We are no professionals by any means but today we plan to show you fast simple, and fun ways to decorate cupcakes. “No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” –Julia Child

 Cupcakes come in all shapes and sizes but have you ever seen one you just couldn’t resist? › A cupcake that was just so cute it needed to be eaten › A cupcake that you just had to have › A cupcake like nothing you had ever seen before › Lets be honest what person hates cupcakes?!

 The first cupcake recipe was invented in It was a light cake that was baked in small cups.  Cupcakes were finally decorated with frosting in the 1920′s. Cupcakes were frosted in either Chocolate OR Vanilla Frosting.  During the years of the 2000′s New York city Magnolia Bakery gained tons of publicity by having their Cupcakes appear on HBO’s Sex and the City.

 Top 5 flavors 40% chocolate/ vanilla 37% Red Velvet 11% Carrot Cake 9% Peanutbutter 3% Lemon

 Ingredients needed: › 2 cupcakes: 1 yellow and one chocolate › White sprinkles › Frosting: red yellow and green  Directions:  Take cupcakes and cut in half  Layer cupcakes first yellow cupcake bottom, then chocolate cupcake bottom, then a layer of red frosting, then a layer of yellow frosting, then dots of green frosting near the edges, and to top it off the yellow cupcake top,  For finishing touches add some white sprinkles and you have the hamburger cupcake. By Leisa Jones Idea from

 Ingredients needed: › 1 chocolate cupcake, red frosting, Oreos, jumbo marshmallow, orange gumball. o Directions: o Frost the cupcake so it looks textured o Break Oreo in half for mouth o Cut jumbo marshmallows in half and use for eyes. Dot of black frosting for middle of eye. o Add orange gumball for nose. By Rosa Lemus Idea from

 Ingredients: › Raspberry curd. Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream and fresh fruit o Directions: o Carefully cut off caps with a serrated knife o Fill with whipped cream, ice cream and raspberry curd o You can also fill with other fresh fruits if desired By Doris Morillo

 Ingredients needed: › Chocolate Cupcakes, Shredded coconut, Oreos, and white frosting. o Directions: o Frost cupcake with white frosting o Take Oreo apart break one side in half for wings and use the other for the face o Add coconut shavings for feathers By Erin Richins

 Ingredients needed: chocolate cupcake, green, black and red frosting, and marshmallows. o Directions: o Frost cupcake with green frosting o Cut marshmallow in half, use for eyes o Add black frosting dots to eyes o Use red frosting for mouth. By Loan Trinh

 Ingredients needed: › Chocolate cupcake, Yellow and black frosting, mini chocolate chips, red M&M’s o Directions: o Start by putting yellow frosting around edges o Fill middle with chocolate frosting o Pour mini chocolate chips on chocolate middle o Frost red M&M to look like lady bug and place on top of mini chocolate chips By Annette Welch Idea from

 Altitude affects how the things we bake and cook turn out. Utah’s altitude of 4,327 feet above sea is considered high altitude.  Here are some tips for baking at high altitude › Reduce baking powder by 1/8-1/4 per tsp. › Reduce sugar by 0-2 TB per cup › Increase liquid by 2-4 TB per cup › Use cold water and extra cold eggs › Do not over beat eggs it adds air › Generously grease pans to prevent sticking › Fill pans 1/3-1/2 full so batter doesn’t spill over › Increase oven temp 25  › Reduce baking time 20% The complete refrence tool, California Culinary Academy and a number of websites: allrecipies.com, arapcsuext.org

 In the early 19th century, before muffin tins were available, cupcakes were made by baking the mixture in small pottery bowls  The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of “a cake to be baked in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simms.  The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.  The name “fairy cake” is a fanciful description of its size, which would be appropriate for a party of diminutive fairies to share. While English fairy cakes vary in size more than American cupcakes, they are traditionally smaller, and rarely topped with elaborate icing.  The first cupcakes did not have frosting as we know it, but instead were gilded with lard as a kind of cake-moistening gravy. Winston Churchill was the first person to suggest a kind of sweet frosting on the top of the cakes. He later blamed the frosting for his behemoth jowls.  While generally assumed to be about psychedelic drugs, John Lennon’s song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is actually about cupcakes. This came as a surprise to all Beatles scholars because it contains no mention of cupcakes or hidden references to them. John Lennon was later quoted in an interview, “You never know what you’re writing when you write a song, it’s only years later you realize the truth. You think you’re writing about other people, but you’re really writing about cupcakes. Goo goo ga joob. Imagine. Yoko Ono.”  Cupcakes can be baked in individual paper or foil tins, muffin tins, pottery cups, coffee mugs or ramekinsmuffincoffee mugs  You can add Pudding and/or Sprite to cake mix to make it more moist

 Guinness World Records largest cupcake in the world weighed one ton. It took 600 pounds of butter cream to frost it and had jawbreakers for sprinkles.  The smallest cupcake was baked in Great Britain. It was 1.5 centimeters high and 3 centimeters wide.  The record for eating cupcakes is 29 cupcakes in 30 seconds. 10 most popular cupcake flavors: 10-Vanilla, 9-Pumpkin, 8-Banana, 7-Coffee, 6-Chocolate, 5-Lemon, 4- Peanutbutter, 3-Carrotcake, 2-Red Velvet cake, 1-Chocolate/vanilla.