Cupcake Decorating 101

 

The Sugar Shake

How-To:
Use sanding sugar, decorating sugar, granulated sugar or coconut right from the pantry. Place the sugar in a resealable bag or snap-shut plastic container. Add a few drops of food coloring (preferably neon food colors), snap or zip the container shut and shake to create vibrant colors for decorating cupcakes. Spread the tinted sugar on a sheet of waxed paper to dry, and you are ready to decorate your cupcakes.
 

Zip It

Convenience products like resealable bags make cupcaking so easy. Not only are they great to use in place of a piping bag, but you can also use them to get the batter in your cupcake liners without making a big mess.

How-To:
Use freezer-weight bags to be sure and keep the frosting in the bag and not all over you. Invert the bag over your hand, make a cup in the center of the bag and fill it with frosting. Pull the sides of the bag up over your hand and zip it shut. Snip a small corner from one corner of the bag, and you are ready to frost your cupcakes.

Be a Candy Detective

How-To:
Place the red or blue candies on top of a frosted cupcake, side by side, to give the effect of of cherry or blueberry fruit in a pie. Then, pipe a lattice top and give it a crusty edge with cocoa-tinted frosting from a resealable bag.
 

Copy Your Favorite Patterns

Study a pattern, and you are sure to find inspiration for decorating cupcakes. This is perfect for parties; everything from showers to sweet 16s and weddings. Find a fabric or paper pattern you love and then look closely to find the candy in the pattern. The real beauty comes when you use the same design for your napkins, tablecloths and centerpiece.
How-To:
Choose a pattern that reminds you of a candy shape or color. We chose a blue on brown pattern we knew would be fun to replicate in pale blue Sunny Seed Drops and pale blue frosting. Another pattern we chose looked just like M&M's on a background of cocoa-tinted frosting.
 

credits[1;cupcake photo] 

What are some of your favorite methods for cupcake/goodie decorating?