Get a perfect swirl of buttercream icing on your cupcakes using Holly Bell's tips. Find out how to make the best icing, fill the piping bag and finish your cakes like a real professional.
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How To Ice A Cupcake
Icing cupcakes can be really quick once you know how. I've got a few simple hints and tips that will make your cupcakes look really professional.
It's really important to make sure that the butter cream icing you're using is really light and fluffy because it helps when you're pushing it through the bag. If its got big flecks of air in it that's going to be really easy to pipe. Probably takes about 7 minutes using a hand mixer to get it to that stage. Take your nozzle and place it into your icing bag, give it a little shake, and you need to cut the end off so that the nozzle pokes through, that leaves the nozzle free but makes sure that no butter cream is going to slip through the edges there. To fill the icing bag I use a pint glass, because you can see through it, so you can see how much butter cream you've put into the bag. Spoon the butter cream in. Now only fill it to about half way, any more and it becomes quite heavy. Also you risk the butter cream coming out of the top as you're icing. Unfold this top and lift the whole bag out, push the butter cream down to the nozzle, give it a little squeeze on the outside as well if there are any air pockets that gets rid of them, and also if you twist the top that's also a really good way to make sure that as you are pushing the butter cream down it's not going to all come out the top and go over your cake. I use a tea towel to put my cupcake onto to ice because then I find there's less chance of it sort of scooting around. Do make sure though that your cupcakes are completely cool before you put any icing on them because otherwise it would just slide off. I'm using a star nozzle here because it gives a really lovely ice cream effect. And I always stand up when I'm icing cupcakes, I find it easier to get the icing bag at a 90 degree angle this way. I'm going to use one hand to push from the top and another hand to guide so starting at 12 midday here, pipe closer to the edge than you think you need to so that you don't have a gap. And as you get towards the start of that circle, move that circle in a tiny bit and move around again, and as you get to the end, push the nozzle in and take the pressure off. So there you have it, a perfectly iced cupcake that tastes delicious too.