"We're known for our Red Velvet cupcakes!"

Are you?  Really?

No fewer than half of the cupcake bakeries I have been to in LA have told me some variation of that sentence.  Now, the thing is, if they're all known for Red Velvet, aren't they all sort of not known for it?

What I mean is, if every bakery has spectacular Red Velvet, they what would bring a customer to one over another?  Nothing but loyalty or curiosity I suppose.  The thing is, as a newcomer to any given bakery, sometimes they fool me into thinking they really do have the best ones.  And then I try them and am inevitably disappointed.

The fact is, Red Velvet cupcakes just aren't all that good (with the exception being the ones at Famous Cupcakes in Beverly Hills, where I got a free sample of one and it really was that good).  They're extremely popular right now, but besides being freakishly red, they're not special.  I think what people like is the cream-cheese frosting (which, I might point out, could be put on any cupcake) and the fact that the things are called "Red Velvet."  Velvet sounds luxurious and sophisticated somehow.  But you know what, it's a cupcake, not fabric.  It is still loaded with [deliciously sweet] sugar and enough calories to count as dinner.  

Don't get me wrong, I've tried to make them a few times, but they always seem not to come out quite right.  Why do I bother?  So come on, cupcake bakeries of LA.  Put your efforts into another flavor, and PLEASE stop telling me you make the best Red Velvet cupcakes because you probably don't.  

The cupcake heaven that is Los Angeles

Perhaps the title of this entry is misleading.  It makes it sound like I have found a heaven where cupcakes go after they’re eaten.  What I really mean is, Los Angeles is a heaven for one who loves cupcakes (one who loves cupcakes = me). 

I have been here less than one week (yes, I just moved from the east coast all the way to LA) and have already tried cupcakes from four different cupcake bakeries.  This is not my fault.  I did not seek them out.  Rather, I stumbled upon them because THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. 

Let me start from the beginning.  I was in Santa Monica with Nick, and we were on the way back to the car because the meter was about to run out.  When we passed Yummy Cupcakes, we (or rather, I) couldn't resist and had to have a cupcake.  I believe that by that point I was going through cupcake withdrawal after not having had one since a couple of days after the wedding.  

The place was magnificent.  I was just gaping at all of the cupcakes, and each flavor looked better than the last.  I went with a favorite of mine, coconut.  There may have been a little too much frosting, but other than that I have no complaints.  I also tried Nick's Junior Mint cupcake, and it was SPECTACULAR.  It really tasted exactly like a Junior mint and was so creamy.  In fact, it was better than the coconut one.  I have to admit, Yummy's mint frosting put mine to shame.  I have some work to do.  

The next stop was Dots in Pasadena.  I got a chocolate-hazelnut (just like mine, only a lot better) mini and...hmm.  I have no idea what the other flavor was.  Now that's not a knock on Dots, it's just have had so damned many cupcakes that I can't remember what flavors I've tried anymore.  Is that bad?  

Third came Polkatots, also in Pasadena.  Though I wouldn't call it my favorite cupcake bakery, they had one of the best flavors I've ever tasted. It was called dolcissimo:  dulce de leche cupcake with dulce de leche frosting.  Holy shit.  I got a mini of that, and also a lemonade. 

Finally, I went to Mrs. Beasley's, once again in Pasadena.  I had a mini red velvet and a mini peanut butter.  You know what?  They weren't very good.  Waaaay too much frosting, and not very much flavor in the cake itself (though that could have been because the frosting was so overpowering).  To be fair, I ate them when they were still cold (the lady told me to wait until they got to room temperature.  I am not capable of waiting to eat a cupcake.  Silly lady).  But really, with all of the other amazing cupcakes, I feel like Mrs. Beasley's has little hope of competing.  (Unfortunately, the only pictures I have are from here.  After three unexpected visits to bakeries, I decided it was time to bring my camera with me).      

Dots had my favorite cupcakes, no contest.  Besides tasting great, I thought they were frosted the best.  They were hand-frosted but looked so perfect you'd swear a machine did it.  Yummy Cupcakes is in second with Polkatots following at a close third.  And Mrs. Beasley's?  Fourth and probably shortly falling to fifth and then sixth (it's a new week with many new cupcake bakeries to visit.  On my list is:  Sprinkles, Crumbs, Jamaica's Cakes, and Vanilla Bake Shop.  I'll be broke soon).     

