Purple Sanding Sugar
Wilton Edible Gold Spray Paint

Easter Cupcakes & "It's A Boy!" Cupcakes

For Easter of 2016, my cupcakes were simple, with no fondant. I had many cupcakes to frost, and, as my second cousin was having a baby, I also decided to present them with a few specifically made ones. For these cupcakes, I used the Wilton 2D frosting tip to create a white, star-shaped background.

Then, using a small Wilton writing tip (tip # unknown), I used brown-colored buttercream to pipe a few thin, circular lines around 3-4 Hershey's candy eggs.

For the specialized "It's a Boy!" cupcakes, I used the same frosting techniques, but only put blue candy eggs in the nests. I did some star method piping with blue buttercream as well.

                                             

Toppings Used:

Buttercream Frosting
Hershey's Candy Eggs

Have a Holly, Jolly, Fondant Christmas

My second fondant masterpiece, needless to say, did not hit the target either. However, I did lay off the fondant and try my hand at decorating with frosting, which I am much better at. For this Christmas delight, I arranged twelve cupcakes in a circle and frosted them using a Wilton 1m type tip (because of inexperience, it is uncertain what tip I used) with the star method. I also made a bow and holly berries out of fondant.

Toppings Used:

Wilton Fondant, Assorted Colors
Buttercream Frosting