Spring Flower Cupcakes

Easter may have come and gone, but you know what happens after April showers…..May flowers! And we’re going to make some today!

Now, the video starts with some chocolate cupcakes ready made and, for this session, you can use any good chocolate cake, because today is all about the decoration, but in Charli Ann kitchen, we’ve already made some killer chocolate cakes, so I’m going to relist the recipes here. Both will make about two dozen cupcakes: 

The first chocolate cake we made was for Valentine’s Day. It was my sweet Meemaw’s recipe and here’s the video link: Valentine’s Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Italian Meringue Icing and Chocolate Ganache (VIDEO)
​But for those of you who want a written version, these are the ingredients and directions.

​Recipe

1 cup white sugar 
1 cup brown sugar 
⅔ cup cocoa 
1 tsp. baking soda 
1 ½ sticks butter (¾ cup) 
2 beaten eggs 
1 ½ cups buttermilk 
2 cups flour 
1 tsp. vanilla 
1 cup boiling water
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Cream both sugars and the butter until they’re fluffy, then SLOWLY add the cocoa powder. (goodness--cocoa powder is the puffiest, driest ingredient EVER) Then, while the mixer is running, add the eggs one at a time and beat the mixture until it’s light and fluffy. Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl, and add this dry mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Now, and this is important, take the batter from under the beater and fold in the vanilla and boiling water by hand. 
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Fill the cupcake liners ⅔ full of batter and bake at 325 degrees until done, about 20 minutes.​

​The second chocolate cake was the one we just made for Easter and it’s very different from the first. The video link and ingredients for this one are: Chocolate Fault Line Cake w/ Chocolate Meringue Swiss Buttercream: An Easter recipe to HOP for! (VIDEO)

​7 TB unsweetened cocoa
3 cups all purpose flour
1 TB baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1½ cups sugar 
3 eggs
1½ cups mayonnaise
1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1½ cups cold coffee

First, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt. Put that aside for a minute and whip the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the mixer for about 5 minutes. They get really light colored and fluffy! Now mix in the mayonnaise and once that’s all combined, mix in the dry ingredients and coffee alternately. You’ll get a thin batter, but boy, will it be moist!

Fill cupcake liners ⅔ full and bake at 350 degrees until done, about 20 to 25 minutes.

​Whatever kind of cupcakes you made, make sure they’re cool before moving on to the next step.

Now you need buttercream. You have tons of choices here, too. Here in the kitchen, we’ve shown you how to make several: Swiss Meringue Buttercream at Easter, Strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream on Valentine’s Day, and a special almond decorating icing for our Valentine cupcakes. All of them would work for this. You could also make a simple American buttercream that’s basically just butter and powdered sugar. It’s up to you.
Here are the links for ours:
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Swiss meringue: Chocolate Fault Line Cake w/ Chocolate Meringue Swiss Buttercream: An Easter recipe to HOP for!
Italian meringue: DIY: Valentine’s Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Italian Meringue Icing and Chocolate Ganache
Almond decorating: Easy to Make Valentine's Day Cupcakes - So delicious!!! 

Now, take up your pastry tube and report for duty. The real work is about to begin!

First, you’ll need to color your icing, so get out your yellow and start adding a little at a time. Especially if you’re using the gel, a little goes a LONG way, so make sure you mix well after each time you add some. Now, some yellow colorings are REALLY yellow, and if yours looks a little too bright, you can add a little brown like I did.
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​Next, you’ll need a good pastry bag and the right tip. I use a Wilton 366 tip, which is Wilton’s largest leaf tip. There are more than a dozen different sizes of leaf tips, and any of the larger ones will work here: 70, 112, 113, or 115 will work, too, maybe even 69 in a crunch although this one is a little smaller and you might need three rows instead of two.  Anyway, load up your bag (remember to roll down the top first) and get squeezing! (From the top, please!) The motion is important here. It’s kind of a press, wiggle and pull that the video shows in a way that you can see the results as I go.
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It will take two rows of leaves, one on the outside and one on the inside. And after that, a teaspoon of mini chocolate chips right in the middle completes the look. 

They are so dang cute! They’ll make anybody smile and are a great way to hone your piping skills! ​

Hope you enjoyed this, because we’ve got lots more in store! See you again soon!
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