You searched for cake - JUNIPER CAKERY | Cakes and Sweet Treats!

8th February 2021 // 0 Comments

Love Bug Cupcake Tutorial!

Here’s a ridiculously easy (and fun) Valentine cupcake idea that you can re-create at home for February 14th! It’s the perfect sweet treat for any loved one. What’s great about this quick how-to is that you can always change it up. Make it unique with different colours. Add cool sprinkle mixes on top for fun. Use tasty Pocky sticks for the antennae instead. There are so many playful options to make this cutie all your own! To find how to make a Love Bug cupcake for your Valentine keep reading. You can also check out our Instagram reel if you prefer video tutorials!

You will need…

Cupcake(s)
Buttercream
Piping bags
Plain round piping tip
Grass piping tip
Candy eyes
Metallic paper straws
Royal icing or melted white chocolate or candy melt
Heart sprinkles

Easy Valentine cupcake idea!

1: With a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip pipe a ‘blob’ of buttercream on top of your cupcake. For this we used an ateco 809 tip. You can also simply fill up a piping bag and snip the end instead if you like.

Note: Don’t worry if you don’t want to use as much buttercream. You can always pipe a tiny dab and then nestle a strawberry, large marshmallow or chocolate truffle to pipe on instead. Wouldn’t that make a cute surprise!

2: Use a piping bag of buttercream with a grass tip to then pipe your little bug’s fuzz all over the ‘blob’ (or strawberry, marshmallow, truffle) from the first step. Make sure it’s completely covered. You can also adjust the size of your love bug at this point… just keep piping more in top.

3: Add some candy eyes onto your little cupcake once it’s fuzz has been piped. We used candy eyes by Wilton. They even make larger edible eyes with lashes if you like this style more. Or you can use our tutorial to create your own eye sprinkles!

4: Cut down a metallic paper straw (the metallic coating helps stop the buttercream from seeping into the paper) to make two antennae. You can also use Pocky or pretzel sticks for this step. Then gently push them into your bug’s head at either side.

Love Bug cupcake tutorial!

5: Pipe a small amount of royal icing or melted chocolate to the ends of your straws or sticks. You can also use a little bit of candy melt too.

Tip: Don’t use too much or the excess will squish out and leave a bit of mess. Definitely something you’re not going to want.

6: Take two heart shaped sprinkles and carefully attach onto the ends of your straws or sticks. Leave to set!

Yay! You now have one sweet little Valentine cupcake to either treat yourself with or give to someone you love. Why not box it up and add heart printed ribbon and little message to make it extra special. Remember… you can add decorations like sprinkles or fondant pieces to make this super unique. This tutorial is also pretty great for turning into cartoon creepy crawlies for themes birthdays or even Halloween too.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Juniper Cakery (@junipercakery)

7th January 2021 // 0 Comments

Beginner Cupcake Baking Essentials!

In 2020 lots of people picked up some new hobbies. We’re predicting that 2021 is going to be just the same. So we thought it’d be handy to put together a post listing some of the tools we can’t bake without. They’re also perfect for beginners. When people get really into a hobby they generally end up buying eevvverything to do with it. Then 5 months down the line they realise how much stuff they never even used! Our list includes the basics that are super useful. No crazy gadgets or odd contraptions… we’ve tried them all.

Cupcake baking tools for beginners!

1 Cupcake baking pan in rose gold

A good cupcake baking pan is definitely a must-have. It pretty much goes without saying that it’s going to keep your cupcakes in shape and mess free! This 12 cavity pan is also in the chicest shade of rose gold. Perfect for the on-trend baker. They’re also easy to clean and store away ready for your next tasty batch!

2 Cupcake cases

This handy set of pink and burgundy cupcake cases are so great. A lot of liners end up see through or flimsy once baked with. These keep the shape of the cupcake incredibly well and they’re a little larger than most (who is going to complain about more cake right?). You can also nab them in a range of cool colours.

