Cupcakes: Decorating Baby Shower Cupcakes

Nowadays, cupcakes have revolutionized. They come in all sizes, from gigantic to minute. The creative combinations of flavored cakes, fillings, frosting and toppings are endless. Delicious little candy decorations finish them off beautifully for any occasion. Since they’re easy to prepare, and you can make a variety of them to please all your guests, Famous for its easy-to-prepare nature, these cupcakes will surely take the center-table of your baby shower party!

You don’t have to do anything fancy to make spectacular-looking cupcakes; all you have to do is mind the details.

In the first place, choose a pretty colored frosting in line with the party theme and décor. If the expectant couple knows it will be a boy or a girl, you might choose blue or pink, respectively. You may wish to get away from the pink and blue, using more ‘gender-neutral’ colors like yellow, lavender or mint. Use food coloring to tint your frosting pale pastels, or bright and festive shades if you prefer.

Instead of slopping on the frosting with a spatula, invest in a pastry bag (even disposable ones are fine) with a large decorating tip. With just a little swirl of the wrist you can put a lovely, fluffy cap on each cupcake. Give the cupcakes a little sparkle and pizazz with colored sugar on top. Sprinkle sparingly. To make it even more outstanding, get some cake/cupcake edible confetti in the shape of hearts or duckies—they come in so many different shapes now to make a cupcake look grand.

These little details are what make home-made efforts look professional and expert.

You want to get even fancier with those baby shower cupcakes? Purchase some fondant and small fondant molds, presses and cutters in whatever shape you want. It’s a little like when you were a kid working with Play Dough. You just roll out the fondant, use the tool of choice to get the desired shape and size, then put it on top of your frosted cup-cake for decoration. You can make a single decorative element on each one, to carry through a theme, or put different ones on your cupcakes for variety.

If you want to get really fancy, you can use modeling chocolate or fondant to create shapes, just like you would mold them with clay. You might want to make a pacifier to top the cake, which you can assemble with pieces cut out of modeling chocolate: a ring for the handle, an oval for the mouth guard, and hand-roll a ‘teardrop’ shape for the sucking part. Alternatively, you might make a little baby (a ball made of modeling clay, wrapped with a ‘blanket’ of fondant). Add little details on the face with edible food writer markers—just two little curved lines for the eyes, a dot for the nose and a little curved-up smiling mouth.

You only limits are your own creativity.

The presentation of the cake at an event should be met with ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’. This is no different than when presenting a collection of cupcakes, so it’s important to think about how you will display them.

A multi-tiered platter is perfect—it adds some height and dimension, looking much more attractive than just lining the cupcakes up on a flat tray. You can even top it with a super-size cupcake, a small cake for the expectant parents to bring home, or just go to the party store and pick up a smallish ‘table centerpiece’ for baby showers and pop it up there at the top of the display.

All in all, cupcakes that taste good are going to be a hit. The real wow factor comes by how creative you want to be in showing them off. Since it’s such a special occasion, don’t be afraid to go all-out; unleash your artistic side and run with it. It’s easier than you think!

• Don't over-estimate your skill level; sometimes keeping it simple and clean will be way more impressive than a failed attempt at hand-sculpt white chocolate cherubs who look like they've been mangled in an accident.
• Don't under-estimate your ability. You're probably more capable of great cupcake decorations than you thought. Just look for instructionals, watch tutorials and practice!
• Speaking of practice, start with a practice batch! This can really help you work out the kinks before you get to decorating the real thing.
• Get the right tools for the job. They can really save you a lot of frustration, and mean the difference between failure and success.
• Have fun with it-- it's just cupcakes. You can eat your mistakes. Your friends will appreciate any effort.