With as many ways as there are to decorate cupcakes, they can be really boring if you just slap some plain icing on them. I like to make them fun and interesting, and one of my favorite ways to do that is with colorful, swirled icing.
Rather than mix food coloring into the icing, I use it to paint the decorator bag, creating a result so crazy and cool that you won’t believe you got it from such a simple technique. Let me show you how!
Gather the supplies
The first things you’ll need, of course, are cupcakes and icing! This technique works best with white decorator’s icing (see here for my recipe), but you can use canned frosting if you need to, just make sure it’s as white as possible. As for equipment, you’ll need some disposable icing bags, a star-shaped icing tip
Select the colors
The best part about this technique is that you can choose any colors you want and can customize it to the occasion. You can use orange and black for Halloween, red and green for Christmas, or pink and blue for a baby shower. A rainbow of colors makes for a fun child’s party treat (like Jo’s Candyland party) and can even look tie-dyed. Using team colors will make a great addition to any sporting event, from a child’s soccer game to a tailgating party.
You’ll be painting from 4 to 6 stripes of color for your icing, but you can repeat colors, so you really only need at least 2 different colors (up to 6 max).
Paint the bags
Okay, now for the actual technique! Attach the star tip and coupler to the disposable bag and flip the end of the bag out to form a cuff, so that you can reach the inside easier. Here’s where the glass comes in handy, as it serves as a holder for the bag. Put the tip of the bag in the bottom of the glass and let it stand upright.
Now use the paint brush to paint stripes of color on the inside of the bag, starting at the tip and going up about 3-4 inches. Each stripe of food coloring should be fairly thick and about 1/2″ wide.
If you are using 2 or 3 colors, paint two stripes of each color, alternating them. If you are using 4, 5, or 6 colors, paint one stripe of each color. Be sure to leave some space between each stripe.
The photo on the left shows me painting orange and black alternating stripes, and the result is on the right.
Here’s another example with a rainbow of 6 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple).
Fill the bags
Now scoop a bunch of white icing into the bag with a spoon. The stripes of color will be very easy to see now.
Twist the top of the bag to close it and squeeze icing out of the tip until it no longer flows white, but starts to show the colors you used. Pretty cool, huh?
Decorate the cupcakes
Now for the fun part! Squeeze the icing out onto the cupcake in any design or pattern you want. Here are some example patterns I like:
The results
Here are my finished cupcakes. You can see that the color starts out bolder and fades as you do more cupcakes. Eventually you’ll run out of icing in the bag, but unfortunately you can’t just keep adding more, because your color will get all used up. You’ll need to start with a clean bag each time you need more icing (which is why I like the disposable ones) and paint fresh stripes on it. You should be able to get about a dozen cupcakes out of one bag of icing.
For extra fun, why not combine this technique with our Cupcake Collars? These download-and-print templates will make your cupcakes really pop! We’ve got several designs so far, including Fourth of July, Fall, and Halloween.
46 comments so far:
Do you think it would work if I just used a Ziploc bag and snipped off the end?
Hmm, that’s an interesting suggestion, Pauline. In theory a Ziploc would work, but in practice I think it would give you a lot of trouble. The Ziploc isn’t going to be as stiff as the decorator bag, so I think you might have a hard time keeping the sides from touching each other as you paint the stripes. Also, because it’s square, it’s much wider and you might have a hard time getting your stripes of color on there.
So I guess a Ziploc might work in a pinch, but I think you would be frustrated and would get much better results with an icing bag.
Whichever type of bag you use, I really recommend using a star tip in the bag (rather than just cutting a hole in the end) so that you get nice decorative edges on the icing, rather than just round blobs.
Those are great! i love the simplicity of the idea. I’m going to link to this for my halloween series if you don’t mind
dot
Dot, we would love for you to link to us. Your site, Dabbled, looks really fun and I can’t wait to read more!
This looks like so much fun! I might have to try this in orange and black.
Those are super cute and creative!
Thanks, Rachel and Ann!
yes it would work if you use a ziplock and cut the end off. i saw alton brown do it last nite
on feasting on waves…just go slow, or it will pop off frodo
These are crazy cool!
These are super fun! Great demonstration!
way 2 marvellous !!!
Oooh, I am a cupcake lover and can’t wait to give these a whirl! Thanks!
These are gorgeous! You mentioned that liquid food coloring doesn’t work, how about the gel food coloring by Betty Crocker?
Nicole, I haven’t worked with the Betty Crocker gel food colors before, but as long as the gel is thick enough to stick to the sides of the bag when you brush it on, it should work fine. Please let us know how it goes!
These will work perfect for my son’s upcoming Webkinz party! Thanks!
I made them with a ziploc bag and it worked great! I put the ziploc bag inside a large cup. I didn’t have any paint brushes handy (since I just moved and they are packed away) so I just used a straw to spread in the Wilton food coloring gel. They look great! I cant’ wait to try it with a star tip next time!! You can see some of my pictures here, here, and here
Great job, Julie. Thanks for sharing your photos!
AWESOME!! tomorrow on my blog, i have my second attempt withthe batter, it cameout much better!! these are gorgeous, thanks for sharing!!!!
Thanks, Kathy. Can’t wait to see ‘em!
Youre really creative….its beautiful…!
I just love these cupcakes. I will be in Florida and will have to make do with whatever I can pull together. Hope they come out! Thank you for sharing these wonderful ideas! Sandy
Thanks, Sandy! We’d love to see your results. Feel free to post a photo in our Flickr pool!