3 Ice cream scoop

You wouldn’t think that ice cream scoops would be an essential when it comes to whipping up perfect cupcakes. They’re perfect for filling up cases with batter minus the mess. You’ll also get a more even separation of batter between liners too. This set includes three different sizes… great for baking up mini cupcakes. We’ve linked the set that we use, but if you’re looking around make sure to opt for the one with a release! That’s going to help push the batter out into your cases.

Beginner cupcake baking essentials!

4 Kitchen timer

A kitchen or oven timer is one of those essential purchases that a lot of people forget about. So… it helps to pick out a fun novelty design like this pink strawberry. Using one is easy just twist to the minutes you need and set aside to wait for the alarm. For the baker in your life this is going to also make the cutest little gift in a hamper.

5 Cupcake piping tips

We get asked all the time what tips we use for our cupcakes. Ateco is our go-to cupcake nozzle brand. Their tips are larger than most so no straggly looking swirls on top of cupcakes. These three are possibly our most used. An 809 plain round is perfect for a simple modern look. The 869 or pastry tip adds a cool texture. For a bolder linear look try the Ateco 828!

6 Sprinkles

Sprinkles are always a super fun and quick way to add the final touch to your cupcakes. Simply swirl your finished cupcakes with buttercream and add on top. They’re also perfect on top of cakes or as a little added texture with a fun fondant topper.

6th January 2021 // 0 Comments

Knit Hat Cupcake Tutorial!

With the cold winter months here AND a 3rd strict nation-wide lockdown (in the U.K. at least) we thought everyone would need a project or two! It’s easy to camp out on the sofa with a Game of Thrones box set feeling down, but why not make something fun? Like this cute winter cupcake decorating idea! Plus you get to eat it afterwards. Here is our super easy tutorial on how to pipe a knit hat cupcake. You can even watch a video version on our Instagram reels! It’s fun and pretty adorable too. Plus, like us, if you are missing Christmas you’re going to want to hold on to anything remotely festive.

You’ll need…

Cupcake(s)
Buttercream
Sprinkles
Piping bags
Plain round piping tip
Closed star piping tip
Grass piping tip

1: With a piping bag of buttercream fitted with a plain round tip pipe a ring of buttercream around the top of your cupcake. This is going to be the base of your cute knitted hat!

Note: This part doesn’t need to absolutely perfect because you’ll be covering it with sprinkles soon so don’t worry. You can even use a different piping tip if you like. We used a plain round as we think it gives a nice smooth buttercream surface to work with.

Winter cupcake decorating idea!

2: Pour your sprinkles or sprinkle mix onto a dish or plate. This is going to make it a lot easier for you to coat your buttercream with them. We created a sprinkle mix of our own with sugar pearls, sanding sugar, snowflakes, hearts etc.

Tip: Don’t like sprinkles? Why not op for chopped hazelnuts, desiccated coconut or dried fruit pieces? These will add a fun bit of flavour too!

3: Again, with your buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a round tip pipe a ‘blob’ in the middle of your sprinkled coated circle!

Note: This is going to be the foundation of your hat. If you want to have less buttercream then you can also use a tasty chocolate truffle, medium to large marshmallow or even a fresh strawberry instead.

How to pipe a knit hat cupcake!

4: Now using the ‘base’ you created in step 3 you can being piping your hat! Fit a piping bag with a closed star tip and then add your buttercream. Carefully pipe vertical lines up the ‘base’ to the centre of the top. Work your way around the cupcake until it’s covered.

5: Pipe a small ‘blob’ of buttercream on top using your plain round tip. This is so you have something to pipe your cute pom-pom onto!

Easy winter cupcake decorating idea!

6: Now with a piping bag fitted with a grass piping tip add the fun pom-pom on top.

Tip: Simply pipe onto the ‘blob’ you made in step 5. Have a few practice tries at first if you’ve not used a grass tip before.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Juniper Cakery (@junipercakery)

You should now have one cute and winter-y treat in front of you. Or several if you’ve made a few. This tutorial is great if you want to add extra customisation too. Change the colours or sprinkles for different people. Add fondant decorations or characters for some added sweetness. However you decorate yours we hope you have fun!

Older Posts