Quick Birthday Cupcakes

The Art.
    The other day, I received a last-minute order for some birthday cupcakes. I'm never one to leave a friend in the lurch when it comes to desserts, since sweets are right up there with water and shelter on my list of Necessities for Survival. I didn't have much time to do anything fancy, so I threw together my usual yellow cake with buttercream icing. For the icing, I stuck to a monochromatic theme to save time, chose a tip for each icing color, and started piping. It actually turned out to be quite fun, because I could give each cupcake its own design, yet they all coordinated with one another. I would highly encourage everyone to try this at least once, it is a great way to come up with new decorating ideas and think outside the box.

The Science.
    Another advantage of having variation in your decorating technique is that it will cause people eat more cupcakes. This phenomenon was discovered in a study investigating the effect of visual stimuli on feeding behaviors. In the study, human subjects were given chocolates of different colors, that all tasted the same. They found that people lost appetite for the color of chocolates they had already consumed, but would continue to eat more chocolates if they were another color [1]. Thus, if someone has already eaten one of your cupcakes, they may not want another that's exactly the same, but they will probably eat an additional one if it looks different. I must admit that I look forward to using this finding to increase my bake sales.

The Recipe.

The recipes for the yellow cake and buttercream icing can be found here and here. I tinted my icing with a mixture of Wilton Icing Colors Violet and Pink.

Decorating:
    For these cupcakes, I used Wilton tips #1M (dark purple), #21 (lavender), and #12 (white). You can of course use any tips you wish, bearing in mind that the smaller the tip, the longer it will take for you to cover your cupcake with icing. I really like the effect of having a combination of large and small decorations that is provided by this tip selection. I used very simple decorating techniques for these cupcakes because of the time crunch, but they still turned out beautifully.


    As you can see in the picture below, I did a classic 1M swirl on a couple of the cupcakes, then added accents with the star tip or the round tip (center, top). Another variation is to make several small swirls on top with the #21 tip (upper left, lower right). You can also use the two star tips to make drop flowers (right). One of my favorites is the one where I made a grid with the round tip, and filled it in with little stars (lower left).

     Once I was done piping the icing, I tossed a few edible pearls on top for a finishing touch. I highly recommend keeping a stock of sprinkles, edible glitter and pearls, colored sugar, etc. in your pantry. They are great for when you want to dress your icing up in a flash. These particular cupcakes were delivered immediately to their recipient, but they can also be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for three days. So, there you have it: beautiful birthday cupcakes in an hour flat!

1. Rolls, Barbara et al. "How sensory properties of foods affect feeding behavior." Physiology and Behavior, 1982, 29:3 (September).