I can’t tell you how many requests I’ve gotten for a cupcake version of my S’mores Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream. It’s one of my all-time favorite recipes (s’mores fan to the core, here!) and there are so many amazing flavors going on in it: graham cracker cake, decadent chocolate, toasted marshmallow buttercream. I had to get a little creative to capture the magic of these flavors in cupcake form, and I am so happy with how they turned out. Behold!

These S’mores Cupcakes have a lot going on, but every step is totally worth the amazing flavor. It all starts with a graham cracker flavored cupcake baked on top of a graham cracker crust (my husband’s idea, and it is so genius). You basically mix up a quick graham cracker crust and press a spoonful of it into the bottom of the cupcake tin before adding the cupcake batter on top. Although the cupcake batter is already flavored with graham cracker crumbs, the crust adds the perfect amount of texture and really takes the graham cracker flavor to the next level! 

After those tasty graham cracker cupcakes cooled, I filled them with marshmallow fluff and frosted them with my favorite chocolate buttercream. And since one thing I really loved about the S’mores Cake I made last year was the piped and toasted meringue, I decided to use that same technique to top these cupcakes! The marshmallow meringue recipe below is the perfect piping consistency, and toasting it is my favorite part of the whole recipe. 

If you don’t feel like going the extra mile to make marshmallow meringue, you can totally top these with a regular ol’ marshmallow and toast it with a culinary torch. The marshmallow meringue is so pretty and tasty, but it is the only thing in this recipe that can’t be made ahead of time. That being said, if you do decide to spend that extra 10 minutes making the meringue (worth it!), make sure you whip it up right before you’re gonna pipe it on. After you toast it, the meringue holds its shape for two days, whether it’s at room temp or refrigerated. 

Whether you’re a hardcore s’mores fan or you’re making these for someone else who is, they are sure to please. Between the gooey marshmallow, the graham cracker cupcake, and the perfect hit of chocolate, these beauties are a little bit of s’mores heaven. Enjoy!

Print

Toasted S’mores Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Cupcakes filled with Marshmallow Fluff, topped with Chocolate Buttercream and Toasted Marshmallow Meringue – the perfect S'mores Cupcakes!

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 17 minutes

Servings 14 cupcakes

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1/2 Cup (52g) graham crackers, ground into crumbs
• 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Graham Cracker Cupcakes

• 1/2 Cup (52g) graham crackers, ground into crumbs
• 1 1/4 Cups (133g) cake flour, sifted before measuring
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 Cup (71g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 Cup (137g) granulated white sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature

Marshmallow Filling

• 1/3 Cup Marshmallow Fluff

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 Cups (180g) powdered sugar
• 1/4 Cup (21g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Marshmallow Meringue Topping

• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 Cup (150g) granulated white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Make The Graham Cracker Crust

• In a small bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar. Add the melted butter and mix until well incorporated.

Make The Graham Cracker Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line a muffin pan or cupcake pan with liners. Press a spoonful of the Graham Cracker Crust into the bottom of each cupcake liner.
• In a medium sized bowl, add the graham cracker crumbs, sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter for one minute on high. Scrape down the bowl and paddle and add the sugar. Cream together on high for two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle once in between. Turn the mixer to low and add the egg and egg yolk until combined.
• Add vanilla and mix on medium for one minute. Turn the mixer to low and add all of the dry ingredients at once until just combined, then add the milk all at once. Scrape down the bowl and paddle once more and mix on low for about 30 seconds. Do not overmix.  
• Pour batter on top of the graham cracker crust bottomed liners to fill no more than ⅔ full. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before filling or frosting.

Make The Chocolate Buttercream

• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip butter on medium speed until creamy and light in color, about four minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle and turn the mixer to low, then add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, salt, and vanilla extract. Increase the speed to medium and beat for one full minute.

Make The Marshmallow Meringue

• Whisk the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar together in a small heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with an inch or two of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water (or else it will cook your eggs!). Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved, about 4 minutes.
• Once the sugar has dissolved, pour the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla and whisk the mixture on high for 6 full minutes, until stiff peaks form. You should be able to dip the whisk into the meringue and it forms a peak that maintains its shape when turned right side up and upside down.