Also, I finally have a new apartment and, therefore, a NEW KITCHEN!!! This one is so much better than my last one, and I plan to bake many (hundreds? thousands??) of cupcakes in it.  

DIY wedding cupcakes

only 4 of 6 lbs used

The thing that led me to start this blog was preparing to make wedding cupcakes, and now I'm done!  In fact, I was done a week and a half ago.  I'm not sure what my next baking goal will be, but let me tell you a little about the wedding cupcake tower...

So the day before the wedding, my friend Kristine and I decorated all of the cupcakes we'd made the week before and frozen.  We ended up using about 6 lbs of powdered sugar and 1.5 lbs of butter to frost the 90+ cupcakes we made.  About half got simple vanilla buttercream (from the Domino sugar box) and half got chocolate butter frosting.

I piped the frosting onto each one, an then Kristine immediately (to make sure they'd stick on) dusted them with chunky white sugar sprinkles.  The vanilla-frosted ones also got little edible pearls, which she pressed in one by one (you have no idea how patient she is with things like that).

Let me tell you, frosting dozens of cupcakes is time consuming!  I thought it was absurd when I called bakeries in February to ask how much wedding cupcakes cost (the answers I got:  starting at $3.50-$4.00 per cupcake; stand and setup additional!).  But with two of us working on them, this took a good 6 hours, and the cupcakes were already baked!  I guess somebody more experienced would be faster than we were, but really, it's a lot of work.  If you are planning to make your own wedding cupcakes, make sure you have the time!

Despite my prior failure are cake-decorating, I decided to have a small cake on the top tiered of the stand.

I made two 6-inch chocolate cakes (okay I really made 3, but the first one totally fell apart when I tried to get it out of the pan, reminding me what am amateur I really am).

And then I coated it with a thin layer of frosting to seal in the crumbs.  (I wish I had known to do this intuitively or something, but really I just happened to watch a YouTube video a couple of months ago showing how to frost a cake.)

Then I covered the whole messy, frosted thing with fondant (which, admittedly, I bought and did not make.  I figured Wilton knew what to do better than I did) because I didn't think I could get frosting to look very smooth.  And, finally, I make a border around the top and bottom with some Ateco tips (I'd love to tell you which ones, but as I am in the midst of a cross-country move, they are packed away on the roof of the car and I don't have the desire or ability to dig them out.  Some day, if you keep reading, you will know which tips I used.  That day is not today).  And then the florist made a pretty cake topper. And there you have it:  a [sort of] professional[ish]-looking wedding cake!

Besides oodles of cupcakes. we also had Italian cookies and a frightening amount of candy for people to eat.

And after all that planning and practicing, it's over!  I'm not sure what I should work on next.  Continue with cupcakes?  Practice cake-decorating some more?  Branch out and try a different baked good?  I have time to decide though, because right now I'm on the move and have no kitchen.  I do, however, hope to find a couple of good cupcakes along the way.  

Cupcakes have taken over the world (or just my life)

Word has spread among my family (and extended family) that I have a thing for cupcakes. And it's true, I really do. And I therefore now have and endless supply of cupcake paraphernalia, including (but not limited to):

• A cupcake apron (see the photo of me on the side...)
• A cupcake tray

• A Bonnie Marcus cupcake notepad (somehow I never realized the stressed/desserts connection even though I am often stressed and eating desserts)

• A cupcake bath bomb

• And there is a cupcake bench on the front porch of my grandparent's house for the wedding

So basically I could sit on the bench and serve you cupcakes from my cupcake tray while wearing my cupcake apron and...well I'm not sure how the bath bomb fits into this scenario.  Be creative.

I love absolutely every cupcake gift I have been given.  However, every time I look at one (which is pretty often considering how they have attacked from all sides and seem to be in every room I enter) I GET VERY HUNGRY. I mean really, look at that bath bomb; it looks real, right down to the little paper liner!  How could I not want to eat it?  And it smells like coconut (which you know I love).  Really people, you're killing me here. 

Lots and lots and lots of cupcakes

Ugh, I haven't written in weeks! In my defense, in the past two weeks, I have: had my first of two bachelorette parties, packed up my entire apartment, graduated from college, had a bridal shower, and baked 96 cupcakes for my wedding.

