Two-toned frosting is beautiful, and making it is surprisingly easy. It’s sure to make your cupcakes look like they came straight from the bakery.
There are a few methods to make two-toned frosting. Pastry chefs use a spatula to pack one side of the pastry bag with one color of frosting and then the other side with another color.
We thought that seemed a little tricky to make even swirls, so we filled one small pastry bag with pink frosting and another with yellow. We closed both ends with a twist-tie, snipped the ends, and placed both the smaller bags in a third larger pastry bag mounted with our favorite star tip. We closed the third bag with another twist tie. When we squeezed the bag, we had perfectly-even swirls of pink and yellow.
To Make Flavored Frosting
Regular buttercream frosting is good, but it’s not great until you add flavor. Imagine luscious yellow and white swirls of lemon flavored frosting on a lemon filled cupcake, or how about caramel favored frosting over a Bavarian cream filled cupcake. Simply add one teaspoon of the flavor of your choice to your buttercream frosting. Color your frosting according to the flavor with Americolor food coloring for bright, vibrant colors.
With the two-toned frostings, you might want to try mixing flavors. Just don’t get too crazy, as the flavors may not always go well together. Perhaps try cherry mixed with vanilla, or maybe banana mixed with brown sugar. The possibilities are nearly endless.
How to Form a Frosting Rose
Traditionally, when we frost cupcakes, we begin on the outside edge of the cupcake and circle around towards the middle. This creates a high mound of frosting with a curled tip. Today, we wanted to try something a little more delicate and elegant–a rose.
Creating the rose formation on top of a cupcake is done exactly the same as the other way, only this time, start in the middle and swirl to the edge. With a star tip, the folds of the frosting lay over each other to form a perfectly placed flower. Lightly dust the frosting with some sanding sugar, and your rose will sparkle.
Consider Using a Square Cupcake Pan
This is one sure-fire way to catch the attention of your friends and family. We’ve been having a ball with this square cupcake pan in our test kitchen. It works well for not only cupcakes, but cheesecakes, brownies, cornbreads, and even square dinner rolls.
Don’t worry about the liners; round ones work just fine. 
With it’s welded-link construction, this pan allows for better air circulation, and therefore a more even baking for each cupcake.
Try Making Patriotic Cupcakes
Try Making Patriotic CupcakesPatriotic cupcakes are perfect for holidays like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day. They also make fun treats for scout meetings, or any other patriotic activity. Simply swirl blue and red frosting on a white cupcake and sprinkle a few blue and red jimmies on top. You can get creative with a star tip to make the frosting look like fireworks, or try poking mini flags in the cupcakes for a little more patriotic flair.
