Patriotic Cupcakes

In case you missed it, I did a guest post for Lucy Baby Designs a few days ago.

I did a little photo tutorial to show you guys how to make some fun, easy, patriotic cupcakes — a perfect addition to your Fourth of July cookout.  To get started, you’ll need to gather a few tools.

From left to right, I have scissors, a pastry bag, tip 1M, two paint brushes (used only for cakes), a drinking glass, red and blue icing color paste, icing, a cupcake, and an angled spatula.  If you don’t have any paint brushes dedicated to food projects, you could use a butter knife and get the same result.  I think you’ll be amazed at how easy this is, so here we go.

Cut the end off your bag and drop in the tip.

Next, you’ll want to “stripe” your pastry bag.  It might sound a bit intimidating, but trust me, it’s super easy.  Just get a bit of icing color on your brush (or butter knife) and paint a line down the inside of the bag.  I like to start at the tip and work my way out.

Now you’re ready to fill your pastry bag.  When I fill my bags, I like to use what I call, the glass trick (if you’re not sure what that is, take a peek at this video).

When you’re filling the bag, be careful not to mix the colors or smash them together.

Now we’re ready to pipe the icing onto the cupcake.  Starting at the outer edge, pipe a circle of icing and finish in the center to create a star effect.

That’s all there is to it! I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday this week.