All of those cupcakes were baked yesterday, and it wasn't actually that difficult or time consuming to do them all. I'll be honest -- we (Kristine and I) used Pillsbury cake mix. Hey, look, after all my baking over the past few months, I never found a chocolate or vanilla cake recipe I loved. And the box mixes were easier for how many we were making. Don't judge me.

Anyway, the wedding isn't for a week and two days, so we had to freeze the cupcakes and we'll frost them the day before. So to keep them safe and un-freezer-burned, we wrapped each in plastic wrap and then also put them in freezer bags (we attempted to suck the air out with a straw to make them vacuum sealed, but it seeped back in. We ended up lightheaded and with air-filled bags)

I've decided to stick with simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and frosting (in each combination). I figured almost everyone will like one of them, and if not, they will not be left out of the sugar indulgence...

...because we have a ridiculous amount of blue and yellow candy. I'm talking 5 pounds of gummy bears, hundreds of those candy sticks, and pounds of candy coated chocolate. We may have gone a little overboard. Maybe. But I think I'm becoming immune to sugar with all that I've been eating. At my first bachelorette party, I had amazing raspberry-blueberry-cheesy crepe things from a place called Duck & Bunny...

...followed by a red velvet cupcake for dessert.

After that I had probably a dozen mini pastries during graduation weekend, and then at my shower we had: chocolate fudge, Hawaiian cake (yellow cake topped with pudding, pineapple, whipped cream, coconut, and walnuts), carrot cheesecake, mini raspberry cheesecakes, and mini Oreo cheesecakes. I tried each and every one of those desserts. To be honest, I feel kind of sick. And there is lots of junk food yet to come...

Red Velvet, take two

Martha Stewart knows how to create a damn good cupcake. I found this Red Velvet Cupcake recipe on her website, and they are soooo fluffy (I think because of the cake flour. Side question: should cake flour smell weird? I'd never used it before, and I googled it and found that it is chlorinated [sounds healthy, right?], so maybe that's why it smells weird? If it should smell neutral like good ol' all purpose flour, let me know so I can get rid of the stuff I have!)

Anyway, the cupcakes are moist and fluffy, but they are not red. But I don't think they're really supposed to be, because the ones pictured in the cookbook aren't either. From now on when I make red velvet anything, I'm leaving out the food dye. It never works anyway. Plus, I added a few drops of really strong Americolor dye to just a little bit of batter to see if I could actually get red cupcakes, and they tasted AWFUL. Very bitter (I always assumed food dye was flavorless. I was wrong). Here's a link to the recipe.

I didn't use her cream cheese frosting recipe though, because I don't like it with so much cream cheese. I used slightly different amounts than are typical to get a stiffer, sweeter frosting.

Less Cream-Cheesy Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. regular cream cheese
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into about 6 pieces
1 t. vanilla (imitation or pure)
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1. Beat together cream cheese and butter until well-combined and fluffy
2. Mix in vanilla
3. Mix in powdered sugar in 2-3 batches (so as not to end up covered in powdered sugar by the end)

I just spread the frosting on, but it might have been thick enough to pipe, especially if I'd stuck it in the fridge for 5 or 10 minutes. I used more sugar and less cream cheese than other recipes, and I think the proportions work out better, though if you prefer it tangy add more cream cheese.

Here is my not-at-all-red batter

I used red liners, hoping they would give the illusion of red cake. Didn't really work, but still.



And here are the somewhat red and freakishly pointy experimental cupcakes from the end:

I really don't know why it looks like that. I'm so paranoid about food dye right now that I am blaming it. Apparently it served as a growth hormone for my cupcakes. Creepy.

Back to basics

I promised to bring cupcakes to my last fiction class (and last class ever I hope!), and got kind of worried about that promise after last week's chocolate-mint fiasco. Plus there was my attempt at root beer float cupcakes on Friday (I realize this is the first you've heard of these cupcakes. That's because I had such problems with them [such as not tasting like root beer in the slightest and not being frosted with the intended whipped cream, which once again failed to whip into more than a viscous liquid] that they weren't even worthy of being blogged about. Sad) that left me seriously doubting my baking abilities.

