Decorating Cupcakes: Keeping Occupied and Enhancing Artistic Development
If there’s one thing I can never get enough of, it’s cupcakes…not just cupcakes, or my waistline would be several sizes wider, but decorating cupcakes. There are literally hundreds of places to find inspiration and cupcake decorating ideas, from the internet to a spring day. It’s a way for me to express myself while expressing my feelings for the people I love. And it works for everyone—adults and children alike.
I’ve noticed with my nephews that one of the things they love to do most is create messes in the pursuit of artistic genius. They’re all under the age of 5, so of course, I expect them to destroy my house with paint, markers, crayons, chalk, mud and a variety of items they find outside, mostly in the gutter. Which is why I have plenty of wipes, soap, detergent and stain removers in my house. Of course, they’re swiftly engaging my 2-year old niece and my own children in their house of madness so I’m stuck finding a million new ways to entertain them or I risk finding myself and my home in a perpetual state of ruin.
That’s where sugar cookies and cupcakes come in. They’re easy enough to make, easy enough to decorate and easy enough to clean up because they’re confined to the kitchen or the dining room table.
But cupcakes are more than just an easy treat and a way to keep the kids all in one place for more than 20 minutes. It’s a way to encourage their creativity and their individuality and create bonding time. The kids can help me bake with easy cupcake recipes that don’t take a lot of ingredients. They can also help mix the food coloring into the cupcake icing so they get all of the colors they want to use.
Plus, with all of the different cup cake decorations lying around the house—jelly beans, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, gummy worms, peek-a-boos, sprinkles—my friends and I get to have as much fun as the kids.
But it doesn’t stop with candies…these kids are not just kids making cupcakes. They are artists. So they have to have the very best. This means taking a trip to the local grocery store and a saunter down the baking aisle where they can pick out all sorts of pre-made decorations like tulips, hearts, balloons, cats, rainbows and stars, among 20 or so other varieties.
And they don’t stop there because unlike most adults I know these kids understand that you don’t have to use edible decorations to make a masterpiece. I like the 25¢ toys you get out of the machines in the front of the grocery store, but these guys like the barrels of small animals and army men you get on the toy aisle. But you do have to remember that small items like glitter are probably not the best idea unless it’s edible glitter or you don’t intend to eat your masterpiece later.
I’ve also learned in recent weeks that paper and stickers make great cup cake decorations. The kids like to cut out a small heart that says “I heart Mom” in their own handwriting and slap it on the top of the cupcakes. It’s one of my favorite gifts to receive, especially because it makes their Dad so jealous.
My personal decorating favorites of late have been the amazing animal-like cupcakes that I’ve been learning how to make, mostly with the use of frosting.
It’s all in the way you ice the cupcakes. A lot of people think you have to use a lot of frosting to create amazing looking cupcakes, but it’s not true. If you’re smart about it you can make a frog or a butterfly using the same amount or less frosting than you would icing a regular cupcake.
The interesting thing I’ve learned about decorating cupcakes is that you don’t have to have a cake frosting set with all of the bells and whistles and the little tips that make the different shapes with the frosting. The sets, while fun, can be expensive and there are some alternatives if you only a couple of different shapes. You can fill a plastic sandwich bag with frosting, zipper it closed, then cut a corner at the bottom and squeeze the frosting out in straight lines.
Some other cupcake decorating ideas include cutting the corner in a zig zag shape to get a different design in the frosting. It’s useful in creating texture when you’re trying to make cupcakes to look like animals or based on seasons (if say, you’re going to make a Christmas tree) and for other holidays and ideas.
But cupcake decorating is not defined by the recipes and ideas of others. Truly memorable experiences and genius moments come from just decorating on a whim, without a plan or a need to make it to any specific goal.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from decorating cupcakes with my nephews, my niece and my own children, it’s that you can’t limit yourself to one type of thinking.
I used to think that cupcake decorating was about frosting an entire batch one color, covering them all with multi-color sprinkles and then sticking a gum drop or a jelly heart on top. And I thought that each holiday should have its colors…Christmas always had to be red and green, St. Patrick’s was green and white and Valentine’s was pink and red. Of course, the sprinkles had to match.
But having children and spending time in their realm has shown me that cupcake decorating is not for the faint of heart or those who are stuck in the same old boring routine. Cupcakes are not only an expression of creativity but they are also an expression of the soul.
So decorate away. Be the best kid you can be. Even if you have to dig around to find that inner child.
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