Halloween Cupcake Decorating
Oct 5, 2009 Tips and Tricks
This weekend Brian and I got to spend a lot of time with my favorite kid. My sister went out of town for a wedding this weekend which allowed Brian and I to stay with my niece, Toni, at her house and watch movies, paint, and play games all we wanted. I watched three movies that I had never seen before that Toni likes a lot, and I laughed a lot at all three of them. We watched Monsters vs Aliens, Bolt, and Madagascar 2. It was really fun. When I got home today I looked at my arms and I realized that there were traces of paint and icing lingering from the day, and in places it was hard to tell which was which. After a shower and eating a piece of cake, I am now sitting on my couch in a sweater (it’s getting cold outside) and playing with pictures and writing. It’s been a good weekend.
I was in the mood to bake something today, so I was glad that Toni wanted to make some Halloween cupcakes. She chose the box of cake mix and said that she wanted orange frosting and black icing. Absolutely nothing we did today was home made, but it was all extremely fun and easy, which was totally perfect for her attention span and my energy level. As Toni and I mixed together the cake mix, baked it, and iced the cupcakes, Brian was actually baking a real cake, home made, using crazy ingredients like brewed coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and chocolate stout… but more on that later this week. I was just impressed that he had enough energy to make something real. Toni and I had enough energy to put drops of food coloring into a can of frosting. I’d say that is pretty good … right? (Notice the open Bon Appetit and ingredients out… those are Brian’s. You’re allowed to get excited about his cake. I sure was.)
As we decorated the cupcakes, Toni would tell me what to do with the black icing… “make a spider web!” .. “make a cat!”.. “make dots!” … and then she would sprinkle them with different colored sugar sprinkles. I liked the green ones the best. The weird face cupcake was supposed to be a jack-o-lantern but it really just turned out looking like a scary robot or something.
The spider web was fun to do, and I knew how to make one because of a Martha Stewart magazine I read a while back that told how to make spider web cupcakes. Basically all you do is draw a spiral with the icing, and then take a toothpick and run it across the cupcake starting in the center, making lines all the way around through the lines of the spiral. Ours didn’t look exactly like Martha’s did in her magazine, but they definitely scream spider web which is what we were going for. I didn’t do as well with cats or spiders, but I think my polka dots were pretty spot-on… (pun intended)
Really what today did was make me realize just how much I want some real decorating tools. Notice the store-bought icing with built-in tips… not very fun or easy to use. I figure if I say I need them a few more times before the year is over that I must actually need them and not only want them. If I continue to bake frequently enough that I need them then I’ll probably actually go out and get some. For now, I’ll survive without them.
I hope everyone has a great week. I am getting really tired so I’m off to bed. I’m sure my dreams will probably be in orange in black tonight.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
These are super cute
I feel inspired now to make Haloween treats!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Thanks Katie! They were fun to make. I highly recommend it.