Piped Flower Cupcakes Recipes

THE BEST STIFF BUTTERCREAM FROSTING FOR CAKE DECORATING PIPPING BUTTERCREAM FLOWERS

Steps:

• Have all ingredients at room temperature.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter until creamy - about 30 seconds.Pro tip - unlike my other buttercreams in this one you want to avoid incorporating too much air, otherwise you will have air pockets when piping.
• Then, add the whipping cream, salt, and pudding mix - combine well but don't over mix. Scarp the sides and bottom of the bowl for any butter that may have got stuck.Pro tip - make sure you have no lumps - if necessary add a bit of the powdered sugar to help it combine.
• Next, add the powdered sugar in two batches. Again combine well but don't over mix. Pro tip - the mixture will look dense now but do not add any more liquid yet.
• Once all the sugar is in, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again. Add the vanilla extract and almond extract
• Then, whip for 2 full minutes - check to make sure it's not too stiff and not too gritty. If necessary add 1 or 2 tbsp whipping cream or milk to adjust consistency. Mix some more if necessaryPro tip - while we do not want to make this too light and airy we still want to ensure it's delicious and not gritty.
• The total mixing time for this buttercream should not be more than 5 minutes. Pro tip - If you find that you have over whipped the buttercream. Stir it with a flat silicone spatula using a spreading motion. This will break some of the air pockets
• You can divide the buttercream into the number of colors required. Take note that colors will also affect the consistency of your buttercream.Pro tip - always use gel food colors, not water-based colors as it will make the buttercream too soft to pipe or spread. If water-based colors are all you have, omit liquid in the recipe so you start with a stiffer buttercream consistency.

PIPED-ROSE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Starting with 1 drop at a time, add gel-paste food coloring to buttercream. Stir well to combine. Add more food coloring, stirring constantly, until desired color is reached. Dab buttercream on top of pastry nail, and press a 2-inch square of parchment on top. Reserve half the buttercream for frosting tops of cupcakes. Fit pastry bag with coupler, and fill with remaining buttercream. Place tip of coupler in center of parchment square, squeeze pastry bag gently, and pull up slowly to make an acorn-shaped mound (this is the bud).
• Fit pastry bag with petal tip. (You can anchor the nail in Styrofoam or a potato with a flat-cut bottom.) Hold tip against the point of the bud, wide end down and narrow end angled in toward center. While turning the nail slowly, pipe a wide, tight strip, enrobing the top of the bud. Turning the nail as you go, pipe 2 arched petals that each reach around half of the bud. Continue turning the nail and piping, making longer, overlapping petals and angling further outward as you go, until you reach the bottom of the rose. Gently slide parchment with rose onto a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, at least 20 minutes (or up to 2 days). Repeat to make more roses.
• Frost tops of cupcakes with buttercream. Using a small offset spatula, gently place a rose on top of each cupcake, discarding parchment.

SUNFLOWER CUPCAKES

Steps:

• With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy - about 2 minutes. Add 5 cups confectioners' sugar, the heavy cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add another Tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. (I like 1/8 tsp salt.)
• Spoon 3/4 cup of frosting into a separate bowl. Stir in green food coloring. This will be for the leaves.
• Tint the remaining frosting with yellow and orange food coloring to obtain desired sunflower color. See my note below for what I used.
• Fill piping bag with leaf tip + yellow frosting. If you have a second leaf tip, fill a 2nd bag with leaf tip + green frosting.
• Pipe or spread a circle of frosting in the center of the cupcake. My cupcake centers are about 1.25 inches in diameter. Dip into chocolate sprinkles.
• See video above for a visual of this step. (It's hard to explain perfectly!) Start on the outer edge of the cupcake. Pipe yellow petals all the way around, lifting the piping tip in an upwards direction. Pipe a second layer closer to the center/on top of the first layer. Pipe a third layer of petals right against the center of the sunflower. Pipe any additional petals to fill any gaps, then pipe a couple green leafs on the edges.
• Refrigerate cupcakes until ready to serve. Cupcakes are fine at room temperature for a few hours, as long as they have been refrigerated for a couple hours after frosting/assembling. (The time in the refrigerator helps the petals hold their shape before serving.)
• Cover leftover cupcakes and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

CUPCAKES WITH PIPED FLOWERS

Steps:

• To make the cupcakes:
• Preheat the oven to 350degreesF with a rack in the center of the oven. Line muffin tins with 16 "Texas" liners or 24 regular cupcake liners.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
• Combine the melted butter with the sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla, mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
• Add a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix to combine on low speed. Add half of the buttermilk and mix to combine. Repeat with another third of the flour and the rest of the buttermilk, ending with the last third of flour, mixing after each addition. Mix the cake batter on medium-low speed for 1 minute.
• Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, not filling more than half way. You may end up having to fill a few more cupcake liners, but don't overfill.
• Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before decorating.
• To make the Frosting:
• Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar until perfectly smooth. Add the cream one tablespoon at a time until it is nice and creamy, but still holds its shape. Cover tightly if you don't use it immediately or it will develop a crisp crust.
• You can use it white or tint the frosting with food coloring. I usually divide the frosting into a few bowls and color each a different color. Cover the frosting when not using.
• To decorate your cupcakes with roses:
• Using a disposable pastry bag, fitted with a large rose tip (Ateco #128) and an extra large rose nail (Ateco #914) you can create these large colorful roses.
• Start by lining up the narrow end of the rose tip with the seam of the pastry bag. Place a thin line of the food coloring along the seam of the bag, that leads to the narrow end of the tip. Fill the bag half way with the frosting.
• Once your pastry bag is set up with frosting you will create a mound of frosting on the rose nail. This will be the base of your rose. If the mound is too small your rose will tip over as you are piping it. Making it nice and broad along the bottom is key.
• Hold the bag at a 45degrees angle, wide end of the tip touching the mound you just created, near its top. The narrow end of the tube should be nearly straight up and pointing toward the center of the nail.
• Squeeze out a ribbon of frosting and turn the nail, holding it between your thumb and forefinger, counter clockwise; swing the rose tip up, around the top of the mound and back down to the starting point. This creates the rose bud.
• Now make the first row of 3 petals. Hold the tip so the wide end is touching the mound about half way up, starting right where the bud finished off. Tilt the narrow end of the tip slightly away from the center. Squeeze out the frosting, turning the nail counterclockwise and move the tip up (increase the pressure) and then down (decreasing the pressure) in an arch. Form all three petals in this way, starting each one where the last petal finished.
• Pipe a second row of 5 petals, under the row you just finished. Tilt the tip out even more with this row so the petals appear to be opening up. Overlap the petals to hide any openings between them.
• You can stop at this point or continue on with a third row of 7 petals.
• It may take you a few roses to get the hang of it, but then it will go together very fast. Once you are happy with the size and shape of your rose, take a pair of kitchen shears and cut the base of the rose off of the nail. You will want to cut only part way through, so you can lift up the rose on the blades of the shears. Then place the rose on the cooled cupcake. You can pipe leaves at the base of the rose with a leaf tip.

PIPED FLOWER CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Using a pastry bag fitted with a small petal tip (#104), pipe plain or tinted buttercream petals: Keeping the wide edge of the tip in the center of the cupcake, pipe a petal by making a half-moon motion with the outer, thinner edge of the tip. Repeat until you have five or six slightly overlapping petals that cover the top of the cupcake. Place a round colored candy, such as a pastel lentil, M&M, or Skittle, in the center of the flower. Repeat to decorate remaining cupcakes. Refrigerate 30 minutes to allow frosting to set.