Assembly

• Once the Graham Cracker Cupcakes are cooled, cut out the centers using a knife or inverted large piping tip. Fill the empty centers with Marshmallow Fluff. Fit a piping bag with Wilton tip 1M and fill it with Chocolate Buttercream, then pipe a swirl of chocolate buttercream on top of each cupcake. Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs.
• To get the look pictured, fit one piping bag with Wilton Tip 1M and another with Wilton Tip 4B. Fill both piping bags with Marshmallow Meringue. Pipe a small swirl with Wilton Tip 1M on top of each cupcake, then pipe two stars next to each small meringue swirl with Wilton Tip 4B. Toast the meringue accents (carefully!) with a culinary torch.

Notes

Make Ahead Tips:

The Graham Cracker Cupcakes can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one day. Alternatively, you can place them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to one month before thawing and using. 

The Chocolate Buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day. Alternatively, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and rewhip with your stand mixer to bring back to frosting consistency. 

The Marshmallow Meringue cannot be made ahead and must be made right before you’re ready to pipe and torch it. 

Did you make these cupcakes? I want to know how it went! Let me know in the comments below and be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram. I love to see what you’re caking!

The post Toasted S’mores Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

You can feel free to make just one of these designs, but the variety of textures and colors look so great together that it’s worth making all three designs! The full tutorial is over on The Cake Blog, so be sure to head over there for all the details. In the meantime, here are some pretty shots of these Christmas wreath cupcakes to inspire you:

These Christmas Wreath Cupcakes are guaranteed to add some merriment to your Holiday dessert table. Head over to The Cake Blog to learn how to make them, then be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco and @thecakeblog to show us your wreath designs. Merry Christmas to you all and hope you’re having so much fun with your Holiday bakes this year!

The post Festive Christmas Wreath Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Starting today, I’m hosting a Goodie Girl Cookie giveaway on my Instagram page to give you a chance to have the best mail day you’ve had in a long time (or maybe ever)! TWO lucky winners will receive a variety of Goodie Girl cookies, a Goodie Girl tote, a fun T-shirt, coupons for even more sweet treats, and a $50 Amazon gift card. All the details are on this Instagram post, so head on over there to learn more! 

Besides the vibrant packaging and tempting flavors, what makes Goodie Girl Cookies so special is that they’re 100% Gluten Free, peanut free, and made from all-natural ingredients. The thing that surprised me the most about them is that if I hadn’t known they were gluten free, I wouldn’t have thought they were. The flavors are so on point and I can’t recommend them enough whether you’re eating gluten free or not!

I got the chance to whip up some fun cupcakes inspired by a handful of my favorite Goodie Girl Cookie flavors to celebrate how delicious they are. The flavors I chose are ones available in their cute little Snack Paks, but they’ve got tons of tasty flavors available in even bigger boxes. Be sure to check them out!

Birthday Cake 

This is the flavor I was most excited to try, and it totally lived up to the hype! They’re all-natural vanilla wafer cookies with a funfetti vanilla creme filling in the middle. There’s something about funfetti filling that’s just downright magical.

These Birthday Cake Cookies are perfect for a topping funfetti cupcakes with vanilla buttercream (tinted pink for good measure). I finished off the look with some pretty sprinkles and a birthday candle for extra fun.

Fudge Striped

I grew up on Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies, so I was really looking forward to trying Goodie Girl’s version. They’re buttery little cookies, dipped in and drizzled with chocolate fudge. I ended up eating way too many of these (still can’t stop), because the flavor is amazing! I think they’re my favorite of the bunch.

These Fudge Striped cookies are all you need as cupcake toppers (they’re so cute!), but I drizzled some chocolate ganache on top to really enhance those stripes. 

Mint Cookies

If you’re into the Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (who isn’t?), these Mint Cookies are going to rock your world! They’re Goodie Girl’s top seller for good reason – a delicious chocolate mint wafer covered in chocolate fudge perfection. I honestly can’t believe they’re gluten free.

I used some mint frosting (tinted mint green) to top these cupcakes before adding a whole Mint Cookie, then crushed up a few to sprinkle as a finishing touch. I couldn’t resist adding a little mint leaf, handpicked from my garden (don’t be too impressed, it’s the only thing that’s growing back there). 

