Floral cupcakes

It has definitely been a while since I posted something new here as I have been very busy lately (ya, who isn't ;-p). Anyway, after making a few cakes for my little girl, friends and grandma, I decided to try making cupcakes. Of course I was happy that I could pipe the usual 'ice-cream' swirls but I wanted something different. That is when through surfing the net, I got the inspiration to do floral cupcakes. Please note that the flowers are not botanically correct but still looked pretty though...hahaha!

Blossoms : I tinted the buttercream pink with Wilton Pink Gel coloring. I used tip no.104 and piped petals on top of the cupcake. Then, I added 3 different sprinkles in the middle (silver dragees, pearl dragees and white jimmies) to see which is prettier. I think I like the pearl dragees best! :-) I have no idea if they are supposed to look like cherry blossoms or apple blossoms which both flowers have only 5 petals. Here, you can see that I have piped 8 petals because I wanted to cover the cupcake. Probably next time I will use a bigger tip or smaller size cupcake.

Dahlias : Ok, I saw in Youtube this technique which the end result was supposed to be pansies. Again, it came out a different flower than I wanted but still look pretty. I tinted the buttercream purple (although looks blue here) and yellow with Wilton Violet and Lemon Yellow Gel colorings. Here, I used tip no.61 and piped the 1st row of petals to cover the top of the cupcake. The 2nd row of petals are smaller and has lesser petals than the bottom. Then, white jimmies and chocolate rice were added.

Roses : This technique is quite straight forward although I have learnt that by using different tips, the rose swirls will look different, i.e., more ruffled or fluffier. You can use any star tip to pipe rose swirls but commonly used is tip 1M (open star tip). You can try using tip 2D (closed star tip) or 1B (bigger closed star tip) for a more ruffled rose or tip 21 for mini cupcakes to pipe rosettes. I usually like to add a small edible deco at the end of the swirl. looks neater and cute that way :-)

Sunflowers : Using Wilton Lemon Yellow Gel coloring to tint the buttercream yellow, I piped a small mount of buttercream in the middle of the cupcake. Then, I used tip no. 80 (U-shaped), piped from the bottom edge of the mount, the 1st row of petals. Repeat the same process until you have 3-4 rows. Here, I added chocolate rice in the middle or you can use small chocolate balls. Hmmm...do they look like chrysanthemums instead? ;-)

Hydrangeas : Inspired by Gloria of Glorious Treats, I wanted to try piping hydrangeas on the cupcake. I tinted the buttercream in 2 colors, i.e., purple and blue using Wilton Violet and Sky blue Gel colorings. I put both colors of buttercream into the same piping bag, fitted with tip 1M. Then, I piped 'stars' all around the cupcake and added a few more on top for a fuller bloom. You can see that the dual tones really makes a difference as real hydrangeas are like that too. Wished  I had a pot of hydrangeas to place my cupcakes against it...hahaha! 

This last one uses a different technique than the earlier rose swirls. I saw this in Youtube by Xanthe Milton, a talented British baker (who reminded me of a Latino actress). Here I used tip no.104 again and piped the petals one by one instead. Since it was my first attempt, I think it looked more like a cabbage than rose to me..hahaha! Probably because there are too many petals on it.

I believe these floral cupcakes are so unique and you definitely don't see these in the bakery. I have to admit that once I started doing one, I was craving to do more. A friend of mine once told me, "Hey, your kitchen is beginning to look like a flower garden!" Oh, how i wished I could have these flowers in my small green patch I call 'garden'. 

Well, I don't have a green-thumb and flowery plants die on me, so, best use my thumb (and other fingers) for piping flowers on cupcakes :-)