Page 292 - Cupcakes

pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your
finger, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire
racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake
liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the
knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them
on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

the CupcakeDoctor says...

If you don’t want to pipe out 24 bows, you can easily pipe out Christmas
trees, Stars of David, or other holiday symbols and sprinkle them with the

decorating sugar of your choice. I used Wilton Vivid Red food color paste to
get the deep color in the frosting and set it off with red sugar sprinkles. You
can also keep the frosting white and sprinkle it with some white sugar
sprinkles or Wilton Cake Sparkles (big flakes of edible glitter) to give it a
snowy effect.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting, adding the red food coloring
once the frosting is sufficiently beaten. Start with 3 drops and blend them in
well. If the color isn’t red enough, keep adding more color 1 drop at a time until
the frosting is a deep red all over (or to your liking).

5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it
out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops
completely. Sprinkle the red sugar sprinkles all over the top, if desired.

6. Remove the meringue bows from the waxed paper, by pushing the bow
carefully from underneath the paper to loosen it. Sit a bow straight up on each
cupcake and place 2 meringue ribbons coming from the center of the bow to
resemble a gift-wrapped present. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Store these cupcakes for up to 3 days at room temperature. Don’t cover the

cupcakes or refrigerate them, as this will cause the bows to weep and wilt.