Striped Cupcakes for Memorial Day

I've striped a bag of icing before, but it was royal icing and for a very different project: piping roses with a striped edge. I wanted to see if the same effect would work for cupcakes (as you can see above, it did!). First, bake up a batch of yummy cupcakes. I really like liners by Cupcake Creations; check out how the white parts of the cup remain white, even when holding a dark chocolate cupcake (not all brands can pull that off). 

 Attach a star tip like the Wilton 1M to a piping bag. You probably won't need a coupler.

 These are my favorites for making red and blue icing; Super Red and Royal Blue by AmeriColor.

Cuff the bag over your hand, folding the bag more or less in half. 

 If you like to have a Pringles can around to act as a third hand, get it ready. I didn't wind up using it, but it might be a good tool to have close by.

 Dish up a couple of spoonfuls of white frosting in small bowls…

 …and use whichever colors you like. I made these for Memorial Day, and can imagine doing an encore for the 4th of July.

 It's a good idea to keep a supply of cheap crafty brushes that are used only for cake projects. Swab one of them into the frosting…

 …and paint a couple of stripes into the bag. Push the brush as far into the tip as you can, and paint the stripe a couple of inches up the side of the bag. I thought of painting a stripe of each color, but thought the likelihood was high that they might mix together, giving me a rather unpatriotic shade of purple. I painted the two stripes near each other, because I figured I'd keep the non-striped side on the underside where it wouldn't be seen. In retrospect, I wish I'd made at least one more stripe (that's the plan for next time).

 Fill the bag with plain white frosting, being careful to not disrupt the stripes more than necessary.

 Pipe the swirl by holding the bag perpendicular to the cupcake. Start by piping a wreath around the edge…

 …then pipe a nice, tight spiral in the center. It almost looks like a flame!

 Thought you might like to see the blue bag as well…

…and how it turned out. I piped a smaller number of cupcakes with the blue, because blue is traditionally regarded as the most unappetizing color and I didn't want to be stuck with a surplus of them. 

 I hope you had a lovely Memorial Day! Get your piping bags ready for the 4th of July…