How to: icing

I made a whole bunch of mini cupcakes for my friend's wedding afternoon tea.
Thank you Rachel for asking me to bake for your special day! What a privilege.

I've learnt some icing tips and techniques from YouTube- the best school in the world. That's where I learn how to cook, bake, decorate cakes, put on makeup, what fashion is trending etc.

I have this Wilton icing tip set from my auntie. In the middle is the nozzle which you attach to the outside of the piping bag so you can use the same icing bag and change nozzles easily. Brilliant, cause I used one type of icing and five different nozzles.

Here are the ones I used

 Tip numbers from left to right: 7, 97, 106, 101 and 76

And this is the pattern each nozzle makes! Which one is your favorite?
Mine is the rose petals 2nd from right, using tip #101. It takes the longest to do, but you can agree that the result looks intricately beautiful. I think next time I will use two different color icing and give it an ombre effect.

To make the spiral on the leftmost, use a circular tip and pipe from the center outwards, making sure you hold the piping bag vertically.

You can achieve two different effects with the squiggly #97 tip, as seen in the photo. You can start from the centre and use one circular motion to cover the entire cupcake OR you can start from the centre and make a circle one by one going outwards each time.

To make the roses, hold the piping bag so that the fatter end of tip #101 is touching the cupcake. Make a single petal by sweeping in a half circle motion, going around the cupcake starting from the centre.

Finally, the cupcake on the most right is achieved by starting from the centre and going outwards in a circular motion.

The recipe for the buttercream (thanks Reenu) and the cupcakes is in this past blogpost

Buttercream Icing

100g butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp milk

1. Beat butter until pale and fluffy.
2. Add icing sugar and vanilla essence and mix again.
3. Add milk according to the consistency you require.
4. Beat for another 2-3 minutes

Note: The more you beat the paler the icing gets. Mine was still quite yellow, you can beat it for longer or even add coloring.

Add some embellishments like silver cachous and these premade flowers for extra cuteness.




And to conclude,

Worry is imagining life without God.

If you believe in a God that controls everything, a God that is faithful, a God that loves you unconditionally and has the best plan for you... Why are you worried?

Signed,

Elisa