So for my class, I decided to take the easy way out and go with some nice standard yellow cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla frosting. Not only that, but I used a box of yellow cake mix instead of making them from scratch because I have yet to find a yellow cake recipe that I like (though now that I've bought vanilla extract I'll probably have a bit more luck. If you have a worthwhile recipe for yellow or white cake, email it to me please!).

I just made standard vanilla buttercream (butter + powdered sugar + vanilla + milk) and dyed it pink with the new food dye I bought. I got it at a cake-decorating store instead of the grocery store, so it worked really well with very little dye. The brand is AmeriColor (never heard of it before, but the lady who owned the store said it was the best, even better than Wilton, and she was very intense about cake-decorating so I'll take her word for it) and the color is fuchsia. I also got royal blue and egg yellow and had good luck with those on my cupcakes that did not resemble a root beer float in the slightest.

For the chocolate frosting, I used my favorite recipe (and by favorite I mean the only one I've ever used) from my 1969 Betty Crocker cookbook.

Chocolate Butter Frosting

fills and frosts two 8 or 9" layers
(or about a dozen cupcakes if piped on)

1/3 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate (cooled)
2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
about 2 T. milk

1. mix butter and cooled chocolate
2. mix in powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla
3. beat until fluffy

Really easy and really good. Make sure you use it as soon as you're done beating it because as the chocolate hardens the frosting gets dry and it's hard to spread (or breaks apart as you're piping it as it did for me).

I used the Ateco #829 for the chocolate frosting and the Wilton 1M for the vanilla. I've changed my mind now and I like the Wilton one better, so I'll definitely use that for my wedding cupcakes (to come in just over a month!).

I have two questions for all of you out there:

1. If you have a good, flavorful yellow cake recipe, can you give it to me?
2. How do I make whipped cream that actually gets stiff??? I tried not adding the powdered sugar and vanilla until I'd already beat it some. Didn't work.

Thanks!

Coconut is the best thing ever

And that is not hyperbole.

Okay so it's definitely hyperbole, but coconut is pretty damn good. My internship is about to end, and I want to go out with a bang and bring in some really amazing cupcakes. The goal: coconut cupcakes with coconut frosting.

I got the recipe for the cake part from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I changed it slightly because they were supposed to be coconut lime cupcakes and I only wanted coconut. And I didn't make them vegan. And I tried to make it slightly less fattening by using a bit less coconut oil and milk (not that anyone eats a cupcake expecting it not to be fattening). So here's my [doubled] version...

Coconut Cupcakes

1/2 c. coconut oil
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. light coconut milk
2/3 c. skim milk
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
dash of salt
1 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. melt coconut oil in the microwave (10 sec., then stir, then 5-10 more) or in a saucepan over low heat
3. mix together coconut oil and sugar
4. add coconut milk and skim milk
5. add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; mix
6. stir in coconut
7. pour into lined cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes (possibly longer for you since my oven is weird)

This recipe ended up making 23 cupcakes, and I definitely under-filled some of the liners, so it would make about 20 or 21 of the right size. As usual, I skipped the vanilla (I swear I'll buy some soon), and I also skipped the coconut extract that the original recipe called for (put in 2 t. of vanilla and coconut extract to stay true[r] to it).

On their own, these were merely okay. But as I have come to learn, the frosting is crucial in making an excellent cupcake. It is the icing on the cake. Literally.


Coconut Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 T. coconut oil
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 1/2 T. light coconut milk

1. mix together the butter and coconut oil
2. add powdered sugar and coconut milk; beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes)
3. After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle some unsweetened coconut on top
   

Oh my god. This frosting tastes AMAZING. It's just a fluffy mouthful of coconut, and it really complements the cupcakes well because they aren't too sweet on their own. There was enough frosting to frost 22 cupcakes pretty thickly (though not as thick as piping it...then you'd need a lot more). I was trying to frost them in this cool swirl pattern, but I was only moderately successful. Whatever, I'm very very happy with how they look! They're probably my favorite thing I've baked so far, though I'm torn between these and the chocolate-raspberry mini cakes. I'll have to make them both again (and again, and again) to see which wins.

Orange-Creamsicle Cupcakes

I was so tempted to bake after my post yesterday that I immediately began on the orange-creamsicle cupcakes that I'd thought so much about.

