How to Decorate Strawberry Cupcakes

In most parts of the country, spring fruit includes fresh, sweet strawberries. Few flavors fit into springtime celebrations like pink strawberry cupcakes. If you're planning a party or just bringing some refreshments, add a little bit of special decoration to the top of your strawberry cupcakes. Use a small garnishing trick from professional chefs to turn your cupcakes from plain to posh. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Strawberry Fan Topped

Place a batch of white frosting into a mixing bowl. Add food coloring one drop at a time to tint the frosting any desired color. Stir the frosting and food coloring together after every drop has been added. Stop adding when you have reached a color that you like.

Rinse strawberries with cold water and drain them in a colander. The number of strawberries you need depends on the number of cupcakes you are decorating. Plan on one strawberry per cupcake, plus about five extra in case you drop some.

Place a strawberry onto a cutting board with the green hull facing down and the point facing up. Cut a slim slice on one side of the strawberry, from the tip almost through the hull. Leave a small amount of strawberry attached to the hull.

Make another small slice right next to the first one, about 1/8 of an inch away. Keep slicing the strawberry until you've made six to eight cuts, depending on the size of the berry.

Lay down the strawberry on its side on the cutting board with the slices laying flat instead of up and down. Push one side of the strawberry slightly to the side until the slices fan out, separating the point ends and keeping hull together.

Load a pastry bag with the frosting. Frost swirls on top of each cupcake by drawing a spiral shape with the lines of frosting. Begin at the outer edge of the cupcake and move toward the middle, piling up the frosting as you go. Add a strawberry in the center of each cupcake's swirl.

Strawberry Lemonade

Mix lemonade drink mix powder with a batch of white icing until you get a strong lemon flavor.

Frost each strawberry cupcake with a smooth layer of lemonade-flavored frosting.

Lay a candy lemon slice on a cutting board. Make a cut from the middle of the slice toward the rind, stopping just as the knife point touches the rind.

Twist the candy slice by turning one half toward the right and the other half toward the left. Place the curved candy slice in the center on top of the cupcake.

Tips

- Place fresh strawberries on top of cupcakes right before serving them to minimize the chance of juice dripping onto the frosting.