icing on the (cup)cake

For Leslie's (my best friend) bridal shower I knew exactly what kind of cake we would have...cupcakes!  Want to get on Leslie's good side?  Bring her sunflowers, cupcakes and her fiance!

I decided that rather than buy the cupcakes (they NEVER taste very good anyways) I would make them!  Thank you Betty Crocker for your assistance both with the cake and the frosting.  If you have the time, energy or want-to to make cupcakes from scratch then more power to you...this girl wasn't about to make that kind of mess!

After I made the cupcakes I decided to frost them a wee bit fancier than I normally would...and I made toppers that were pretty much the cutest stinkin' thing ever.

What you need:
Unfrosted Cupcakes
Frosting (I used white, because I added color to the frosting)
Icing Bag* (I used disposable ones!)
Icing Tip* of your choosing (I got a star tip...it had a bigger opening)
Sprinkles* (optional)
Food Coloring Gel* (optional)

*all of these items can be found in the baking isle at JoAnn's or Michael's.

What to do:

First, I whipped up a batch of the cupcakes.  I chose yellow cake mix.  I let them cool while I mixed up the frosting.

I put a TINY amount of yellow food coloring gel into the whole tub of frosting.  I took a butter knife and barely dipped it into the gel then stirred up the tub of frosting with the same knife.  I knew that I wouldn't get ALL of the frosting tinted...which, I was ok with because I knew the outcome would be pretty wonderful...and look like I did so much work to get it there!

Once the frosting was mixed up I got the icing bag ready.  I had to cut the end off my baggie so that my icing tip would fit into it.  Be sure to read the directions on your icing bag and icing tip.  You may need what are called couplings if you are using a smaller tip.  I then put the icing tip INSIDE the bag and pushed it down to the open end.  I did have to cut a wee bit more off, I underestimated that baby!

I then took a spatula and transferred the icing from the tub to the decorating bag (with tip attached).  I tried to get the icing as close to the tip as possible.  This is a messy job, especially for someone as clumsy as I am.  Plus, I was icing these cupcakes on Friday the 13th!  I mean, really?!

Once your icing is in your decorators bag, begin folding the top, open end of the bag down so that you are pushing all the icing to the tip.  To frost the cupcakes I simply made a swirl on the top of each cupcake then sprinkled some yellow sugar sprinkles on top!

I'm sorry that I do not have more pictures of the process...as I told you, it was Friday the 13th and EVERYTHING was going wrong!  Though, you're smart bloggies...you get the picture!

The toppers are pretty much the easiest thing to make and we got so many compliments on them.  Check back tomorrow to how I whipped up those puppies in no time flat!