Chocolate Creme

A tasty chocolate wafer cookie with soft vanilla creme filling, reminiscent of an Oreo and honestly just as good. My husband has been loving these ones all week!

I love a good cookies and creme anything, so I crushed up some of the chocolate wafers and added them to vanilla buttercream before piping it onto these cupcakes (so yummy). Then, I added a Chocolate Creme cookie and sprinkled some crumbs on top. 

Vanilla Creme

An all natural vanilla wafer cookie sandwiching a soft vanilla creme filling. It’s perfect for any vanilla lover and has such a great texture contrast between the crunchy wafer and the smooth creme filling.

I snapped this one in half to top these vanilla cupcakes, then crushed the other half into cookie crumbs that I sprinkled over the whole thing. 

Chocolate Chunk 

These mini chocolate chip cookies have the perfect amount of crunch. I was so surprised to learn that one serving of these Chocolate Chunk cookies contains less than ⅓ of the sugar as one cup of regular low-fat vanilla yogurt! It made me feel even better about eating so many of these ones!

Inspired by these chocolate chip cuties, I topped each vanilla cupcake with a whole Chocolate Chunk cookie and a good sprinkling of mini chocolate chips. 

Are you drooling yet? Cause I am! Be sure to head to Goodie Girl’s online shop to see even more of the flavors they offer. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway on my Instagram by Wednesday, November 6th at 11:59PM PST for your chance to win a big box of Goodie Girl fun!

Disclaimer: I was compensated by Goodie Girl Cookies for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Goodie Girl Cookie Cupcakes + Giveaway! appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This Dia De Los Muertos mix is ideal for adding to Day of the Dead themed cupcakes or cakes. The color scheme is perfectly vibrant, and my favorite part is that the mix comes with plenty of those cute little sugar skulls. I want a whole bottle of those cuties just to stare at them! Just look at how fun these sprinkles are:

Although these sprinkles are outstanding on their own, I decided to make some spiderweb cake toppers using piped Wilton Candy Melts. The spiderwebs are so easy to make and the best part is that they’re fully dry and ready to use in about ten minutes. After topping the cupcakes with an edible spiderweb and sprinkling with the Dia De Los Muertos mix, these cupcakes have the perfect balance of pretty and scary.

I made a quick video of the process so you can see the techniques it takes to get the look. From the Candy Melt spiderweb toppers to piping and sprinkling the cupcakes, here are all the visual details before you read about them below:

PS: If you love watching videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube Channel! I post cake decorating videos and recipes there quite often, so be sure to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss a thing.

You Will Need:

• Wilton Candy Melts in White
• Piping bags
• Wilton Tip 3
• Wax paper
• Baking sheet
• 12-15 baked cupcakes
• One batch of vanilla buttercream
• Black, purple, and orange food color gels
• Wilton Tip 1M (x3)
• 4 oz bottle of Dia De Los Muertos sprinkles

Step 1: Make The Candy Melt Spiderwebs

Spread a sheet of wax paper onto a baking sheet. Then, melt your Wilton Candy Melts in the microwave according to the package instructions. Alternatively, you can use white chocolate chips for this part, but I love the Candy Melts because they’re a much brighter white than white chocolate chips, which tend to be a bit yellow. 

Add the melted Candy Melt mixture to a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 3, then pipe spider web designs onto the wax paper.

At this point, you can let them air dry or speed up the process by popping the baking sheet into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. When they’re completely dry to the touch, remove the wax paper backing from each spiderweb.

Step 2: Prepare The Buttercream

Divide the buttercream into three separate bowls for color mixing. Add black food coloring to the first bowl, purple food coloring to the second bowl, and orange food coloring to the third bowl. Mix until you have the desired shades for your buttercream color palette.

When you’ve got the perfect colors, add each color to a separate piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 1M. 

Step 3: Pipe The Cupcakes

Using each of the piping bags, pipe swirls onto each cupcake starting on the outer edge of the cupcake and spiraling the buttercream toward the center.

When you’re finished, all of your buttercream colors should be represented equally amongst the cupcakes. 

Step 4: Top The Cupcakes

Top each cupcake with a white chocolate spiderweb and sprinkle the Dia De Los Muertos mix generously. Make sure that each cupcake gets at least one sugar skull, because they’re the cutest!

