Sunrise Glory: The Easiest " Bakery Shop " Cupcakes!

I'd always wanted to make fancy cupcakes, so when I was tasked with bringing the cupcakes to Katie's bridal shower I thought what better time than now? I did some research, and some trial. I tried making the actual cupcakes from scratch but they didn't come out as good as the box-they weren't bad, but just not as good ol' Betty Crocker. We'll perfect those at a later date... So, I stuck with the box cupcakes (shh) and made homemade cream cheese frosting. With the help of my sister (over at ThingsToBeStroudOf) and her beautiful kitchen, and cupcake display supplies, I would say we were pretty successful!

Wilton Sprinkles (Michaels) & Wilton Decorating Kit (Target)

For the frosting, I used a half a stick of softened unsalted butter, 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla and 3.5 cups powdered sugar. Mix those in your mixer.

Once you have your cupcakes baked (& cooled--very important!), you need to get your decorating bag prepped--use the largest tip in the kit. When you have it ready, spoon your frosting into the bag. Make sure don't get the frosting on the sides of the bag, especially the top part or else when you squeeze it will come out the top. Once you have a good amount in there, you're ready to decorate!

To start, place the tip in the middle of the cupcake (make sure you're squeezing firmly, and consistently, the entire time you are decorating).

Then slowly make a circular motion as you move outward on the cupcake, but don't go all the way to the edge.

Once you have done your final "circle" bring the tip back to the middle and then up--and voila!

The hardest part was figuring out how to get 36 cupcakes to the shower down the street, without them tipping over and/or the frosting melting. But I succeeded, thanks to my sister's "cupcake" holder--lifesaver let me tell ya! I was also able to display them nicely with her cake stands (see them displayed here)