tutorial Archives - Page 2 of 33 - JUNIPER CAKERY

11th December 2020 // 0 Comments

Melting Snowman Cupcake Tutorial

Perfect for both kids and grown-ups our melting snowman cupcake is going to be one fun treat at the festive table this season! It’s also surprisingly easy to create. Pressed for time? Make a few and mix them in with plain swirled cupcakes studded with snowy sprinkles so you don’t have as many to craft. Box them up as cute Christmas gifts and finish with a festive bow. Or why not nestle each on plates at the dinner table? Have time and want to get extra creative? Then make each snowy character unique with different colours, hats, sprinkles and scarves! To get ready for the holiday season check out our melting snowman cupcake tutorial below!

Melting snowman cupcake!

You will need…

Cupcake(s)
Buttercream
Cupcake piping tip (We used an Ateco 869)
Piping bag
Snowflake sprinkles
Edible pearl sprinkles
Chocolate truffle (we made our own, but Lindor balls are perfect!)
Edible glue
Small sharp knife
White fondant / sugarpaste
Black edible marker
Small amount of orange fondant / sugarpaste
Pink blossom dust
Small food safe paint brush
Pretzel sticks

1: Pipe your cupcake with a pretty swirl of fresh buttercream. You can use any piping tip or nozzle you like! We used an 869 tip by Ateco. The majority of your swirl won’t be seen too much so don’t panic if you mess up a little.

How to make a cute snowman cupcake!

2: Next add some lovely snowy themed sprinkles on top of your cupcake. You can also opt to leave this out, but it’s a cute touch. Why not opt for different styles too. How sweet would little edible stars or glitter look?

Tip: Want a super frosty look worthy of a winter wonderland? Grab a white sprinkle mix, pour a good amount into a small bowl and gently roll your the your swirled cupcake in it.

3: Now nestle your chocolate truffle into the middle of your buttercream piped cupcake. Gently press it in a little too so it’s sticking approximately halfway out.

Tip: Opt for both a lighter coloured truffle AND make sure it’s smooth too. Darker chocolate might be seen from underneath the fondant / sugarpaste. Rough or textured truffles will also affect the fondant making it bumpy looking.

4: Roll out your fondant. Using a small sharp knife cut out a wobbly shape from it. This should be a little larger than your truffle. You can also test this out before hand by simply layering rolled out fondant on top of another truffle and checking the sizing.

Christmas cupcake tutorial!

5: Use your black edible pen to draw on your snowman’s facial features including eyes and mouth!

Tip: If you want to use simple black edible pearl sprinkles to create a face go ahead. You could press them in to make the eyes and a traditional looking coal mouth!

6: For the nose shape a tiny amount of orange fondant / sugar paste into a teardrop-like shape. Indent with lines using your small sharp knife and attach with edible glue!

7: We always love to add a little blush to all our characters. It adds the cutest it of warmth to them. To do this lightly brush some pink petal dust onto the cheeks with a food safe brush.

Note: Food safe brushes are simply brushes bought just for use with food / edible items.

8: Finally, use your pretzel sticks to make some cute twig-like arms! You can poke a little hole in the fondant if it’s in the way otherwise you can just insert them into the buttercream.

Yay! You should now have one cute little cupcake (or several if you’ve made a batch) in front of you. Aren’t they fun? Remember that you can tweak this tutorial to make them truly one of kind. Add top hats or ear muffs on top. Or add sweet fondant mittens not he ends of your pretzel stick arms! There are so many fun ideas out there to make these all your own.

28th November 2020 // 0 Comments

Tangled Christmas Lights Cupcake Tutorial!

The season can be stressful enough with all the organising, gift wrapping and hall decking to do. So go for easy Christmas cupcake decorating ideas for instead seasonal cheer? This is seriously the easiest cupcake ever to create. It’s also a little quirky too. Instead of fondant characters or holly finished treats… what about cupcakes topped with edible tangled lights? There is also pretty much zero cupcake piping skills required. So if you’re a beginner or if you’re short on time these are going to be perfect!

Easy Christmas Cupcake Decorating Idea!

You’ll need…
Cupcake(s)
Green buttercream
Number 4 piping tip by Wilton
Piping bag
Rainbow confetti sprinkles

1: Fill your piping bag with the green tinted buttercream. Make sure that you’ve fitted the bag with your piping tip.

To add the tip just put it in the bag with the piping end right at the bottom. Then snip the end of the bag. Your nozzle should poke through, but not fully!

Note: You can pipe the ‘string’ with just a snipped end of a piping bag and leave out the tip. However, a lot of bags come with a seam which can make your piping look a little off. Keep this in mind if you’re going to omit the piping nozzle!

2: Now pipe a constant ‘string’ of buttercream on top of your cupcake. It should really start to look like spaghetti. How easy!

Tip! You can definitely use this tutorial to decorate a cake too! Add piles of tangled lights on top of a buttercream cake. Why not even add a Christmas tree next to your lights?

Easy Christmas cupcake decorating idea!

3: Finally, grab your rainbow confetti sprinkles and add to your buttercream ‘string’. You can lightly sprinkle them on or add one by one.

