Cupcake Queen?

So my first attempt to create cupcake loveliness was all in all a good effort. I'm going to work on the cupcake base itself as it has been described as a bit 'dense' by tasters. I used The Hummingbird Bakery's cookbook so I will try another recipe next time. The icing of the cakes was much easier than I had previously experienced. Poli, my lovely teacher, tells me this is because I used a traditional piping bag this time. Last time I attempted to use a spray can icer (not the technical name), results were hideous!

So back to the lesson, once the piping bag was filled and nozzle fitted, a large nozzle is needed for cupcake swirliness. The next step is to start at outer edge of casing and circle around the outside. Each time you make the circle smaller and smaller until you end at the middle. The faster you go the tighter the swirl. For a 'high' cupcake you can keep building the icing up after cake is covered, just continue to go round and round.

Once the icing is done the fun comes. Choosing your decorations. Heart sprinkles, gold flecks, lustre spray, ball sprinkles and glitter. You really can let your imagination run wild. See the photos for some of my creations, although glitter doesn't photograph well, trust me it was on ALL of my cakes. I loved it!

My homework is to practice my swirls, I have the idea but my execution could be crisper. Also I'm planning on visiting Sugarshack in Kingsbury, the cake decorators Mecca. I am definitely writing a list, otherwise I could end up with the equivalent of a MAC counter in edible glitter.