Of course, as usual, things did not go exactly as planned. I started off with this recipe for white cupcakes from allrecipes. They were pretty bland on their own, which I'll admit was probably my fault because I left out the vanilla extract. You see, I don't have vanilla extract. And the reason I don't have it is that I don't like it. I never really understand the point -- it just makes stuff taste bad (like chocolate-chip cookie dough, which is very hard to ruin). And if I am going to use it, I like the imitation kind. But I think I have finally realized that it is necessary for some things, like white cupcakes. Next time I'll probably just use Pillsbury because they have mastered the art of artificial flavoring, and I simply cannot match it.

Anyway, the white cake was mediocre, but I figured the frosting and filling I had planned would redeem it. But then the filling did not work out as I'd imagined it. At all. I thought I'd use nice fresh, lightly-sweetened whipped cream inside. But my cream was unwilling to whip. It stayed kind of runny, and I knew it would just make the inside of the cupcake soggy overnight, so I abandoned the filling plan.

Alright, on to the frosting. I was actually reasonably successful with this (which is surprising because I just sort of combined things in random amounts until it tasted right).

Orange Cream Frosting

3 oz cream cheese
1/2 c. butter
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. orange juice (no pulp!)
Some yellow and red food dye

Miraculously, the frosting tasted like a creamsicle! It completely redeemed my failing cupcakes, such that I was able to feed them to people without the utter shame I expected from the initial results.

If I make these again, I'm going to use a different kind of cake. Maybe one with buttermilk in it. Or maybe I just need to suck it up and buy some vanilla extract. I also think the orange cream frosting might be really good on chocolate cupcakes instead.

No time to bake!

Sadly, I have not had time to bake lately (homework gets in the way of everything good). But that does not mean I haven't been thinking about cupcakes nonstop. Ideas I want to try...

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes. Could be gross, but maybe not.
  
• Coconut (and, variations like pina colada and mango-coconut)
• Orange Creamsicle (brings back childhood memories of eating the ice cream bars)
• White-chocolate Raspberry
• Chocolate Mint with Chocolate Ganache
• Maple

So many cupcakes to make, so little time to make them. Maybe I'll have a chance today (which may mean neglecting my homework. Hmm, what's more important?). Top on my list is Orange Creamsicle...

Chocolate-Raspberry Mini Cakes

Things did not start off well this morning with these cakes (though, in my humble opinion, they ended pretty well). I started with my great-grandmother's recipe for Wacky Cake (I have no idea what's "wacky" about it). It happens to be vegan, so you could easily make vegan frosting for it.

Wacky Cake
makes one 9" square cake

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. white sugar
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/3 c. oil
1 t. vanilla
1 t. apple cider vinegar
1 c. water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray and dust pan with flour, or use baking cups for cupcakes
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together
3. Mke a well in the middle and pour in the wet ingredients; stir
4. Bake for 35 minutes (if making a 9" square), or 16-18 minutes if making cupcakes
   

The batter is much thinner than most cake batters, but that's how it's supposed to be. Mine might have been a little too thin actually because I can't measure dry ingredients very precisely. You see, I don't have any dry measuring cups. That's right, I'm trying to become an expert baker with no dry measuring cups. Oh well, I just never seem to get around to buying them. Anyway...

Since I was making cupcakes (the mini cakes are just upside down cupcakes with no liners), I kind of just guessed how long to cook them. I filled each well in the cupcake pan about halfway because I wanted them to be pretty flat on the bottom when I turned them over, and then I cooked them for 16 minutes at somewhere between 325-350 degrees (you never know with my oven).

My first problem was that the cupcakes got sort of stuck in the pan even though I sprayed it, so I had to piece them back together a bit. No big deal since they were to be covered in ganache. Next problem: the cupcakes were so deliciously moist that they were too moist -- they were kind of tacky on the top, so as they settled onto the cooling rack, they got stuck to it (not to mention I dumped them out after they were out of the oven only 1 minute, which was probably not the right thing to do). I was feeling pretty discouraged by this point, but I wasn't about to waste them (waste=eat them all myself), so I kept going anyway.

