I am hopeless at making cakes :(

Without seeing a photo of the cupcakes you made and the recipe you used for your frosting, it would be very hard to trouble-shoot your process. "Whippy" is not exactly a technical term, so I'm not sure what you were going for in the first place. Can you give us more information?

photo would not come up.  A site I found today has good ideas (glorioustreats.com)  but you can do it or come up with something else if I can do cakes anyone can,have fun and enjoy.

Do you mean you wanted the frosting to be taller & whippy around the cupcake or do you mean whippy texture?

From the photo, it looks like your swirl is just on the surface.  The color is really kinda neat.  I start on the outside edge of the cupcake.  As you swirl around, only move inside shortly so that they kind of overlap.  This will make them taller.http://www.verydeliciousdesserts.com/#!Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Cupcakes/zoom/c1204/image2vd

You should either use 1M or 2D tip. Also your frosting might have been a little too runny and should have been thicker. What frosting recipe did you use? Here is a video showing 4 techniques to do cupcakes below. Don't give up maybe it was your icing recipe was not thick enough!!! If you are using the frosting that comes in the can like Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker then it is not thick enough for the below kind of piping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYy2uiK6T94
 

This is the recipe I use below.

2/3 cup shortening(Crisco sold in bars like butter)

22 tablespoons butter

1/ 4 to 1/2 cup Liquid heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pounds (4cups) 10X sugar (I use maybe 3 cups)

If you only did cupcakes you may only need half of my ingredients. I start out with 1/4 cup of whipping cream and only add more if icing is too thick. Also you can add corn syrup about 1 tablespoon to making icing have more elasticity. You use grams so I really do not know how to convert over to grams. The whipping cream makes it very light and fluffy.

I am sure others will have some better recipes than me but this is the recipe I stick with since everyone loves it that I know. Wish I had Indy-Deb's buttercream recipe but I somehow lost it.

Hello all - did you know you could post You Tube videos direct into our forums now?  Just click the filmstrip icon above and paste the You Tube address direct into it.  Like this:

Thanks Scratch, I did not know that!! Appreciate the information about videos!!!  You are wonderful!!!

Yay!  I have one in my fan club.  Help me fight off the other 999 members with pitchforks... 

Whatever!  You have way more than 1 fan. At the VERY least you have 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by remnant3333 

This is the recipe I use below.

2/3 cup shortening(Crisco sold in bars like butter)

22 tablespoons butter

1/ 4 to 1/2 cup Liquid heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pounds (4cups) 10X sugar (I use maybe 3 cups)

 

If you only did cupcakes you may only need half of my ingredients. I start out with 1/4 cup of whipping cream and only add more if icing is too thick. Also you can add corn syrup about 1 tablespoon to making icing have more elasticity. You use grams so I really do not know how to convert over to grams. The whipping cream makes it very light and fluffy.

 

I am sure others will have some better recipes than me but this is the recipe I stick with since everyone loves it that I know. Wish I had Indy-Deb's buttercream recipe but I somehow lost it.

Do you only use this recipe for your cupcakes or is this what you do for your cakes as well?