CHRISTMAS TREE CUPCAKES
(recipe via What The Fruitcake?!)
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
Firm frosting
Green gel or paste colour
Piping bag
Large star tip
Tree "decorations" like dragees, sprinkles, edible glitter and stars
Frosting:
115g Unsalted Butter, room temperature (1/2 cup)
2 cups Powdered / Confectioners Sugar
2 Tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
METHOD
Make your own cupcakes from scratch or use a box version.
To make frosting:
- With an electric beater / stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth
- Sift in half the powdered sugar and mix until combined with the butter and it looks creamy
- Sift in remaining powdered sugar beat until thoroughly combined
- Beat in milk, vanilla and salt
- If colouring, add a small bit of colouring at a time until you reach desired shade
Fit the star tip to your piping bag (either with a coupler, or simply snip the end of the bag and drop the tip inside and push out the end until it fits snuggly)
Fill your piping bag with green frosting
Make sure all the frosting is pushed down near the end, then twist the top of the bag where you'll be holding and squeezing the bag
Tip: I find it best to be able to hold the cupcake still with one hand and squeeze the piping bag with one hand, so don't overfill the bag so that you have good control of it. Otherwise, if you're not yet confident enough to pipe with one hand, you can "stick" the cupcake down to your counter with a little bit of frosting to keep it from moving/twisting while you pipe
Pipe as you would a normal cupcake swirl, but not from the outer edge of the cupcake, about halfway in
Pipe the frosting round, then up and round on itself, about 4 or 5 swirls, piping the circles tighter as your near the top
Once piped, decorate and top with little gumpaste stars.
