Sunflower Cupcakes
We’ve been lucky to live near a few breathtaking sunflower fields and at the end of every summer, I make a point to visit at least once. Sunflowers are the epitome of happy and, like I mentioned yesterday, the world needs a little happy comfort right now.
So let’s pipe some SUNSHINE onto cupcakes today!
I challenged myself to something in particular this year: decorating cakes and cupcakes. Piping intricate designs has never been my forte, but I vowed to improve my skills (or lack thereof) in 2017. I started out easy with basic piping tips and you can read about how to use each of them in this post, along with a how-to video. I gravitate toward those 5 basic piping tips because they’re simple, inexpensive, and pipe beautiful designs. Back in April, we chatted about piping two-toned roses. In fact, that was April’s Baking Challenge recipe! Since then, I’ve really gotten my feet wet in cupcake and cake decorating.
What I’m trying to say is this: once I began playing around with different piping tips, my confidence immediately shot up. It all started with the courage to TRY. Once extremely intimidated by cake and cupcake decorating, I was pleasantly surprised with how EASY it was/is to create beautifully decorated confections. And I think you will be too!
Trust me, if I can pipe roses, swirls, and sunflowers– so can you.
Sunflowers, colored leaves and acorns are among my favorite cookies to make in the fall. The colors are stunning and that crisp fall air makes me happy from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. So I was thinking, if sunflower cookies can make me that happy how would sunflower cupcakes make me feel.
They made me feel pretty darn good and they’re a lot quicker to make than the cookie version. I have seen people make these by piping the gorgeous sunflower leaves and then adding brown icing to the center of the flower. Then they proceed to dip the flower into chocolate jimmies for that classic sunflower look but when I tried, I ended up with chocolate jimmies all over my petals. That’s not the look I was going for so I asked myself how would I decorate them if they were cookies. The answer is simple. A project like this calls for royal icing transfers. So how do you make a royal icing trasfers with buttercream frosting? It’s easy. Let me show you how.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
So let’s pipe some SUNSHINE onto cupcakes today!
I challenged myself to something in particular this year: decorating cakes and cupcakes. Piping intricate designs has never been my forte, but I vowed to improve my skills (or lack thereof) in 2017. I started out easy with basic piping tips and you can read about how to use each of them in this post, along with a how-to video. I gravitate toward those 5 basic piping tips because they’re simple, inexpensive, and pipe beautiful designs. Back in April, we chatted about piping two-toned roses. In fact, that was April’s Baking Challenge recipe! Since then, I’ve really gotten my feet wet in cupcake and cake decorating.
What I’m trying to say is this: once I began playing around with different piping tips, my confidence immediately shot up. It all started with the courage to TRY. Once extremely intimidated by cake and cupcake decorating, I was pleasantly surprised with how EASY it was/is to create beautifully decorated confections. And I think you will be too!
Trust me, if I can pipe roses, swirls, and sunflowers– so can you.
Sunflowers, colored leaves and acorns are among my favorite cookies to make in the fall. The colors are stunning and that crisp fall air makes me happy from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. So I was thinking, if sunflower cookies can make me that happy how would sunflower cupcakes make me feel.
They made me feel pretty darn good and they’re a lot quicker to make than the cookie version. I have seen people make these by piping the gorgeous sunflower leaves and then adding brown icing to the center of the flower. Then they proceed to dip the flower into chocolate jimmies for that classic sunflower look but when I tried, I ended up with chocolate jimmies all over my petals. That’s not the look I was going for so I asked myself how would I decorate them if they were cookies. The answer is simple. A project like this calls for royal icing transfers. So how do you make a royal icing trasfers with buttercream frosting? It’s easy. Let me show you how.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 box vanilla cake mix, plus ingredients called for on box
- 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 6 c. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- Pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 c. heavy cream
- Yellow food coloring
- 9 mini Oreos, cremes removed
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350° and line two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Prepare vanilla cake batter according to package instructions and divide between cupcake liners. Bake according to package instructions. Let cool completely.
- Meanwhile make buttercream: In a large bowl using a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined, then add vanilla, heavy cream, and salt and beat until combined.
- Divide buttercream into two separate bowls and using yellow food coloring, dye one bowl yellow. Add white buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes then top each with an Oreo half.
- Add yellow buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a small leaf tip. Starting slightly off the the edge of the Oreo, pipe petals around the Oreo. Move to the edge the Oreo and pipe a second layer of petals, slightly overlapping the first layer.
