Cupcakes and Crafts for My Friends

I've discussed books.  I've discussed long walks in secluded places.  I've discussed craft projects that I wanted to share.  But I haven't really discussed baking.

And it's partially due to the fact that I kind of got burned out on baking, or the the whole cupcake frenzy, anyway.  I started making candy.  And apple pie.  And pumpkin pie.  And apple cheddar scones.

However, my three best friends and I get together every holiday for a huge gift exchange and fancy appetizer feast.  With fear that disappointment could quickly have me ousted out of this lovely little circle (in jest, of course), I have never made the mistake of not baking tasty little individual cakes for my beautiful friends.

This year I kicked it up a notch.  I apologize as I didn't take the time to create a step-by-step instruction guide; I feel that the pictures, alone, are self-explanatory.  Next time you're making tasty treats, you can add a dash of individualism and brighten someone's day.

This recipe was a Devil's Food cake found in a Williams-Sonoma cupcake recipe book and a white buttercream (new recipe for me) found on eHow.com (oddly enough).
I simply added Wilson's gel food coloring to three evenly divided bowls of the buttercream icing and mixed until I reached a desired hue.

In order to create variation in the icing, and the swirling effect, I added one part of each color into the pastry bag, leaving room to add another color for blending.  Pastry bags that contained blue and purple inadvertently produced an iridescent shade.

To add a little cheer, I cut brown paper bags into small flags, attached paper flowers of a mixed variety with colored brads and attached them to a toothpick.  It's really easy to do and makes the miniature cakes look so much more fun.

Adds a little pop without being a huge hassle.  I was excited that they looked so nice and tasted so good! 

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