August 4, 2009

Easy Cupcake Decorating: Spin Art Cupcakes

in cooking/baking,food,holidays/birthdays,party

We recently went all out for the boys’ birthdays and had their birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. This is, of course, not keeping in with our trying to be a bit more frugal. But, we decided that since they rarely have a birthday party (especially one with friends), and since we were able to have them both be “the birthday boy” (they allow this for only about $5 extra), we thought it would be a special treat.

Speaking of treats though, knowing that we were spending so much on the actual party, I couldn’t imagine spending another $20 (or more) for either a cake from the store or multiple Chuck E. Cheese cakes to feed all 12 kids that were at the party.

So, knowing that I had all I needed to make cupcakes at home (I did have to buy more cupcake liners), I asked the boys what they thought of that. Not only did they agree, but they were thrilled! (Jack said, “I love that frosting you make, Mom.”)

But, there’s a problem. I can’t decorate cakes and cupcakes. I’m such a flunkie in that department. So, I went with an easy but fun decoration — spin art (or tie dye) cupcakes. Here’s what I did:

(Oh, quick note: Don’t pay too close of attention to the cupcakes. I didn’t take all of the pictures, so this is a combination of two different cupcakes.)

First, obviously, I frosted the cupcakes. I’ll have to share my favorite vanilla frosting recipe soon!

Second, I took out all the gel icing tubes that I had from when we made a cake with the Olympic rings last summer.

Each time, I drew three rings on the cupcake, and then one dot of gel icing in the middle. This doesn’t have to be perfect. (Especially when, like me, you’re making 18 – 24 cupcakes.)

Now, grab a toothpick. Start at the center dot, and then drag the toothpick from the middle to the outside in a straight line.

Continue around the cupcake as often as you like. I think I typically did it around nine times. But, I didn’t count, I just did it every so often.

This is what you’ll end up with:

There is some color mixing in the middle because I only lightly wiped off the toothpick every so often. I kind of liked the mixed color. For a cleaner design, wipe off the toothpick often.

Also, as an alternate to the colored option, if you are having a Halloween party or maybe studying spiders, you could do all the circles in black, and then maybe even top the cupcake with a plastic spider ring.

Here is my finished product (or at least one pan of them):

Everyone enjoyed their cupcakes, and we even got many compliments on the simple designs. So, not only was I thrilled to save a little money on what was already an expensive party, but, as a side benefit, we didn’t have to try to cut a cake while at the party. We just gave each kiddo one of the cupcakes, and didn’t have to bother with the mess that sometimes happens during cake cutting.