Valentine Cupcakes. It’s All About the Icing.

Well, here we go again! It’s time to bake together!

​Because it’s almost Valentine’s Day, (or Galentine’s Day, whichever you’re celebrating), we’ve put together some special sweet treats that use the best flavors of this season, chocolate and strawberry! And of course, the perfect color that goes with them, pink!

We’re sharing these recipes and techniques in more than one video, and each one of them will demonstrate a different skill or tip. This one is all about the icing. This is one of my favorite parts because icing isn’t only just something to eat, it’s beautiful, too. It’s not just food. It’s a work of art! Today, I’m going to show you how to decorate like I do, step by step.

​First, though, we have to make the icing. This is the recipe:

Recipe

Almond Icing for Decorating

2 c. Vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)
2 pounds (yes pounds) powdered sugar
2 TBS flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp butter extract
​6 TBS water

Obviously, this is a lot more icing than you’ll need for a few cupcakes, but you can use it a couple of ways. It either goes with the cake that we’ll make in the Valentine cake video (coming soon), or you can use that same cake batter to make 18 to 24 cupcakes and use the icing for them. Or then, you could do some of each if you can keep it away from your little brother first. That’s always my biggest problem!

​So let’s make it, just like we did in the video!

​First, put the shortening in your mixing bowl. It really helps to have a stand mixer like you see me use, but whether you have one or not, you might want to use a whipping beater for this recipe. Then combine ingredients into wet and dry batches. First, the sugar with the flour and then the vanilla, almond, and butter extracts with the water.  Now, start the mixer. 

Cream the shortening. Although it starts out pretty soft, as you beat it, it gets even fluffier from all the air you’re putting into it. Now start beating in the first ⅓ of the dry ingredients, and SLOWLY. If you run the mixer on too high a speed, you might end up with sugar on the ceiling. You probably don’t want that, so when you’re making icing, it’s a good thing to start slow. Now, you’re going to alternate. Add half the wet ingredients, beat well, add another third of the dry ingredients, beat, add the other half of the wet ingredients,beat again,  then add the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until it’s smooth and wonderful. It should hang onto an upside down spoon just like I show you in the video. That means it’s just stiff enough to pipe. 

Now for the color. You can use gel like I do, or you can use liquid, but the liquid thins out the icing a little and you might have to add a little more powdered sugar. The gel has stronger colors and doesn’t change the consistency of the icing. Don’t forget to add only a drop or two at a time. A little goes a long way!  Gels come in both pink and red and you can use either, but remember that the icing starts out white and if you add red, you’ll get pink. This is the place when you start to make it your own. Add as much or as little color as you want, from the palest pink to bright and jazzy, it’s up to you! Mine looks like cotton candy!

Now, it’s time to pipe!  When you fill your piping bag, fold down the top of the bag before you start, then use the spatula to scoop the icing in. This is the easiest way to fill it without making a goopy mess.  As you fill the bag, unfold it until it’s full nearly to the top, then give it a twist, and like we talk about in the video, make sure you hold on tight to the top and squeeze from the top down. If you squeeze near the bottom, icing will come glooping out the top! 

Now, about tips. There are all kinds and every one has a special purpose. The ones you’ll use the most for cupcakes, though, are the open star, the closed star, and the open round jumbos. The 1M open star makes the cupcakes you see on the video. The closed star makes deeper ridges and the open round no ridges at all. Any of these will work. It just depends on what kind of look you want.

This is where a picture is worth a thousand words. As you pipe, apply constant pressure from the top of the bag and if you want to make the tall mounds on the video, start in the middle, make one circle around the bottom and continue with a second circle on top of it.
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​That’s it! All you have to do is top each gorgeous cupcake with a chocolate covered strawberry! I'll give tips for that in another video soon!  Stay tuned!