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.

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.

Here’s a little video I whipped up to show you all of the different looks you can create in minutes. Take a look for inspiration, then I’ll show you the step-by-step.

Disclaimer: this post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you click them and purchase items I’ve recommended. Clicking and purchasing from these links won’t cost you any extra money, but they do help to keep Sugar & Sparrow up and running. Thank you for your support!

You Will Need:

• Baked cupcakes
• Medium consistency buttercream in any color
• Piping bags
• Wilton Tips: 1M, 4B, 104, and/or 1A
• Small icing spatula

Rosette

Using tip 1M (you could alternatively use 2D to get a similar look), pipe a swirl starting in the center of the cupcake and ending on the outer edge.

This one is so classic and totally ends up looking like a little buttercream garden rose.

Open Stars

Using tip 4B, pipe open stars over the surface of the cupcake.

This is my all-time favorite design, and I often use a few different colors with this technique. It never fails to impress.

Basic Swirl

Using tip 1M, pipe a swirl starting on the outer edge and building upon each turn until you build a little mountain of a swirl. It should end up looking like a soft serve ice cream cone.

This was the very first technique I learned and it’s still such a timeless look.

Open Star Swirl

Using tip 4B, pipe a swirl starting on the outer edge and ending in the center. It looks best when you build upon each turn to create a swirly little buttercream mountain.

This look can be further enhanced with a few pretty sprinkles on top.

Pom Pom

Holding tip 104 vertically with the skinny end pointed upward, pipe a few squiggles in a swirl in the very center on the cupcake. Continue to add ruffley piping in a circular pattern around the center swirl until you reach the edge.

This is a very similar technique to buttercream carnations, and it ends up looking like a pretty little pom pom that looks great in any color!

Ruffles

Holding tip 104 flat against the cupcake with the thinner edge pointed outward and the larger edge pointing to the center of the cupcake, pipe a row of ruffles around the outer edge by moving the tip slightly up and down. For the next set of ruffles, hold the tip at a 45 degree angle and pipe the next row so that it stands a little bit taller. For the final and innermost set of ruffles, hold the tip at more of a 75 degree angle so they stand taller than the previous set.

This look is really amazing when you use different colors for each row, especially in an ombrè color scheme.

Spatula Swirl

Using a small icing spatula, place a dollop of buttercream on top of the cupcake and work it around until you’ve got an even bulb of buttercream, then use the spatula to create a swirl in the center as you slowly rotate the cupcake.

This one doesn’t involve a piping tip, but it’s such a classic look that many renowned bakeries still use on the daily.

Rounded Spikes

Using tip 1A, pipe dots all over the surface of the cupcakes. Easy as that!

When I brought all of these cupcakes over to a friend’s house, this was the one all the kids were pining over.

Round Tip Swirl

Using tip 1A, pipe a swirl starting on the outer edge and building until you get to the center.

This one is super simple and can be always be classed up with some pretty sprinkles.  

Ruffled Swirl

Using tip 1M, pipe a swirl starting on the outer edge and working your way to the center, only move your hand back and forth to create a ruffled look as you pipe and build upon your swirl.

It’s amazing how a simple move of your hand as you pipe can create such different results than a basic swirl.

The right piping tips and techniques make all the difference when it comes to creating flawless cupcakes. These are definitely the easiest looks to create, but they’re still some of my go-to’s when it comes to cupcake decorating.

Which one is your favorite look? Let me know in the comments below!

The post 10 Easy Ways To Frost A Cupcake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

You will need:

• 1 cup (183g) white chocolate chips
• Food color gels of your choosing 
• A clean, dry paintbrush
• Parchment paper
• Baked and frosted cupcakes

Step 1: Temper Your Chocolate

Even though white chocolate isn’t a “true” chocolate (it’s made primarily of cocoa butter), it still needs to be tempered to keep it from getting flimsy and looking dull once it’s dry. To start, measure out one cup of white chocolate chips and pour them into a microwave safe bowl. Reserve ¼ of the chips (so in this case, ¼ cup) and set them aside. These reserved chips are what’s called a “seed” that will be mixed into the melted white chocolate to quickly decrease the overall temperature.

Microwave your white chocolate (minus the seed) in increments of 30 seconds, stirring after each interval, until the chips are melted. In my case, it only took 2 intervals to get the white chocolate nice and melted. Then stir in the seed until those chips are melted and you have uniform consistency.

Step 2: Give It Some Color

When you’ve got a nice smooth finish, it’s time to color – my favorite part. I separated my melted white chocolate into three bowls and started adding some Wilton Color gel until I achieved these three colors.

I’ll be honest, I usually start with an idea of what colors I want and then fly by the seat of my pants until I get there. There’s no real method to my coloring madness. For the seafoam, I used a little Sky Blue, for the peach, a little Pink, and for the purple, a combination of Sky Blue and Rose. When these colors mixed with the natural creamish yellow tone of the white chocolate, they ended up being perfect.

Step 3: Paint Your White Chocolate Brushstrokes

Now for the fun. Grab your paint brush, dip it into the white chocolate, and start brushstroking the white chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper. A single brushstroke will usually do, as long as you’ve got enough white chocolate on the brush.

The brushstrokes dry in about 20 minutes at room temp and are ready to use! If you live in a particularly humid environment, you can pop your brushstrokes into the fridge for about 10 minutes and they’ll firm right up.

Step 4: Assemble Your Designs

After your white chocolate brushstrokes are nice and dry, all that’s left to do is add them on top of some frosted cupcakes. For these, I piped a swirl of buttercream onto each cupcake using Wilton Tip 1M, then simply stuck a few brushstrokes into the swirl.

These white chocolate brushstrokes would also look incredible on top of a cake, or stuck to the side of a cake using some buttercream as adhesive. I have yet to try the brushstroke technique on a cake, but I’ve definitely been Pinning a few inspiring looks and hope to try it someday. Follow me on Pinterest to see some of the looks I’m loving!

The post White Chocolate Brushstroke Cupcakes Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.