hey, cupcake!

I feel like this might be one of those "mom secrets" that everyone already knew but me. But just in case you are still in the dark, like I was until this weekend, let me fill you in.

I was looking at a photo of some cupcakes on the Internet and I was noticing how perfect the frosting was on top. I realized that if I used my fancy frosting squirter from The Pampered Chef (I'm semi-positive that is NOT the real name) that I could pipe the frosting on the top with much more ease than trying to spread it on.

I gave it a try and sure enough! The frosting went on as nice as a soft serve ice-cream cone!

I made these cupcakes for my son's 8th birthday party. They were MUCH simpler than my usual attempt at decorating a full-sized cake. I just drew a little panda paw print on top of the white frosting, added a little ring of red or yellow frosting and topped it off with some figurines from the Kung Fu Panda movie.

OK... they aren't perfect, which seems so much more apparent now that I'm looking at the photo. But, fortunately, my critics of 7- and 8-year-olds didn't care. They thought they were cool. And the $12 cupcake stand makes everything look even more fancy.

Have you tried the frosting piping trick already? Seriously, I'm dying to know!