P.S. If you’re making them for this weekend, you might like to check out my post about Fourth of July cupcakes, which use this technique as well as our new Cupcake Collars.
Just made them for the 4th…. they are awesome and so easy to do.
I made the cakes in the Foil Star molds and then using red and blue used the little stars technique.
They are easy and neat because everyone turned out slightly different.
Katrina, we are glad the technique was so easy for you. If you happened to take pictures of them before they were gobbled up. please send us one or add them to our Flickr group
Wooooooooooooooow
very nice thank you
Thank you sooo much for that tip! Im making cupcakes for my daughters 1st bday and its carnival themed. I went to partycity today and bought the food coloring gel, brushes, bags and tips….i spent $14. (Totally forget about the Ziploc baggy) Its so WORTH it to just buy the materials. I did a test run and it really works!! I just wanted to let people know, I’m totally not a baker. I’m using store bought confetti cake mix but this added touch makes it looks so professional. If I can do it ANYONE can. Thanks again!
Thanks, Rose!
Kimmie, we really appreciate you sharing your comments. This technique really is so easy that anybody can do it, and the results are so outstanding! And as you’ve shown, the supplies aren’t expensive, either, especially since most of them are reusable!
Hi…I was wondering if you’ve ever made these with cream cheese frosting? Do you think they would turn out okay. I’m making cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting and wanted to give it a try. They are terrific.
Hi Molly. You can use any frosting you like, but keep two things in mind: First, the frosting should be pretty stiff so that you don’t lose the shape of your design (just add extra powdered sugar if you need to). Second, the colors will look best on white-white icing, but cream cheese (or butter) will make it a little more off-white, so be aware that your colors won’t have quite the same bright and true look to them.
We’d love to see your cupcakes when you’re done. We’d also love to taste them, but I guess we can’t quite do that over the Internet yet
We are going to have a blast making these! They look like a ton of fun!
Chica, I just remembered a tip to make your icing extra-stiff (without it becoming powdery). I learned this from my sister who’s a chef. She adds a teaspoon of egg white to her icing. This gives it a quick crust and makes icing easier to work with. The tiny bit of egg does not effect the flavor.
Have fun with the cupcakes Rachel, and we’d love to see how they come out! You can post photos in our Flickr group if you’d like to share
As for the egg white tip, I know that royal icing, which dries rock-hard and is used for intricate work, has an egg white base. So it sounds like your sister’s tip takes regular icing one step towards that. The only suggestion I’d make is to use meringue powder instead of raw egg white, to avoid potential health risks associated with raw eggs. Thanks for sharing!
Hello, soy de Lima Perù y me gusta hacer torta a mis hijos y me has dado una buena idea…gracias por todos tus proyectos que presentas y de seguro lo voy a poner enpractica
Rosario, mi espanol no es bien. Pero, gracias por su comentario y por visitar nuestro sitio. Por favor, visita otra vez y esperamos que sus magdalenas resulten bien.
I have used ziploc in a pinch too, however, be warned. Even brand name ziploc bags have flaws. I’ve had several bags rip right down the seam of the bag making a mess and being a real hassle. HTH!
New to this site and loving it!
This swirled frosting will look great with tie-dyed cake batter. Off to the kitchen. Thanks for the inspiration!
You’re right, Paulette, it would look awesome! I did a little bit of that for my Fourth of July cupcakes this year, but I’d love to try it with a full rainbow. Please let us know how yours come out
Wow! This looks so exciting, i haven’t seen anything like this in the UK before… I really want to try this out… I am looking at disposable icing bags and i’m wondering what size i should use? On Ebay i can see 12″ and 21″… Any ideas… And Gel or Paste, which is best…
Love the site, keep it up!!!
Rach
Hi Rachel W. We’re so glad we could inspire you to try something new! 12″ disposable bags are plenty big. The 21″ ones are for professionals and are too large to easily handle. As for the coloring, from what I’ve seen, gel and paste are the same thing. As long as you don’t get liquid, you’ll be fine.
Good luck and we’d love to see what you come up with!
Thanks for the speedy reply! Ebay here i come!! Woooo
Oh dear… me again!
WOuld you have a basic cupcake recipe… most of the ones i can find are only for use in a bun tin, which is too shallow… I’d like to use my muffin tin to make them nice and tall… If it could come in grams i would love you forever!
Hope you can help!
Thanks
Rachel
Hello again Rachel W! I’ll be honest with you — I always use a box mix for cupcakes. It’s so much easier! I’m not sure how available box mixes are in the UK, though. I did a quick Google search and found this vanilla cupcake recipe that has metric measurements. I’ve never tried it before, but it looks pretty good
Hi Chica…
This is perfect! Thanks!
Have you got a facebook group at all?
Rachel x
Great, Rachel! We do have a Facebook Fan Page and would love for you to follow us
Well… i made them! Purple tie-dye swirly cupcakes…. The recipe you linked me was fantastic and your icing recipe was perfect, i would suggest that you only make half the quantity… i had no idea what 2lb of icing sugar looked like until i covered my kitchen, laptop and myself in it! Half was perfect for 10-12 cupcakes…
The technique was foolproof and i will experiment with more colours and probably rot my teeth out eating the leftovers….
Thanks!!
P.s.. The tops i cut off the cupcakes to make them flat were lovely sandwiched together with some icing too..
I’m so pleased for you, Rachel! We’d love to see pictures of some of your experiments if you want to post them to our Flickr group!