And there you have it – an easy way to create Halloween or Day of the Dead themed cupcakes with the prettiest spooky sprinkles around.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by SprinklePop for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Dia De Los Muertos Spiderweb Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The first time I tried this cactus cupcake design, I shaped the base of each cactus with a big hunk of fondant, then covered it with buttercream piping to add detail. While it looked great, I realized how terrible it is to bite into the cactus and end up with a mouth full of fondant. No thank you! Since then I decided that creating a cake ball base (a mix of cupcake crumbs and buttercream) is much more tasty, sturdy, and easy to mold into cactus shapes.

The Cactus Flower mix is the perfect color scheme to pair with these pretty green cacti. It’s basically all the colors you’d find in a lush succulent garden and adds so much pretty texture to these cupcakes. If you’re wanting to recreate the look with this sprinkle mix, don’t forget to use my code SUGARANDSPARROW15 at checkout to get 15% off your SprinklePop order. I don’t get any kickback from that code, it’s just a little something special for you. You’re welcome!

Before you get started with the tutorial below, here’s a quick video of the process I whipped up for you visual learners:

You Will Need

• 18 baked cupcakes (12 for decorating and 6 chopped into bits)
• 1 batch of vanilla buttercream
• Green food color gel
• Purple food color gel
• Bowls and spoons for mixing
• Baking sheet
• Wax paper
• 4 oz bottle of Cactus Flower sprinkles
• Small icing spatula
• Piping Bags  
• Wilton Tips 4B, 352, 3, and 109 (or any drop flower tip)

Step 1: Prep The Materials

Before you get started, it’s best to get all your materials prepped and ready to go. Divide your buttercream into three different bowls: add about ¼ cup of the buttercream to a small bowl and keep it uncolored and add another ¼ cup of buttercream into another small bowl and color it with purple buttercream. Divide the rest of the buttercream into two separate bowls and color one a darker shade of green and one a lighter shade of green. I used different amounts of Americolor Forest Green for these two shades.

Next, pour the Cactus Flower sprinkles into a small bowl, then chop up six of the baked cupcakes into smaller bits and add them to a medium sized bowl.

Step 2: Make The Cake/Buttercream Mixture

Add about ¼ cup of either of the green buttercreams to the bowl of chopped up cupcake bits. Then, use a rubber spatula or spoon to mix it all together until it’s uniform in consistency.

When you’re finished mixing, the result should be moldable when you try to shape it with your hands. If it’s not sticking together enough, just add a little bit more buttercream until it’s easy to mold with your hands.   

Step 3: Create The Cactus Shapes

There are two different styles I love when it comes to cactus cupcakes. The first is a traditional elongated shape and the other is more spherical. Before you start shaping, fit a piece of wax paper onto a baking sheet. Then, roll a little bit of the cake/buttercream mixture into 1 inch spheres using your hands and place them one by one onto the baking sheet. You’ll want to make 6 of these.

To make the elongated shape, roll the cake/buttercream mixture between your hands to make more of a rod shape. They should each be about 1.5-2 inches tall and about an inch wide. Place them one by one onto the baking sheet until you have 6 of them.

When you’re finished making your cactus shapes, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to let them firm up for about 20 minutes. They’ll be much easier to work with that way!

Step 4: Create The Sprinkled Cupcake Surface

Using the bottom of one of your piping tips, create a small cutout in the center of each cupcake to give the cactus shapes a nice foundation to sit on later.

Use a small icing spatula to frost the surface of the cupcake, excluding the small hole you created.

Then, dip the surface of the cupcakes into the Cactus Flower sprinkles. Repeat until you have all of the cupcake surfaces covered in sprinkles.

Step 5: Decorate The Spherical Cacti

For the spherical cacti, add the refrigerated cake/buttercream balls to 6 of the cupcakes.

Prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 4B and filling it with the lighter green buttercream. Cover the surface of each spherical cactus in open stars.

Next, prepare a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 109 (or any drop flower tip) and fill it with purple buttercream. Pipe a drop flower onto the top of each one.

Continue decorating with spherical sprinkles from the Cactus Flower mix wherever you’d like.

Step 6: Decorate The Elongated Cacti

For the elongated cacti, add the refrigerated cake/buttercream rods to 6 of the cupcakes. Prepare a piping bag by fitting it with Wilton Tip 352 and filling it with the darker green buttercream. Then, pipe a series of vertical lines around the surface of the rods.

