Piped Flower Cupcakes Food

FLORAL CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan-assistant. Line 1-2 muffin tins with 15 muffin cases.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave (check on it every 10 seconds if using the microwave) and let it cool a little.
• Transfer the melted butter to a bowl and add the yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined.
• Sift the flour, sugar, ground almond and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the zest. Stir to combine them and make a well in the centre.
• Pour in the wet ingredients into the centre of the dry ingredients. Mix well until lump-free.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases. Each case should not be more than 2/3 full.
• Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Start by beating the butter in your mixer (I used my Smeg) until it's fluffy (about 5 minutes, starting with lower power). Then add half the icing sugar and combine well, and then add the rest of the sugar and combine well again. If the mixture becomes too thick, you can add 1-2 tBsp of milk to loosen it.
• Divide the buttercream into bowls and add the colours of your choice to each bowl. I like to start by adding just a couple drops and building up from there so my colours don't get too crazy. Mix the colours well into the buttercream.
• Place each colour of buttercream into a piping bag, twisted at the top, with a nozzle of your choice. You are ready to pipe now!
• Onto each cupcake, you can pipe simple rosette shapes or more complicated flower designs depending on your nozzles.

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:

• Starting at edge of an unfrosted cupcake, pipe 3 to 4 circles of petals with buttercream, working inward and overlapping, leaving center empty. Fill center with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.

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.

PIPED SHELLS AND PEARLS CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cupcakes to make level. Add 1 drop gel-paste food coloring to 3 cups buttercream. Stir well to combine. Add more food coloring, a drop at a time, stirring constantly, until desired color is reached. Transfer remaining buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a coupler. Frost tops of cupcakes with yellow buttercream in a smooth layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until set.
• Make the shells: Fit the pastry bag with drop-flower tip. Holding bag at a 45-degree angle, with tip about 1/4 inch from center of cupcake, squeeze out frosting, lifting tip slightly, then pulling bag toward you. Stop squeezing to end in a pointed tip, stopping short of edge. Continue piping, touching each shell slightly to the next, and rotating cupcake as each is piped.
• Make the pearls: Switch to a small plain tip, and pipe a series of pearls (or dots) in a U shape. Starting at tip of 1 shell, work out toward edge of cupcake and end at tip of next shell. Repeat until all shells are linked with pearls. Repeat with remaining cupcakes and buttercream. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.