Happy Sunday! Today brings a Princess Party! Of course there had to be Pretty Princess Cupcakes to match! 

I have made Princess cupcakes many times so it is a challenge each time to come up with something new. The Party Plan was all dark and light pink and white tulle so I decided to do the same with the cupcakes! Making pink icing is really easy so don't let it worry you when you go to do it. But here is a tip...use very little color and build up to the color you want. Just a little gel color on a toothpic can make a good medium pink color so if you are trying to come up with a baby pink be very careful with how much color you use. There is actually a "Barbie Pink" gel color out there to make this vibrant pink that I used for today's cupcakes. Fortunately, because you don't have to use much dye, you don't end up with the chemical taste of the dye. 

A word about cupcake recipes. I get asked all the time what recipes I use for my cakes and cupcakes. Honestly I use a lot of Martha Stewart's recipes which are available right online. However this doesn't mean you have to make your cakes or cupcakes from scratch. There are so many brands of cake mix out there on the shelf for a reason...they are used! However, if you want your cake mix to taste more homemade here are a few tips. First of all, use one more egg than it says on the box for a cake. This makes the cake a bit more dense and rich tasting. Next, use just a tad more oil than is called for normally. Most cake mixes ask for 1/3 cup oil, I use 1/2 cup. I also use 1tsp vanilla, good Mexican vanilla, to add more flavor to the cake or cupcakes. Lastly, for cupcakes you can make them more "tender" by using milk instead of water. Now, most of these tips adds both fat and calories. But, then, we don't eat cake every day, right?

I always recommend some basic piping tips and while I use actual piping bags from Wilton, you can just buy a box of the disposable bags, a few tips which include a small round, a large round, like I used today, as well as a 1M tip. With these three you can make many different designs for your cupcakes. For under $10 you could buy bags, several tips and a package of couplers and have all you need to decorate simple cupcakes or cakes. I was, personally, overjoyed when I got a new Master Tip Set this past Christmas. Tips get crushed in garbage disposals, dropped into the trash, forgotten in the sink or in soaking water and you have to throw them away. So getting new tip sets from time to time is not only wonderful, it's needed. It came in handy today when I needed two large round tips for piping the two colors on the cupcakes!

White candy pearls are a staple in my cake supplies. I use them to decorate cupcakes or trim cakes or just add a bit of bling here or there on a "quilted" cake design. What is really fun is that, in the past couple of years, Wilton has come out with several different colors of these little candies for you to use for decoration! But here is a tip. To put them on one by one can be time consuming and frustrating...if you don't have the tweezers made for this purpose. The tweezers have a sort of hook on the end so you can grab the candy and easily place it on the side of the cake or cupcake you are decorating. The last thing I did was sprinkle on some large grain sugar for a bit more "bling"!

When piping rounds like these make sure you are holding your piping bag upright and not tilted to the side. You will get a completely different look with each angle you take. You would think with round tips that wouldn't be the case but when you get your tips experiment with the angles. You will be happily surprised with the effects you can make just by changing the angle or direction with your tip.

Check out the full Princess Party Plan tomorrow on our Cherry Party Blog. And join us all week long as we make our way to St. Patrick's Day with new tips and crafts for that fun holiday on our Facebook Fan Site !

See you tomorrow!

Cat