I looked up various recipes for ganache and ended up with these amounts:

1 c. heavy cream
8 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped into small pieces
Boil the heavy cream (watch out, it will foam over quickly!), then pour it over the chocolate and mix with a whisk until it's smooth and glossy.

This made way more ganache than I needed for the dozen cupcakes and single layer 6" cake I made with the batter. I'd probably cut it in half next time for the amount of cake I had. To make it easy to pour, I put the ganache in a measuring cup, poured it on the cakes, and then spread it a little with a knife to get it to flow over the edge. It hid the crumbly mess underneath nicely.

Also, I had originally intended to add raspberry extract, but, wary from my experience with "Hazelnut Type Flavor," I decided to sniff it first. Good thing I did. It smelled awful and nothing like raspberries. The first ingredient was grain alcohol, and it smelled like it. So the raspberry part came in with the swirl of buttercream on the top. I used:

2 c. powdered sugar
approx. 5 T. butter
approx. 1/8 c. frozen raspberries, thawed and drained.

There's no need to add any liquid because the raspberries are wet enough. I also didn't need to add any food dye to get it that pretty pink color because the raspberries did it themselves. The frosting is nice and sweet and complements the dark chocolate-y taste of the cakes and ganache.

Things weren't looking good for a while, and I was pleasantly surprised that they turned out so well. Next time I'll try adding a bit more flour or less water or something to see it they get less sticky. Or maybe I need to cook them a little longer. Or maybe I need dry measuring cups. Ugh. I guess this will take a lot of trial and error (and will probably be heavy on the error).

Thank you, Italy

My idea for these Nutella-filled cupcakes came from having a massive jar of Nutella that I was either going to consume rapidly with a spoon or bake with and force-feed to other people. I chose the latter.

I started off with a basic yellow cake mix (Pillsbury, I think) and baked the cupcakes according to the directions. Then I filled a pastry disposable pastry bag with Nutella and used a frosting tip with just a round opening, maybe about 1/4" in diameter. Since the cupcakes were pretty fluffy, I was able to stick the tip into the top of each cupcake and fill them. My incredibly precise method for getting the same amount into each was to count to 5 as I squeezed the pastry bag. Of course, I have no idea if they're all equal because I did not personally eat every one of them (good thing, too, because I'm trying to avoid obesity until I'm out of my 20s).

Then I attempted to make hazelnut frosting. I bought hazelnut extract (the bottle suspiciously says:

Natural
Hazelnut
Type Flavor

What, I ask you, is "hazelnut type flavor"? Well, the emphasis was on hazelnut, so I decided to focus on that) and added about 1/2 teaspoon to the buttercream frosting recipe on the Domino Sugar box instead of vanilla extract. It calls for:

1 box (3 3/4 cup) powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Then I also added about a tablespoon of Nutella, which made it a nice light tan color. I liked the look of the frosting, but I was not a huge fan of the taste. It was too sweet, and the "hazelnut type flavor" did not taste much like hazelnut. If I make these again, I'll probably just add a bit of Nutella to the frosting and then maybe add a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder as well to make it less coma-inducingly sweet. Another option would be to use chocolate cake instead of yellow cake because it tends to be less sweet.

Overall, not a bad experiment. The people at my internship liked it at least, and as long as other people enjoy them, I'm happy.

Frosting tips

As I searched to find the right pastry bag and frosting tips (also called pastry tubes and potentially not called frosting tips, it's just what I call them) to frost cupcakes a couple of months ago, I could not find a good source of information that told which tip would give which results. The way I ended up with the two different tips I have was by getting one from a baker and one from somebody who works at a cake decorating store. If you don't have the luxury of talking to people in those positions, this will probably help.

Okay the first tip I got was an Ateco 829 (right side of the top image), and the result was:

It was surprisingly easy to use. I thought I'd need lots of practice before I attempt to decorate cupcakes for my wedding, but the first cupcake turned out perfectly. It's foolproof.

I also have a similar tip, a Wilton 1M (left side of the top image, that is just a bit smaller. Using it makes:

I think I like the Ateco one better, but they're so similar I'm not sure I care too much. Both make cupcakes look impressive despite taking little effort to use. I definitely recommend buying some (but be prepared to make about double the frosting you normally would because they make a very thick layer are artery-clogging goodness on your cupcakes).