Last week, our sweet daughter Katie got married. I never realized that a marriage and reception could be so much work. It was worth it.
Debbie, my other daughter, and I made cream filled cupcakes for the reception-dozens upon dozens of them. Now before Debbie and I sound like heroes, let me point out that pretty cupcakes can be quick and easy. Here’s how we did it:
- We made the cupcakes with box cake mixes-easy cupcakes.
- We filled them with Bavarian cream or chocolate Bavarian cream. It only takes about a minute to fill a dozen cupcakes-with no prep or cleanup-using premade fillings.
- We used buttercream frosting mixes to make the frosting.
- We applied the frosting with pastry bags.
The quickest way to frost cupcakes is with a pastry bag. We used giant 22″ pastry bags so that we could make big batches of buttercream frosting and put it all in the bag at one time. We frosted dozens of cupcakes without stopping to make a new batch and refill the bags.
Now, I’m going to try to explain how to do this but it’s easier to see. So I’ve asked Julie to show us in a video. Once you see it, it’s easy.
See how to make pretty filled cupcakes the easy way.
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Filling the Cupcakes
Cupcakes seem a little boring without filling. It used to be that I would diligently fill pastry bags or a decorator set with filling, insert the tip into each cupcake, and fill. Not anymore. I use premade pastry fillings. It’s much easier.
Pastry fillings come two ways: cream fillings like Bavarian cream and cream cheese and fruit fillings like lemon and raspberry. These are the fillings that your neighborhood baker uses for doughnuts, between layers of cake, and for fillings for cupcakes and pastries. They come in two pound plastic tubes. Press out what you need, where you need it. When done, fold the corner over, put a clip on it, and store the remainder in the refrigerator for up to six months.
For cupcakes, press the open corner into the cupcakes, about 1/2 inch deep, and squeeze. You’ll feel the cupcake start to swell as the filling enters the cupcake. You’ll have a small hole in the top or the cupcake but that’s okay–you’ll cover the top with frosting anyway.
Frosting the Cupcakes
Decorating Your Cupcakes
Immediately after frosting your cupcakes, sprinkle decorations on them. If the frosting starts to dry, the decorations won’t stick. You can use colored sugar, “sanding sugar” is what it’s called. It comes in an array of colors, pastel colors and primary colors. You can also buy white sugar, add a drop of food color, and stain the sugar any color you wish. We sell 27 different food colors so you can color your sugar just the right shade.
Jimmies are another choice. They come in a choice of colors and in blended colors.
For my daughter’s wedding reception, we used gold and sliver metallic sprinkles. They are made of sugar but they really do look like metallic pieces, pieces of gold or silver pieces that remind you of pewter. They are distinctive decorations.
What You’ll Need
To bake your cupcakes, you’ll need a cupcake/muffin pan.
These pans come in mini (24 cavities per pan), standard (12 cavities per pan), jumbo, and giant (both with six cavities per pan).We carry paper liners for mini, standard , and <a href="https://www.
<hr class=’system-pagebreak’ /><hr class=’system-pagebreak’ />preparedpantry.com/jumbo-baking-cups-paper-liners-muffins-cupcake.aspx%20″>jumbo.
For fillings, you will need pastry fillings packaged in squeezable tubes. The fillings come in Bavarian cream, cream cheese, chocolate Bavarian cream, raspberry, blueberry, cherry, lemon, and apple.
For frosting, you can use a buttercream frosting mix in vanilla or chocolate or make your frosting from scratch. With the vanilla mix, you can tint your frosting a color and add a flavor. Add decorations to your frosting as you choose.
To apply your frosting, you will need pastry bags. We carry four sizes of disposable bags plus washable, reusable bags. You will need tips and couplers in either large or standard. Bags, tips, and couplers are not expensive.
Dennis Weaver is the author of the popular 250-page ebook How to Bake. You can get your free copy of this culinary-school type book, as well as another free e-book about cookies on the Prepared Pantry website.