I made these cupcakes for a classmate’s tie-dye themed babyshower. Can I just say that tie-dye themed babyshower = super cute! =) I realize these cupcakes aren’t exactly traditional tie-dye – really more of a colorful swirl – but after much debate, this was the best I could come up with. I used this technique before with my Nutella Cupcakes with Triple Cream Cheese Frosting Cupcakes, but instead of 3 colors, this time I used 4. You can use any colors you like, but since it was a baby girl babyshower, I chose more girly colors: yellow, orange, pink, and purple. If I had it to do over again I might not use yellow and orange but I thought they still turned out super cute. I made a little tutorial for you guys so here we go…
First up, you’ll need to prepare a batch of fluffy vanilla buttercream (recipe below).
Next, divide the buttercream into 4 bowls. You can use your kitchen scales to make sure you get the same amount (about 6.5 oz per bowl) or you can just eyeball it.
Add some food color gel to each bowl. I wouldn’t use liquid because it will make your icing too thin. These are the colors I used.
This is how each color looked.
>You will need 5 piping bags and a large decorating tip. They don’t have to be disposable or even this same brand but this is what I had on hand so this is what I used. I would really recommend 4 – 12 inch bags and 1 larger bag (at least 16 inch) although you can make do with 5 – 12 inch bags.
Fill each bag with icing. You can see here that I used glasses to hold my bags.
Cut the tip off each bag. You want a decent sized hole, about 1/2 an inch wide. Try to cut each bag the same size.<
Take your 5th bag and place your decorating tip inside. Cut the end until the tip fits. Now, this is where it will get tricky if you are using 5 -12 inch bags. You need to place the four bag with icing down inside your 5th bag. (It will be VERY full!) Try to keep all the bag even so you get the same amount of each color. Gather all the tops together and twist. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
ENJOY!! =)
Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1. Place butter in bowl of stand mixer and beat with paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in powdered sugar.
2. Beat in vanilla until smooth. Add cream one tablespoon at a time until you reach a spreadable consistency. Continue to beat for 1-2 minutes more or until very fluffy.
