Spring Cupcakes with Two-Color Swirl Icing Tutorial

My last post came about from my need for something 

bright and cheery to offer relief from the constant rainy gloom.  It must have worked because the sun finally came out!  However, it's still freezing outside, so I'm going to try and will the temperatures to rise with another spring inspired treat.  :)

Since experimenting with color swirl icing by painting the icing bag and layering several colors at once to the piping bag, I've been wanting to try a third method I'd read about - using several piping bags filled with different colors fitted into one bag with one tip.  Does that sound a little complex?  It's not.  Check it out:

In two separate piping bags, fill with the colors you've chosen, careful to leave plenty of empty space at the top, as shown above.  Snip the ends  off about an inch high.

In a third empty piping bag, fit with your piping tip.  Make sure you cut the bag high enough  that the entire tip design is outside of the bag.  Don't cut so far above the design tip that it will pop out from the pressure of piping.  You can also use a coupler.

Place the two bags filled with icing on top of each other.  Very gently press them flat, as shown in the photo above.  Make sure the icing reaches the snipped edge of the bag, but don't press so firmly the icing will squeeze out.   Also,  leave empty space in the top of the bag to allow for twisting of the bag once inside the empty bag.

Gently slide the icing filled bags into the empty bag fitted with the  piping tip.  Hold the  empty bag upright when sliding the icing bags in and slowly shake up and down until both icing bags are inside of the tip.  You may need to remove the icing bags and start over if both of them don't reach the tip.  Once the bags are both snuggly sitting inside the tip, twist the top of the bag tightly to prevent icing from coming out of the ends when piping onto your cupcakes or cake.

Once you have placed the icing bags into the piping bag fitted with the tip, test to make sure both colors  pipe out.  Do this by squeezing gently but firmly with consistent pressure.  If only one color pipes out, that means both bags are not inside the piping tip so only one color is able to pipe out.  You will need to repeat the process of placing the icing bags into the empty bag with the piping tip.

And that's all there is to it!  It actually takes longer to read the steps than to do them.  I only had two glitches in my first attempt:  Initially, I did not cut the tips of the bags high enough, so the tip was partially covered and the icing didn't squeeze out evenly since it was blocked.  Also, I didn't flatten the bags at first, which resulted in only one bag reaching the piping tip so only one color came out.  Because it was not coming out of the bottom, the pressure of squeezing the icing from the second bag squeezed out of the top and made a mess!  So, snip about and inch off of the color filled bags, and flatten them.  The rest is a breeze.  I am looking forward to mixing it up with more than two colors at a time.  Of the three methods of multi-colored icing, this is my favorite.  The colors don't change from mixing together and there is plenty of color, not mostly white.  Here are examples of all three for comparison:

Swirl achieved by painting piping bag.

Swirl achieved by layering several colors on top of eachother in one bag.

Swirl achieved by two separate bags of color placed in one bag.

I'm glad I gave each method a try.  I think they can all be used nicely in different situations.  I tend to be a person who likes the last thing I tried best, which could be the reason I'm so fond of #3 at the moment!  Actually, though, I think I like the clean look it offers.  With the pink/white icing in the second photo the color mix worked out nicely.  With several different colors not of the same shade, the mixing can really change the colors, as in this photo:

The original icing colors I used were neon green, neon yellow, neon blue and neon pink.

Whatever way you choose to create icing color swirls they will look great.  Isn't it nice to have options?!  Until next time, here are my photo offerings to spring, sun, and warmth - my baked good version of a rain dance!!

Something To Turn My Frown Upside Down - Pink Rainbow Cupcakes

Oh, so it's been a tough couple of days baking!  Sometimes it happens that I have a stretch of bad luck and recipes that don't turn out.  It can be a bit maddening, but I know it's part of the process of learning and trying new things.  There's are a few recipes I'm very practiced at, ones that turn out perfect every time.  I can continue to make those, or I can choose to challenge myself.  So, chin up!  Smile!  Keep baking!