Use the purple buttercream bag to pipe a drop flower on top of each of the cacti. Then, prepare a piping bag fitted with Wilton tip 3 and fill it with the remaining white (uncolored) buttercream. Pipe a series of dots onto every other line on the cactus. These are meant to look like the spines of a cactus.

Use your lighter green buttercream to pipe a couple open stars next to the elongated cacti, then continue decorating with spherical sprinkled from the Cactus Flower mix wherever you’d like.

Aren’t these sprinkled cactus cupcakes the cutest thing? They’re perfect for any Summer gathering and are sure to impress.

If you’re inspired to make these sprinkled cactus cupcakes, be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram so I can see! I love seeing what you create.

The post Sprinkled Cactus Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

So cute right? This little collection of Beach Cupcakes could not be easier to create, and I’ve got the full tutorial for you over here on The Cake Blog. I’ll show you how to make all three styles, perfect for kicking off Summer. Here’s some more photos to get you all inspired:

Excited to make these cute little Beach Cupcakes? Head on over to The Cake Blog to learn how to create them! And feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram (and @thecakeblog too) if you follow along with the tutorial. We’d love to see what you whip up! Wishing you all the best Summer ever.

The post The Cutest Beach Cupcakes appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Are you dazzled? I am. The coolest thing is that these geodes are 100% edible and incredibly easy to make! They’re made of Wilton Candy Melts, tasty rock candy, and some sugar sprinkles to tie the look together – all things you can find at your local JOANN or from their website. And did I mention that they only take about ten minutes from start to finish? It’s the perfect project for any skill level and the results are phenomenal.

To make these geodes in mini-form, I used some plastic paint palettes as a mold. The cavities are the perfect size for making mini cupcake toppers, but if you’re wanting larger geodes, you can use any size half-sphere mold and follow the steps below to get the same results.

If you’re more of a visual learner, here’s a quick video of how to create these mini geodes from start to finish:

You Will Need:

• Plastic paint palettes
• 12 oz. Wilton Candy Melts in Bright White
• A small microwaveable bowl and spoon for mixing
• Sweet Tooth Fairy Rock Candy in any color
• Sugar sprinkles in a lighter shade of the same color you’re using for rock candy
• Wilton Pearlized Sprinkles in the gold mix (comes with both gold and white sugar sprinkles)
• A small plate
• Wax paper

Step 1: Melt The Candy Melts

Following the instructions on the package, melt the ¾ of the Candy Melts in the microwave until they’re uniform in consistency.

You’ll want to reserve about ¼ of the Candy Melts for Step 5.

Step 2: Fill The Molds

Using a spoon, fill each cavity of the plastic paint palette with Candy Melts about halfway full.

Then, slowly rotate the paint palette to ensure the sides of each cavity are covered.

Step 3: Place The Rock Candies and Sugar Sprinkles

Place a few rock candies in the center of each cavity and press them in so that they stick into the Candy melts.

Next, place a lighter color of sugar sprinkles on top of the rock candies to fill in the gaps, making sure you leave enough room for a white sprinkled edge.

Finally, place the white sugar sprinkles around the edge of each geode.

You’ve now got a multi-dimensional look, just like a real geode!

Step 4: Refrigerate

Place the entire paint palette in the refrigerator so your geodes can firm up. The geodes will be firm enough for releasing from the paint palette after just five minutes in the refrigerator.

When five minutes is up, gently release the geodes from the paint palette just like you would release ice cubes from an ice tray. They should be pretty sturdy and release easily from the molds.

Step 5: Create The Sprinkled Edges

Melt the additional ¼ of the Candy Melts in the microwave according to the package instructions. Pour the gold Wilton Pearlized Sprinkles onto a small plate. One by one, carefully dip the edges of each geode into the melted Candy Melts, then roll the edges in the gold sprinkles. Set the finished geodes onto wax paper and let them set up at room temperature for ten minutes before adding them to your cupcakes.