You can even use mini chocolate beans or Smarties instead of rainbow confetti sprinkles as ‘lights’. This is pretty cool if you want bigger ‘lights’ and more colour!

Tip! They’d need to be a little spaced out or else they will just look like sprinkles dumped on top. You can also use a pair of food safe tweezers to add each sprinkle on individually.

Tip! If you want to make impressive cookies using this tutorial then simply use a stiff consistency dark green royal icing instead of buttercream. If your royal icing is too wet or soft it will begin to merge or meet leaving you with a pool of icing.

You should be left with some pretty cool holiday cupcakes! Why not change the colour of your sprinkles to match your own decorations. You can even experiment with different candy pieces instead of using rainbow confetti!

There are so many cool ideas you can try if you want to turn this tutorial up a notch! Why not create a cute fondant reindeer character. Swap the buttercream or royal icing for long rolled out fondant ‘ropes’. Wind the fondant ‘ropes’ around your reindeer’s antters then attach rainbow sprinkles or mini chocolate beans using edible glue or a tiny amount of melted chocolate.

8th November 2020 // 0 Comments

How to Pipe Royal Icing Snowflakes

With the winter and Christmas season fast approaching we’ve had a few people ask how to pipe royal icing snowflakes. Surprisingly, it’s really not that hard. Plus if you’re scared of royal icing you can also use melted white chocolate instead. These cute winter-y decorations are perfect for cupcakes, cookies and even to make a batch of brownies super festive. For this how-to we’re going to pipe our snowflakes in a pink colour. This is so you can see the process better. Trying to photograph and then view white on white in a tutorial is pretty frustrating. Also, opting for a more unique colour is fun! Anyway, make sure to check out our tutorial and tips below!

To pipe royal icing snowflakes you’ll need…

Royal icing (15 second consistency)
Cookie tray
Washi tape
Silpat mat or parchment
03 piping tip by Wilton
Piping bag
Repeat snowflake print-out
Cocktail sticks
Food colouring (if you don’t want traditional white snowflakes)
Sanding sugar, pearl sprinkles or edible glitter (optional)

How to pipe royal icing snowflakes!

Note! Royal icing can take a while to set so make sure you plan and create these in advance. If you are pressed for time or making these last minute try using melted white chocolate instead!

1: You can print out some cute snowflake designs via google, but make sure they are the right size. Around 1 inch to 2 inches in diameter is great. Also, make sure not to opt for snowflakes that look complicated or heavily detailed. When you start to pipe them you’re going to regret it. Go for something simple yet effective.

Tip! Try searching for snowflake fonts too. This can bring up a variety of more simplified designs that might be easier to pipe as they tend to be clear and more graphic looking.

2: Lay your chosen template down on a cookie / baking tray. This is handy in case you need to move your snowflakes later because they need to be on a flat and sturdy surface while they dry so they don’t crack. If you know you won’t have to move them to another surface then feel free to tape and work directly on top of your counter. Over your template lay out and tape sheet of parchment paper or your silpat mat using some washi tape. You should be able to see your snowflake shapes easily from underneath.

Tip! Make sure you create a few extra snowflakes as these are still delicate to handle.

3: Bag up your royal icing with a number 3 piping tip by Wilton. This is the tip we used for this tutorial. You can use finer tips for more delicate work, but the thinner the snowflake the more likely it is to break!

Here’s a quick guide to the consistency you need to pipe your royal icing snowflakes!
We recommended and used what is called a 15 second consistency. This just means that when you drag a knife through the middle of your royal icing it should take 15 seconds to meet and ‘mould’ together again. It’s generally not too runny and not too stiff. So you should have smooth snowflakes without rough peaks in them.

4: Now following your template pipe out your snowflakes!

Tip! You can use melted chocolate to make your snowflakes instead. Chocolate sets a lot quicker so that’s a plus. However, melted chocolate is going to be more fluid or runny so you may need to take it slower piping the snowflakes.

5: Before they set you can add fun things like sanding sugar, pearl lustre, edible sequins or stars and even desiccated / shredded coconut!

Tip! If you’re going to add extra decorations to your snowflakes make sure to opt for sprinkles or decor that is small. This is so that you can still see the overall shape of your snowflake.

Easy royal icing snowflakes tutorial!

6: Leave your royal icing snowflakes to set! This can take overnight or a full day depending on where you live. The more humid or ‘wet’ your weather is the longer they’ll take to dry out. Generally you’ll know if they’re drying out when they begin to look less wet.

Tip! Here’s a pretty handy tip that means you’re not going to ruin a snowflake testing if it’s set. When you’re done piping your snowflakes pipe a few lines or blobs of royal icing down the side of your greaseproof paper. Every time you need to check them lightly poke one of these ‘blobs’ to see if it’s dry.

7: To remove your royal icing snowflakes the best move is to gently peel the silpat or parchment paper instead of forcing the snowflakes. You can use the edge of a table to help ‘roll’ or peel the the paper / mat away too.

Now you can use your royal icing piped snowflakes to decorate all kids of cute treats. We used our pink snowflakes to make our fluffy marshmallows ready for Christmas. Nestle on top of buttercream swirled cupcakes for a festive finish. Add to freshly flooded cookies for quick decorations. Or why not gently press around the bottom of a holiday cake to impress the family!

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