Continuing in the tradition during self-isolation of baking my feelings, today I made some gluten free cupcakes with buttercream succulents! Lest you think I put out the effort to make the cupcakes from scratch, I must tell you they came from a mix. We can only do so much, right? 😉 [HERE] is the gluten free chocolate cake mix I used. However, I did make the delicious buttercream from scratch, and it tastes divine! Did you know I used to bake wedding and birthday cakes to help put my husband through pharmacy school? Click [HERE] to check out a few of my favorite creations! This buttercream recipe is my favorite, because it isn’t overly sweet. If you whip up a batch for the next time you bake YOUR feelings, let me know what you think!

My Favorite Buttercream Recipe

1 C. unsalted butter
4 t. vanilla extract
4 C. confectioner’s sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 T. milk

DIRECTIONS:
Starting with room temperature, softened butter, cream until smooth in a mixer. Add confectioner’s sugar gradually, beating until fully incorporated. Next, add salt and vanilla. Add milk and beat for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Add 1/2 T. of milk at a time if consistency is too thick.

Next, I added a few drops of gel food coloring to a few bowls of buttercream in different shades of succulent green plus pink and white for accents. Whenever I’m piping flowers or leaves, I like to leave the colored buttercream a little under mixed or streaky, because this creates variegated coloration much like you’d find on real succulents, flowers and leaves!

Another tip for creating realistic colors is to load up the piping bag (or sandwich baggie in a pinch!) with more than one shade of a color. When the buttercream is squeezed out, the colors create multidimensional, realistic flowers and succulents, rather than being just one note.

I used multiple different piping tips and first practiced on a dinner plate to get the shapes and flow of the succulents I wanted to create. If you’d like to try your hand at buttercream decorations, I found an inexpensive starter kit [HERE] that should be useful to you! And now that I’m done baking my feelings, I’m off to eat some gluten free cupcakes with buttercream succulents!
❤️ERIN

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SOURCES:

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