And there you have it – the most stunning mini geodes for topping your cupcakes, made completely with products you can find at JOANN! I’m always so impressed with their collection of Wilton products, cake pans, decorating tools, and all the things. Whether you’ve got a local JOANN store in your area or you like to shop online, be sure to take a look at their selection. Best of all, they always have great coupons if you download their mobile app. That way you can always get the best cake decorating products at a fraction of the cost!

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Mini Geode Cupcake Toppers Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Spring deserves to be celebrated, and that’s just what I think of when I look at these cupcakes. They remind me of a Spring parade and kindof make me want to throw confetti in the air because warmer weather is on the way! The Sorbeto sprinkle mix by SprinklePop is like a happy color explosion, and I think it’s the perfect way to add a little more fun to these buttercream flower cupcakes. It’s pretty much the best way to welcome Spring if you’re as excited as I am about it!

The colors in this Sorbeto mix are what instantly drew me to these sprinkles. It’s made up of the most vibrant pinks, oranges, and blues, and with the variety of sprinkle shapes going on it was just love at first sight. I knew they would be the perfect blend to add some vibrance to these floral cupcakes, but they’re sure to add beautiful color to any treat you put them on! Just look at how pretty they are:

I’ve always loved incorporating buttercream flowers into my cake projects, but never have I combined the technique with sprinkles. I’m a little obsessed with how well they go together! I whipped up a quick video of the decorating process before I teach you the specifics below:

If you’ve never piped a buttercream rose before, fear not! It’s super easy with the right piping tip, a little practice, and the tutorial instructions below. And if you’re not comfortable with piping a rose, you could always swap it out with a buttercream rosette using Wilton Tip 1M. I’m sure whatever kind of floral technique you use for the cupcake toppers, you’ll end up with something beautiful!

You Will Need

• 12-24 baked cupcakes
• 1 batch of vanilla buttercream frosting
• 8oz of Sorbeto sprinkles by SprinklePop
• Wilton Tip 104
• Piping bag
• Small icing spatula
• Pink food color gel (I used Americolor Deep Pink)

Step 1: Color The Buttercream

Divide the buttercream into thirds and place ⅓ into one bowl and the remainder into another bowl. Add a few drops of food color gel to the larger amount of buttercream and create the color that you’d like your roses to be. I used Deep Pink by Americolor, but feel free to use your favorite!

When you’ve got a good color going, place the pink buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 104.

Step 2: Sprinkle The Edges

Pour the Sorbeto sprinkles into a bowl or onto a plate for easily dipping the edges of the cupcakes in. Then, use a small icing spatula to cover the surface of the cupcake with white buttercream and gently roll the top edges into the sprinkles.

Repeat until all of your cupcakes have sprinkled edges.

Step 3: Pipe The Roses

Using your piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 104, pipe a buttercream rose onto the top of the cupcake with the outer petals ending just where the sprinkles begin (you don’t want to cover those!).

To pipe a rose, point the larger end of the piping tip toward the cupcake (the skinnier end should be facing upward) and rotate the cupcake 360 degrees as you pipe a simple swirl in the middle. This will be the center bud. Keep rotating the cupcake as you pipe rows of petals around the bud. They should get longer as you reach the outer edge of the rose.

Repeat until you’ve piped the roses onto all of the cupcakes.

Wishing you all the best Spring and can’t wait to see what you’re caking this season. Let me know what bakes you’re looking forward to in the comments or tag me on Instagram if you’ve found my recipes and/or tutorials especially inspiring!

The post Sprinkled Rose Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

The thing that I love the most about the spatula painted technique is that you literally can’t mess up. It makes my urge to be a perfectionist melt away, and all that’s left to do is have fun and be creative (a magical place to be!). If you’re bored of topping cupcakes with buttercream swirls and rosettes, this is 100% the easiest way to add some creativity and change up your look. It works in any color palette you could think of, so pick your favorites and swipe away! Here’s how to get the look:

You Will Need:

• Baked cupcakes
• One batch of vanilla buttercream (or other light colored buttercream)
• Icing color gels of your choosing
• Bowls and spoons for color mixing
• A small icing spatula
• Paper towels

Step 1: Mix Up Your Buttercream Color Palette

Divide your buttercream into separate bowls (one bowl per color you’re mixing). For this specific color palette I’ve gone with five different colors, which I feel is the perfect number. Add your color gels and mix away!

