Cupcake Toppings for Great Cupcakes

There is a new trend in desserts that is all the rage in today’s world.  That trend is cupcakes.  But that doesn’t mean just the plain vanilla or chocolate cupcake with regular icing.  Today’s cupcakes come in many new varieties and flavor combinations, many exotic and exciting.  Think of a peanut butter and jam cupcake topped with maple cream icing.  Or how about a cappuccino cupcake with Grand Marnier frosting.  Those are just a couple examples of cupcake creations that you can bake in your own home.

Along with the great new tastes offered in cupcake recipes, the way the cupcakes are topped and decorated are new and trendy as well.  The simple swirl of icing on the top of a cupcake just doesn’t cut it anymore.  Although many good cupcakes are simple ones, today’s cupcake maker wants to go above and beyond the norm and offer truly beautiful cupcakes with unusual and highly decorative toppings.

If you are good with a pastry bag, you can create many different designs with just the icing alone.  The swirl of icing on top of each delicious can be modified to create flowers or leaves, or any other item from your imagination.  The icing can be tinted in so many colorful ways, including varied colors of the rainbow all on one cupcake.

Although cupcakes normally have a frosting of some kind, other cupcakes can have just a glaze and still be tasteful and appealing.  Consider a zesty lemon glaze on a vanilla cupcake with a lemon cream centre.  Add a bit of slivered candied lemon to decorate and you have a truly scrumptious beautiful cupcake.  You can also try a caramel glaze that would be very tasty.

You can use just about anything you can dream up to top your cupcakes and make them unique and attractive.  The baking or bulk food stores carry many ideas.  They have little shaped candies that can add color, whimsy and a bit of crunch to your cupcake toppings.  You can add chopped nuts, cut up chocolate candy bars or slivered candied peel to add a little more flavor to your cupcakes.  You can mold your own figures or designs from modeling chocolate to create fanciful cupcakes, or you can use marzipan in various shaped designs. Try using cookie cutters for shaping your cupcake cut-outs.

If you are making cupcakes for a wedding, shower or other elegant event, you may consider purchasing edible flowers to top your cupcakes and make them extra special. Flowers like the English Daisy, Chrysanthemums, Gardenias, Marigolds, Pansies or Roses are all good choices.  If you are adding real flowers to adorn your cupcakes, do make sure that the flowers are edible and not poisonous.

Another way to add a bit of crunch to your cupcake toppings is with crushed up cereal.  Sweetened cereals can be swirled in a food processor or chopped up with your knife (depending how fine you want it) and sprinkled over the top of your cupcake icing to add texture and a little more sweetness.  Cereals that you may want to consider are honey-granola types of cereals (that include crunchy bits as well as some types of nuts), and cereals like “Alpha Bits”, “Honey Bunches of Oats” or “Frosted Flakes”.

Fresh fruit is always a good topping for cupcakes.  Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, sliced pineapple, orange slices are all good choices, but you can virtually use any fruit.  Just make sure that if you are using a fruit like an apple or banana that you coat it in lemon juice so that discoloration does not occur to ruin the effect.

Sprinkles always create sparkling effects and beautiful results.  You can buy multi-colored candy sprinkles or sprinkles in one-tone colors.  You can use chocolate sprinkles or silver and gold dragees.  There are also new products on the market that you can use to beautify your cupcakes, like edible glitter, sugar pearls in all colors or candy rocks (they look like rocks or pebbles and turn into chocolate in your mouth).

If you are creative and wish to make unique stunning cupcakes, there are thousands of ways you can top your cupcakes.  Cupcake toppings can really add a lot of personality to your cupcakes and can really play up the theme of the event you are using them for.  Even if you are just making cupcakes for your own family, try surprising them with fun creative cupcake toppings.

Oh, those delightful, yummy cupcakes! Want to find unique, original, delicious cupcakes recipes? Try “The BIG Book of Yummy Cupcake Recipes” with 70 scrumptious new cupcakes recipes. Now on Kindle: The BIG Book of Yummy Cupcake Recipes

Here is a sample cupcake recipe from the cookbook:

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

1 ¼ cup. flour

1 ¼ cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

3 eggs, lightly beaten

½ tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking powder

Strawberry Filling

1 pint strawberries

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. gelatin

2 tsp. hot water

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. gelatin

2 ounces melting chocolate

1 TBSP. superfine sugar

1 tsp. vanilla essence

Prepare a baking pan with 12 paper cupcake liners.  Place softened butter and sugar into a bowl and cream together well (about 2 minutes).  Add in beaten eggs a little at a time, beating slowly between each addition.  Add vanilla.  Sift in flour, baking powder and cocoa and mix together for another minute. Spoon batter into prepared pan approximately 2/3 full.  Place the pan in the middle rack of your oven and bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove the pan from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tins and placing them on a wire rack to cool.