Chocolate Birthday Cake Cupcakes

These cupcakes are the best things in existence. They are fantastic, full of amazing chocolaty goodness, and perfect for any birthday celebration. They are the perfect complement to my Vanilla Birthday Cake Cupcakes and the frostings can totally be mix or match depending on the flavor combination you’d like.Personally I love anything and everything chocolate so these cupcakes were a dream! They are an over the top, perfect to celebrate my birthday cupcake. Typically I have issues with chocolate frosting being too grainy or not tasting chocolaty enough. But I’ve created a fantastic chocolate buttercream that really embraces the chocolate taste. This is my favorite chocolate frosting to date and would go perfectly with just about any cupcake.If you’re not familiar with my method of icing cupcakes I’ve put together a short tutorial for you.  You can find it here. These cupcakes really need no garnish, but to make them a little more fun I’ve sprinkled nonpareils over the top. This creates that perfect birthday look. [amd-yrecipe-recipe:61]

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Source: Cake adapted from: Kiss my Bundt –Chrysta Wilson

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Vanilla Birthday Cake Cupcakes

These cupcakes are a fantastic combination of vanilla and almond flavors. They are perfect for a birthday celebration or really any day of the week when you need an amazing vanilla pick me up. The cupcakes are light and fluffy and the icing is the perfect complement. These would be perfect for a kids party since they are super easy to make and quite yummy.I personally hate plain jane vanilla anything. I find it way too bland and just don’t enjoy it. I’ve come up with what I feel is a perfect combination of vanilla and almond. This give the vanilla cupcakes just enough “interesting” flavor to make it truly incredible.If you’re not familiar with my method of icing cupcakes I’ve put together a short tutorial for you.  You can find it here. These cupcakes really need no garnish, but to make them a little more fun I’ve sprinkles nonpareils over the top. This creates that perfect birthday look.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:60]

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Source: Cake adapted from Kiss my Bundt – Chrysta Wilson

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How To: Frosting Cupcakes

I had someone ask me the other day how I got my cupcakes to look so professionally frosted, so I though I’d do an entire post on it so you can learn too! There are of course different ways people do this but this is the easiest way I’ve found. You will need a few basic supplies to frost cupcakes this way.Supplies:Piping BagsFrosting TipsRubber Bands or Piping Bag Ties (optional)I prefer to use Wilton brand piping bags and piping tips. I’ve tried a couple of different brands and I just feel the Wilton tips hold up better than some of the off brand/other brands I’ve tried. You can of course use whatever brand of tips and piping bags you want though. I personally use disposable piping bags. I’ve tried using the reusable ones, but I find them hard to clean adequately and they don’t last forever. I normally purchase the 24 pack from Michaels and this gives me several months of piping bags.If you have problems with icing coming out of the top of the piping bag when you are working you can use a rubber band or piping bag tie to close the top. This is completely optional. I personally don’t use one because I don’t mind if my hands get dirty while piping. However this is completely up to you and what you prefer.There are four basic piping tips I use. I find these give my cupcakes the most professional look and feel. These tips are (in order L to R) 4B, 2D, 1M and 1A. They are all Wilton brand icing tips. These tips are the large variety so you do not need to use couplers with them. My personal favorites, and the ones I most often use are the 1M and 1A. The 1M give the professional swirl look and the 1A give the beehive look. I actually have two 1M tips, one that is normal and then one that I’ve opened the tines on. This give the same basic look but you can pipe chunkier frostings through it without problems. The opened top is the best for things like my Ginger Orange frosting since it contains pecan chunks.Frosting the top of the cupcakes is very easy. You simply use a swirling motion while squeezing frosting out of the bag onto the top of the cupcake. This will take some practice before you become really good at it. If you want a small amount of frosting you can simply hold the piping bag in place while squeezing out the desired amount of frosting. With either of these frosting techniques you need to make sure the frosting is centered on the cupcake. The stiffer the frosting the better it will hold up to using a pronged icing tip. If you have a very thin frosting you probably want to use the 1A and do a circle of frosting on top.Happy Frosting!