Hubby and I don’t really celebrate Valentines day, mostly because things get marked up for this occasion, but also because we end up spoiling each other throughout the year anyway. However, since it’s our first Valentine’s day as a married couple, I decided to bake something a little special 🙂

I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes and some swiss meringue buttercream frosting, and then tinted the frosting in shades of light pink and peach. I originally wanted to keep some white frosting but it slipped my mind when I was adding the colouring.  I love the taste of swiss buttercream, but unfortunately doesn’t have the best consistency for piping flowers.

It was my first time piping flowers onto cupcakes, so I chose a few basic flowers based on the piping tips that I had. Hopefully I have a chance later on to take some videos/pics on how to pipe the flowers myself!

	Hydrangea Tip: Wilton 2D Pipe individual stars along the edge of the cupcake, circling to the center. Pipe a second layer on top of the inner circle of the cupcake to create height.
	Rose Tip: Wilton 2D Hold the tip perpendicular to the cupcake, starting at the center of the cupcake. Pipe frosting to wrap around the centre, continue until you cover the entire cupcake.
	Ruffled Rose Tip: Wilton 104 Start with a dot of buttercream in the center of the cupcake (a regular round tip may be easier for this). With the petal tip thin side pointing up, wrap one layer of frosting around the dot of buttercream. Angle the tip outwards (with the thick side of the petal tip touching the base of the cupcake, and the thin side pointing towards you), and pipe frosting while spinning the cupcake until you cover the cupcake.
	Chrysanthemum-like flower Tip: Wilton 104 Starting on the outer edge of the cupcake, create a petal one at a time by piping a “loop”, as if you’re following a mini upside down U.

I used old recipes for the cake and the buttercream, however the recipes are very close to these:

Chocolate cupcakes: https://addapinch.com/the-best-chocolate-cake-recipe-ever/
Swiss Meringue Buttercream: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/12/swiss-buttercream-meringue-frosting-recipe.html

Pretty happy with the results, but some hints of white would have made it pop even more I think. Happy Valentines Day!