Cupcakes!

   I am fairly confident when I say that everybody loves cupcakes.  They're quick and simple and already portioned out, no cutting required!  I haven't had a whole lot of experience making them yet, but I'm getting better.  Although, come to think of it, you can't really mess up a cupcake.  You can really just blob icing on the top and cover it with sprinkles and you've got a festive little confection!  However, in order to achieve a fancier look, you don’t have to do too much!  All you need is a couple of decorator tips (a large star tip and a petal tip) and voila!  The top photo, is simply made with the large star (1M size) tip.  Fill your icing bag halfway full of your desired frosting.  In this case, I used a chocolate fudge buttercream.   Starting near the edge of the cupcake, make a single swirl around the rim.  Then, make a smaller circle in the center of it, creating concentric icing circles.  Top it off with another swirl.  Garnish with sprinkles and little candies.  The ones pictured above are made from royal icing, but you can certainly buy fun candies to adorn your cupcake!   The black and white ruffle cupcakes are made with alternating cream cheese frosting and chocolate fudge buttercream.  You can most certainly use anything you’d like, but since these were for Halloween, I liked the black and white contrast.  The ruffles were achieved using a number 104  petal tip.  With the narrow end pointing out, basically draw an “n” shape over and over until you’ve gone around the circumference of the cupcake.  Repeat, alternating colors on each row.  I usually get 7 or 8 rows of ruffles until I’m satisfied.