With summer just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share a fruity take on cupcakes with these strawberry, orange, and pineapple cupcakes made by Jennifer of Trophy Cupcakes inspired by my Oh Joy for Target summer collection! The cupcakes themselves could be any flavor, and I love how she transformed simple chocolate cupcakes into fun fruit ones with frosting, food coloring, inexpensive pastry bags and tips, and a little imagination. Here's how you make them too...
For the strawberry cupcake, you’ll need:
- red, green and black food coloring
- red or dark pink sprinkles and a pastry bag with a small round tip (Ateco #2 or #3)
- a small star tip (Ateco #16).
Here's how:
1. Tint part of your buttercream to the desired shade of red or pink.
2. Hand frost your cupcake with a flat top and make one side a little pointy so that from the top the shape is like a strawberry.
3. Place your sprinkles in a bowl, scoop up a generous amount in your hand and carefully dip only the edges in the sprinkles with your other hand. Use pressure to create more of strawberry shape if needed.
4. Now, make a small amount of black and green buttercream. Place the black in a small pastry bag with a small round tip and the green in a small pastry bag with a small star tip.
5. Pipe dots on the cupcake to make “seeds” and a few green segments to make the stem (see photo for reference).
To make pineapple cupcakes, you'll need:
- yellow, brown, and green gel food coloring
- yellow nonpareils or sprinkles
- an offset spatula
- fat pretzel rods
- 2 pastry bags and Ateco tip #842 & #2 or #3
Here's how:
1. Place about ¾ of your buttercream into a bowl and tint it the shade of yellow that you like.
2. Take the rest of the buttercream and divide it into 2 bowls. Tint one bowl brown and one green. Place the brown buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip (like an Ateco #2 or 3). Place the green buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip( like Ateco #842).
3. Place a scoop of the yellow buttercream on each cupcake. Now frost the cupcake so the top is flat and the sides are a 90 degree angle. Use your off set spatula to make the shape a little oblong (like a pineapple).
4. Now take your pastry bag with brown buttercream and make a cross hatch pattern (see photo) and place a dot in each opening.
5. Now place your yellow nonpareils (or sprinkles) in a bowl. Cup one hand and scoop up a generous amount of sprinkles. Pick up a cupcake with your other hand and carefully dip only edges of the cupcake in the sprinkles.
6. Now break fat pretzel rods into 2-3 inch pieces. Carefully poke the end into the side of your cupcake (the side that you want to be the top of your pineapple) until its secure (a good inch or two should be sticking out).
7. Use your pastry bag with your green buttercream to pipe several “leaves” to create the stem over the pretzel (see photo). Enjoy!
To make an orange slice cupcake, you’ll need:
- orange food coloring and sprinkles
- a small pastry bag fitted with a small round tip (Ateco #2 or #3).
Here's how:
1. Start by tinting part of your buttercream orange. Now hand frost your cupcake in orange buttercream so it has a flat top and the sides straight up and down.
2. Fill a small pastry bag fitted with your small round tip with white buttercream.
3. Pipe a circle on the top around the edge, then pipe straight lines to create the “segments” (see photo).
4. Now pipe tiny seeds (either in white or a lighter orange) in the inside corners.
5. Place your sprinkles in a bowl, scoop up a generous amount in your hand and carefully dip only the edges in the sprinkles with your other hand.
Finally, if you want to make your own cupcakes and frosting from scratch, here's a recipe for the chocolate cupcakes and vanilla buttercream we used here (but you can make any flavor you like as the base).
