Decorating Holiday Wreath Cupcakes with Jennifer Shea of Trophy Cupcakes

This post comes courtesy of Jennifer Shea, owner of Trophy Cupcakes. 

At Trophy Cupcakes the holidays really are the most wonderful time of the year. Buttercream Snowmen, sparkly sugar topped ornaments and fanciful wreath cupcakes deck our halls from Thanksgiving to New Years Eve. Simply put, we just love the holidays. So, grab some confetti and your piping bags and let’s have a decorating party!

Our wreath cupcakes are easier to decorate than they look and are sure to impress all of your holiday guests.

1. Start by gathering everything you will need:

• Your favorite unfrosted cupcakes
• A pastry bag fitted with a #366 Wilton tip (or other medium leaf tip) and filled with green buttercream  (Note: for your buttercream: tint three quarters of it green, divide the remaining one quarter and tint half red and leave the rest white)
• A pastry bag fitted with a #4 Ateco tip (or other small round writing tip) and filled with a small amount of red buttercream
• A small bowl of white buttercream
• Clear sanding sugar
• Red nonpareils or similar sprinkles
• An offset spatula

2. Frost the background of your wreath

Using an offset spatula, frost a circle of white buttercream on top of your cupcakes. Try to make the circle as round as possible since you will be using it as a guide for piping the first row of your wreath.

3. Pipe your first row of the wreath

Using your pastry bag filled with green buttercream and fitted with your leaf tip, pipe one row of leaves around the perimeter of your cupcake. When using a leaf tip it should look like a bird’s beak from the side (i.e. hold your pastry bag so the “beak” is perpendicular to your cupcake). Squeeze, release and pull away quickly to achieve the small leaf shape.

This row of leaves should have their tips point away from the middle of the cupcake. Pipe leaves side by side all the way around the perimeter of your cupcake using the white circle of buttercream as a guide.

4. Pipe the second row of the wreath

Pipe the second of leaves inside of the first row. For this row, the tips of the leaves should all point in toward the middle of the cupcake. Pipe all of the leaves close together.

5. Pipe the final row of the wreath

Pipe the final row of leaves so they are overlapping the first two rows, use the “seam” between the first two rows as your guide. For this row pipe one leaf  pointing out and one leaf pointing in. Go back and forth, one out, one in until you complete the last row.

6. Now, the finishing touches!

Sprinkle the green leaves with clear sanding sugar and red nonpareils (or the sprinkles of your choice). Pipe a small bow with your red buttercream using your writing tip. Voila! Gorgeous and yummy wreath cupcakes!

Happy decorating and happy holidays from all of us at Trophy Cupcakes!

About the author: Jennifer has been baking and party-making since she leveraged Grandma’s pumpkin roll recipe into 4-H blue ribbons as a little girl. As an adult, she became a confection creator extraordinaire to her friends, baking up desserts for countless baby showers, birthday parties, and weddings. Jennifer combined her personal and professional baking experience with a nutrition degree from Bastyr University, where she did not become a sworn enemy of sugar, but rather learned the importance of quality ingredients—a trademark that infuses her baking today. In 2007, Jennifer and her husband Michael Williamson flipped on the vintage schoolhouse lights at the first Trophy in Wallingford Center, and Seattleites seeking a premier dessert destination lined up. Customers and press praised Jennifer’s cupcakes, and Martha Stewart lauded them as “utterly delicious.” Two additional locations (University Village and The Bravern in Bellevue), and a young son (Fleetwood) later, Jennifer runs around a lot these days, but can most often be found dreaming of and testing whimsical flavors like Pink Champagne and Piña Colada to add to her always creative and dependably delectable desserts.