Cupcake a Week: Wreaths

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my kitchen! The holiday baking has officially begun so get ready, for cakes, cookies and candy galore! If you are looking for a festive and super simple cupcake to take to your holiday parties this year then look no further! I am going to show you how to make some wreath cupcakes today. So bake up your favorite recipe and whip up a batch of icing, keeping some white and tinting the rest green. I used Maratha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

To make the wreath you will need a piping bag and Wilton #67 leaf tip. The ends of the tip look like a small "v".

First frost all cupcakes with a layer of white icing. Then using your decorating tip go back and pipe green leaves to create the wreath. Hold the piping bag so the #67 engraving on the tip is on the side, not the top. Your tip should look like a "v" on top when you hold it up to your cupcake. Gently place the tip around the edge of your cupcake then squeeze, release and pull away...this will create the leaf. Repeat this motion all the way around the edge of your cupcake to create a ring of leaves.

Here is what you should end up with.

Directly on top of the first ring of leaves, pipe a second ring to give the wreath some depth and fullness.

Then add some sprinkles for decorations. I used multi-colored nonpareils to give the feel of a strand of lights!

You can also use some flat round red sprinkles if you prefer the look of berries.

Pretty simple right?

Have you started your holiday baking yet? What yummy smells and sweets are coming out of your kitchen this week?