The colors I used for these are all Americolor: Navy, Turqouise, Orange, Fuschia, and Regal Purple. I love this brand of gels because the colors are so concentrated, you don’t need to add much to get rich colors.

Step 2: Swipe The Edges Of The Cupcakes

Dip your small icing spatula into the first color and make one swipe inward from the edge of the cupcake to the middle. Make another swipe with that same color on a different edge of the cupcake.

It’s good to have some paper towels handy for this part, because you’ll need to wipe the spatula clean before dipping it into another color. Repeat swiping the edges with all the different colors until you’ve got all of the edges covered. Just make sure you don’t place two of the same colored swipes next to one another.

Step 3: Swipe The Middle Of The Cupcakes

Repeat the same process of swiping inward to cover the middle of the cupcake. These last few swipes should just cover where the buttercream starts to thin from the previous edge swipes.

You really can’t go wrong with this technique, so get as creative as you want to be! The cool thing about these cupcakes is that no two are exactly alike. It makes for such a fun painterly look that is sure to add color to any occasion.

Did you try this spatula painted look on your cupcakes? I want to know what color palette you ended up with! Let me know in the comments or by tagging me on Instagram. I love to see your creations!

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The post Spatula Painted Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

A few weeks ago, I got to help celebrate a super special moment in my friend’s life: revealing the gender of her sweet little baby to come! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to help celebrate and be part of the big surprise. Gender reveal parties are so much fun and I’ve seen tons of creative ways to make the big reveal even more spectacular. I wanted to translate that excitement into cupcake form, and lucky for me, SprinklePop just released a new line of Solid Sprinkle Mixes that were the perfect color to represent either gender!

In anticipation of the email I was going to get regarding which color to fill these cupcakes with, I ordered both the Light Pink and Light Blue sprinkle mixes. I got to use the Light Pink (it’s a girl!) inside the cupcakes, but ended up topping them with both colors.  

Side note: SprinklePop’s Solid Sprinkle Mixes come in 22 different colors! They’re all super beautiful and I can’t wait to order some of the other hues. Each mix contains a few different sprinkle shapes, so you get really cool texture in a monochromatic color palette. Gorgeous.

After filling the cupcakes with these pretty pink sprinkles, I topped them with some vanilla buttercream piping and a few sprinkles from each bottle. They definitely look like a mystery on the outside, and when cut open the pink (or blue!) sprinkles tumble out like a pinata. So much fun!

I’ve seen other ways to create gender reveal cupcakes (tinting buttercream filling or baking the color into the cupcake itself), but the sprinkle approach is hands-down my favorite! The best part about SprinklePop sprinkles is they actually taste good. If you’re gonna have a mouth full of sprinkles, they’ve got to be yummy!

You Will Need

• Baked cupcakes
• Piping tip or other circular device to cut a hole in the cupcake
• SprinklePop sprinkles in Light Pink or Light Blue
• Neutral-colored buttercream for frosting the cupcakes.
• Wilton piping tips: 1M, 4B, and 104 (optional)

Step 1: Make Room For Your Sprinkles

In order to fill the cupcakes with sprinkles, you’ll need to create some space within your baked cupcakes. To do so, I use the bottom of a large piping tip. You can use anything with a sharp, circular opening that’s about an inch in diameter.

Press the piping tip (bottom first) into the cupcake and the middle should come right out. You now have a nice cavity within the cupcake for filling with sprinkles!

Step 2: Fill With Sprinkles

Choose either pink or blue SprinklePop sprinkles to fill the center of the cupcake with, and pour them in until they’re flush with the top.

Continue until all of the cupcakes are filled.

Step 3: Frost The Cupcakes

Using a neutral-colored buttercream (I’ve gone with this classic vanilla buttercream recipe), frost the tops of the cupcakes to cover up your sprinkle cavity. The design I’ve created involves piping an off-centered rosette with Wilton tip 1M, then piping a squiggle (for lack of a better word!) with Wilton tip 104 next to the rosette. For the remainder of the cupcake, I’ve piped a few open stars with Wilton Tip 4B.

I finished the cupcake design with a few sprinkles in each color (to keep it a big surprise!), but you can decorate your cupcakes any way you like. As long as you go with a gender neutral design on top, you’re good to go! Now all that’s left to do is prepare yourself to be part of one of the most special moments ever.

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