Sometimes I just need a little fun and a little whimsy in my life.  I love to make cupcakes for the kids and give them a few bottles of sprinkles and let them go to town decorating before devouring their little creations.  It makes a huge mess but they have a blast and I have ten to twenty minutes to enjoy a cup of tea and relax.  The frosting that I am using here is a classic american buttercream.  This frosting takes about ten minutes to make and the recipe I am giving should make enough to frost at least a dozen cupcakes using a piping bag.  If you wanted to just spread the frosting on your cupcakes you could probably get two dozen frosted.

I start with softened butter in the mixer.  I use the paddle attachment to beat the butter for about a minute with a little salt.  While the butter is beating I sift my powdered sugar (this eliminates any little lumps of sugar and gives you a nice smooth frosting).  I then turn off the mixer and add half of the powdered sugar and turn the mixer to a low speed and blend in the sugar.  I add the remaining sugar and blend that in on a slow speed.  I scrape down the bowl and add a little vanilla and a little milk and then turn the mixer to speed six for two minutes.  After about ten minutes of work I end up with this beautiful frosting

It really is good to go just like that, but if you really want to kick up the fun, separate the frosting equally into three bowls and add a few drops of whatever food coloring you like. I like to use gel food coloring which adds a great color while not making the frosting too wet. 

Once that is done, comes the most frustrating part of the whole process, dealing with plastic wrap.  Once you are able to successfully remove a piece of plastic wrap and make it lay flat, you then need to spread your buttercream onto the plastic wrap.

Then just fold your wrap to make a tube of buttercream

This tube then gets put into a prepared piping bag.  I used a Wilton tip 1M to make my swirls.

You are ready to pipe!  I like to start in the middle of my cupcake swirling around to the outside, then swirling back into the center of the cupcake, which gives the cupcake a good amount of frosting.

American Buttercream

Ingredients

• 1 Cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp Salt
• 4 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 – 2 Tbsp Milk

Add Butter and Salt to stand mixer and beat for one minute at speed four.  Add in half of powdered sugar, mix at speed two until combined.  Add in remaining powdered sugar and mix at speed two till combined.  Scrape down sides of bowl.  Add 1 Tbsp of milk and vanilla and beat  at speed six for two minutes.  If the frosting is too stiff add the rest of the milk and beat at speed six for another minute.