Frosted tips

In order to get that mountain of delicious frosting, delicately iced atop beautiful bakery cupcakes, you'll need the right tips. Luckily stores like Michaels are stocking up on these kinds of supplies. You will need pastry bags, which come in both fabric and disposable. Fabric are great because you can reuse them, but cleaning them out can be a pain! Frosting gets messy and when it's wet it's worse. Disposable might not exactly be environmentally friendly, but hopefully someone will come out with more green products. You will also need good pastry tips. In order to make that marshmallowy mound, you will need a large plain-style tip as well as a star tip.

To fill the pastry bag:
1. Cut a small hole in the tip. Insert pastry tip into the bag so the it sticks out of the pointed end of the bag, not so much that it comes through, but enough that you can pipe easily.
2. Bend back the top of the bag and fill. Close and twist to keep shut.
3. Pipe with your writing hand, using the other as a steady hand for the bag. Exert only enough pressure to make the frosting come out of the bag. Too much and it will explode!

To pipe the frosting:
1. Start on the edge and slowly work your way towards the middle, going around the entire cupcake, making circles and lifting the bag up. The circles should get smaller and smaller.
2. Alternately, you can start from the middle. The frosting won't be as high but the lines will be smoother.

Test out both tips and see which you like best. The star gives a more intricate design, while the plain tip is more classic cupcake-style. Happy baking! Send pictures to my Facebook page. Just look for Lizzy Bee's Bakery and Like me on Facebook!