When you start making cupcakes by the hundreds, some things are bound to go wrong… and some go surprisingly right. Below are some tips and tricks that I’ve learned along the way.***

· ALWAYS use real butter if you are making buttercream. My first attempts at Swiss buttercream were sad and drippy and wouldn’t hold up on a cupcake to save its life. This was mainly because I was using spread (particularly Imperial vegetable oil spread). However, now that I’ve started using real butter, my Swiss buttercream turns out beautifully every time. Real butter also makes my American buttercream silky and delicious. Also, you canNOT overbeat real butter. It just keeps getting more delicious. So before I make any buttercream frosting, I beat the crap out of the butter.

· One of my favorite frostings is cream cheese frosting. However, every time I made it, I couldn’t get it to stand up on the cupcake. It would just fall in a puddle. Sure it was delicious, but it looked horrible. However, after many test runs I realized that the secret to perfect cream cheese frosting is two things: 1) everything – including the bowl, beaters, and cream cheese – must be cold, fresh out of the fridge and 2) real butter is key.

· When you find a really good recipe – stick with it! And modify, modify, modify! You may notice as I start posting recipes that a lot of the key ingredients may be the same and the same measurements. When I find a good standard vanilla cake or chocolate cake, I stick with it. And if I want to make it a lemon cake, I add lemon and lemon zest and bam! I know the results will be consistently delicious. The key is knowing how to manipulate the recipe to make the kind of cake you want.

***Baking is a learning process. This page will change numerous times as my experience in baking grows. So keep checking back for more tips!