4 Cupcake Decorating Techniques Everyone Should Know [VIDEO]

When it comes to sweets, we love vibrant colors almost as much as deliciousness. So when we can combine the two, it makes for a pretty great food experience. For this super sweet cupcake collection, we teamed up with Method to come up with four unusual cupcake flavors and decoration ideas, inspired by four of Method’s standout scents! From a floral lavender cupcake to hot pink and citrusy grapefruit, there’s a flavor and design here for everyone.

Method All-Purpose Cleaner

As you can see in the video above, this would make a great girls’ night or bridal shower activity. It’s so fun to see how people change up the decorations based on personal style.

For all of these, you’ll start by mixing the cake batter. (Health hack: You can substitute diet soda for the oil and water in your cake mix to make a “skinny” cupcake. They also come out super fluffy and moist!) Whip up the colorful frosting while the cupcakes are baking.

Ingredients:

Lavender Cupcakes

– 1 box white cake mix

– 3 eggs

– 1 1/4 cups diet lemon lime soda

– 1 tablespoon dried lavender

– 1 12-oz tub white frosting

– purple food coloring

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, diet lemon lime soda and lavender. Add a few drops of purple food coloring. Mix to combine.

3. Divide the batter among cupcake liners. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

4. Add a few drops of purple food coloring to the white frosting. Decorate (see below) and enjoy!

For this cupcake decor, we used a frosting knife to create a basic cupcake top — this is the easiest way to decorate a cupcake. Just add a big blob of frosting with your spoon, then turn your knife sideways and to the edge of the cupcake while you spin the cupcake in your hand. You should end up with a smooth edge and pointed center. Then, just smooth the top of the center to finish up. So easy. You can top with lavender sprigs or edible flowers to take it to the next level.

Ingredients:

Lemon Cupcakes

– 1 box white cake mix

– 3 eggs

– 1 cups diet lemon lime soda

– ¼ cup lemon juice

– 1 12-oz tub white frosting

– yellow food coloring

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, diet lemon lime soda and lemon juice. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Mix to combine.

3. Divide the batter among cupcake liners. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

4. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the white frosting. Decorate (see below) and enjoy!

To frost this sunny guy, use a round piping tip. This is one of the easiest piping tips to use. Fill the piping bag with your frosting and hold in one hand, squeezing from the top of the bag. (It’s like toothpaste, always squeeze from the top, not the nozzle!) Start from the outer edge of the cupcake and create a swirl, ending at the center. Gently stop squeezing to get a nice tip. Top with a lemon slice or yellow sanding sugar to kick your cupcake up a notch!

Ingredients:

Pink Grapefruit Cupcakes

– 1 box white cake mix

– 3 eggs

– 1 cups diet lemon lime soda

– ¼ cup grapefruit juice

– 1 12-oz tub white frosting

– pink food coloring

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, diet lemon lime soda and grapefruit juice. Add a few drops of pink food coloring. Mix to combine.

3. Divide the batter among cupcake liners. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

4. Add a few drops of pink food coloring to the white frosting. Decorate (see below) and enjoy!

This frosting technique makes use of another favorite piping tip, the floral tip. Using the same piping bag instructions as above, simply pipe little dots onto your cupcake, starting from the edge and working your way to the middle. They will appear as small flowers (or stars) once they are all piped. It’s pretty enough to leave ’em this way, but you can also top with a garnish if you’re an over achiever ;)

Ingredients:

Clementine Cupcakes

– 1 box white cake mix

– 3 eggs

– 1 cups diet lemon lime soda

– ¼ cup clementine juice

– 1 12-oz tub white frosting

– orange food coloring

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, diet lemon lime soda and clementine juice. Add a few drops of orange food coloring. Mix to combine.

3. Divide the batter among cupcake liners. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

4. Add a few drops of orange food coloring to the white frosting. Decorate and enjoy!

To frost these, we used the basic cupcake dip method. As implied, simply dip the cupcake into a bowl of frosting, twirl slowly, then pull up, continuing to twist to catch frosting remnants if needed. Easy as pie! Or… cupcake! :) Add a clementine segment to the top of your cake for an extra special touch.

And there’s no need to worry about that big old mess. Method makes cleanup easy.

We used Method All-Purpose Cleaner to get rid of all the spilled batter and frosting on our countertop.

Guess what those cupcake stands are made out of? Candlesticks and old CDs! Just use E6000 craft adhesive to glue together spray painted candlesticks and CDs to make your own. So easy! Now, a few more shots from the fun cupcake decorating party we threw to create the video up top!

We covered everyone’s cupcake decorating station with craft paper for easy cleanup. You can also draw on the paper with a black Sharpie to label all of your decorating supplies.

Don’t forget to put out refreshments for your guests! Add a pop of color to your tabletop with a vase of fresh flowers.

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