Now can I admit I made something today that I knew would turn out just fine to make myself feel a little better?  It can be just our secret!  ;)

I made a Valentine's Day version of Rainbow Cupcakes.  So have a lot of other people, and theirs look better, but they made me happy.  I love pink and working with pinks and reds makes me smile.  

Scratch Vanilla Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners; set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time,  mixing until incorporated.  Scrape down sides of bowl and mix in vanilla.

Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Scrape down sides of bowl.  Add whole raspberries to batter and use mixer to incorporate.  The berries will break up into pieces but will not alter the color of the batter.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about 2/3 full.  

Bake until cake springs back, approximately 18-20 minutes.  After removing pan from over place on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on rack.

After mixing up the batter, I split it into four equal parts, dyeing each portion into different shades of pink.  Using the Rainbow Cake/Cupcake technique (click here to see) I filled the liners, careful not to go over 2/3 full.  If you are overzealous filling the liners you will end up with this:

Not ideal.  Not pretty!

While the cupcakes are cooling, mix up the buttercream:

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter

4 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-5 tablespoons half and half

Using a mixer, beat butter until it is fluffy.  Add 3 cups of sugar - one cup at a time - mixing until it's completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and half and half along with last cup of sugar and mix, adding more half and half until the icing is the desired consistency.

I split the buttercream into four bowls and added the gel dye in the same colors of the cupcake.  When she was done mixing, I spooned a small amount of each color, one on top of the other, into a pastry bag.  When the cupcakes were COMPLETELY cooled, I piped on the buttercream.

Having one of the three recipes I made work out gave me a boost to try, try again.  Sometimes that's just what you have to do.  I would not have posted these since they're kind of redundant for my blog.  But, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and probably the last pink treat for awhile.  Time to go green for St. Patrick's Day...I'm donating 150 items to a fundraiser so I'll be making lots of fun stuff!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Rainbow Revue - Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies

When I started this blog 5 months ago one of the first things I attempted was rainbow cupcakes.  I had issues with the icing method I experimented with.  I painted stripes of color on the inside of a pastry bag and then filled it with white icing.  

What I hoped would happen was a colorful blend of icing when I piped the buttercream.  Instead, I had  spots of color running through mostly white icing.  I was not happy and have been wanting to try again.

So, my friend Amy joined me to give it another go.  To make it a bit different and more fun we mixed in neon colored gel dye, rather than the usual red, orange, yellow, etc.  Also, we used four colors instead of six.  This made it easier to prevent overfilling the cupcake liners.  We used the same method for the cupcakes as my original Rainbow Cupcake post, which you can find here.  

There was enough batter to make about three more cupcakes, but Amy had the idea to make Whoopie Pies with the extra.  We used a Whoopie Pie baking pan and she filled each cavity with several colors instead of just one.  They were adorable!

While the baked cakes were cooling, I mixed up a batch of vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter

4 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-5 tablespoons half and half

Using a mixer, beat butter until it is fluffy.  Add 3 cups of sugar - one cup at a time - mixing until it's completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and half and half along with last cup of sugar and mix, adding more half and half until the icing is the desired consistency.

We decided to use the same four colors of the cupcakes for the icing.  I split the buttercream into four bowls and Amy added the gel dye.  When she was done mixing, I spooned a small amount of each color, one on top of the other, into a pastry bag.  The result was much closer to what I had in mind color-wise.  The colors did mix together in the bag creating some new shades, but I loved the finished cupcake!

After the cupcakes were frosted, we put a ring of icing on the base of a Whoopie Pie and capped it off.  We loved them, too!

I read about a THIRD method of making color swirl icing, which I'll try at another time.  In the meantime, I am really taken by these neon cakes.  They make me smile, and, hopefully, they'll do the same for you, too!

I have shared this recipe on: Things that make you say Mmmmm...Monday Linky
Sunday Scoop Linky Party
Not Your Ordinary Recipe's Foodie Friday