Big Cupcake Alert!

This was my first attempt at a giant cupcake and had no idea how it would turn out.  Needless to say I'm not over the moon with how it turned out but as with everything I'm sure with some practice they'll turn out better.  

First I must say the directions said to make 2 batches of cake mix...WRONG. I made two and had enough for 24 cupcakes with the leftover batter, so uhm no, 2 batches was way too much.  Then it said to bake for about 35-45 mins. Try again, it took 65. yeah 65. 

Anyway, I decided on red velvet since I know that's one of my friend's favs (it was for her birthday). 

Here's they are, all filled and ready to go! 

All done! My kitchen smelled wonnnnnnnderful

While the cupcakes cooled, I whipped up a batch of buttercream.

All cooled, I  had to level out each piece so they would fit nicely on top of each other then added a layer of  buttercream on the bottom piece

Placed the top on and ready to frost!

 All done!!  I used large "sprinkles" and edible pearls.

Ok so here's the scoop.  It wasn't that easy.  First of all, I let it cool almost an hour before removing it from the mold and guess what happened? The top part broke.  Good thing it was going to be covered by icing so you couldn't tell.  Next, I wanted to use the Wilton tip #22 and make little stars but I knew the buttercream wouldn't be firm enough so then my next idea was use the same tip but just make a huge swirl all the way around....nope, I started to and then it began to droop.  Damn.  I had no choice but to smooth it out with an angled spatula.  So all in all, it turned out "ok" but I'd love to try it again for a better result.   It's so big!

The Swirl or The "Poop"?

Topping a cupcake can be fun.  You have SO many options - flavors/types of icing, sprinkles, sugar, candy hearts, coconut, chocolate shavings, etc... the list goes on and on.  The one option that is my favorite is the type of tip you use to ice the cupcake.  There are several different tips that you can use that will create tons of different styles.  Here are some examples:

To get the smooth look of the green cupcake above, you need to use a large round frosting tip (try a number 1A or 2A).
To get the swirled looks of the purple and pink cupcakes above, you need to use a large closed or open star tip (try a number 1M or 1C).
One thing to note - if you're using sprinkles they often adhere better to the swirled frosting as they can settle between the swirls. If you're using cupcake toppers then I like the smooth frosting look.

I think my fav overall so far is using the 1M (like the purple cupcake). 
One thing I have noticed is a lot of bakers I see on TV and cupcake shops that carry "fancier" cakes use the 1A (like the green cupcake), but for some reason it looks like poop to me! haha. 

Another method I've seen a lot lately (which someone recently called "couture style") is not frosting all the way to the corners of the cake like this:

I don't think I really like that, not sure. Looks kinda naked dontcha think?

Playing with the different tips is certainly fun and you can create some neat designs (if you have the patience) so have at it!

Again, how does this NOT look like poop? heehee....