1M Tip to Make Swirl Designed Cupcakes

Description

Here is a simple technique using the 1M tip from Wilton to design cupcakes with a pretty swirl! It just uses the 1M tip and a pastry bag to pipe this fancy iced swirl. We found our frosting tips at a craft store like Michaels, but you may be able to find it at stores like WalMart that have a party section with Wilton products. We like to use our Buttercream Icing Recipe to make home made frosting but this technique works well with pre-made tub frosting as well. Fill a pastry bag or a freezer zip lock to hold your icing and use our tutorial to make the swirl design. Then decorate with your favorite sprinkles.

Ingredients

• 1 M Tip

• Wilton Decorating Bags or Freezer Quart Ziplocks

• Frosting of your choice

• Spatula

Steps

• Cut small tip off bag or ziplock. Slide 1M tip into bag and sit firmly in bag. Adjust as necessary. Always start small first and cut deeper as needed.
• Fold the top of the pastry bag down about half way. This makes it easier to spoon the frosting in the bottom of the pastry bag and keeps the top half clean.
• Spoon frosting into pastry bag. Push with spatula to the bottom of the bag. Fill about 3/4 of the way up. You need to have some leverage from the top of the bag to squeeze the frosting out.
• Pull the sides of the back up and twist the top of the bag. This will push the frosting down and remove air pockets. If you have air pockets, when you squeeze out your line of frosting you will have gaps in your pattern.
• As you squeeze the frosting out, adjust and twist the top to keep nice pressure on the frosting coming out in a smooth line.

Tips and Suggestions

• Fold top of ziplock over when spooning in the frosting, then flip back over after. It will keep it a little neater and able to push the frosting to the bottom of the bag easier.
• The pastry bags are easier to manipulate and much stronger. However in a pinch the ziplock will work too but use a freezer bag. It still may split if you are doing a lot of cupcakes as you put pressure on the bag squeezing it out.
• If you buy a set of tips, be sure to check this one is in it if you are planning to make this swirl design! We used the Wilton brand although I have seen others. I am not certain if they are standard sizes or not.
• They have cute storage boxes for tips but if you are purchasing large size tips, check to see that your container accommodates this size. We made that error!