My Questions for The Day!!

1. It never fails, when making cupcakes, they are almost always too big on top with massive side overhang making it impossible to decorate nicely. I use an ice cream scoop in ensure the same amount in each cup and I swear I'm not over-filling. Could anything else cause this or is it strictly over-filling.

2. Cookies. I've seen soo many of your incredibly flawless cookies and if I could I would do cookies and cupcakes over cakes any day. How do you get that flawless coat? Do you "flood" or pour icing over? And if you pour, what recipe do you use?

any tips for both would be appreciated. Like I said yesterday, this weekend I'm doing a football cake (I'll post pic when I"m done) and now 24 cupcakes to go along with it. OR I can do cookies. So, I need tips!! Thanks again and I'm looking forward to all of your advice.

1. I don't know of any other reason than overfilling. An ice cream scoop is actually a little much. You need to fill only about 2/3 full. I find that to be about a little more than half a standard ice cream scoop.

2. There are several options for the smooth cookies. Fondant or roller buttercream, both of which work similarly. Or you can flood with royal icing or glace. Try reading around in the cookie forum here, you'll find tips galore.

My favorite cookie icing (it dries firm to the touch, but soft underneath): Mix 3 T. of skim milk and 3T. of cornsyrup into 3 cups of sifted powdered sugar. Mix completely. Add 15 drops of brite white food color (optional), which helps prevent the icing from forming spots when it dries. Divide and color according to your needs. If you want thicker icing, add more powdered sugar. If you want thinner icing, add more corn syrup. Load the icing into decorating bags. Use a #4 tip and outline large areas. Immediately fill in with more icing in a zig zag pattern and then smooth the icing with an off-set spatula. For smaller areas, use a #2 tip. Thicken the icing to do details once the base icing has set. (I use a #1 or #1s tip for this). Allow the cookies to sit for 24 hours before bagging or stacking.

thank you so much for the information. Excellent stuff. Do you use a particular brand of bright white?