I understand the concept and need to do one for the first time, but my question is.....how do you keep the cupcakes "together". when you put the icing on the top, I assume you must smooth it to some degree, but how do you keep the cupcakes from pulling apart? Thanks for all the tips.

To make sure the cupcakes don't pull apart, you will want to "glue" them onto the board using a little bit of buttercream on the bottom of each. Let it set up and then you should be good to go. I would still use a lighter touch, but they will be more steady. HTH!

I do these a lot. First, I lay out my cupcakes to the design I am making. Then take one at a time a put a squirt of icing on the bottom to "glue" them to the board. Then again using my bag with no tip draw a triangle in icing around the holes in between each cupcake then zig zag back and forth to cover the hole. Then go around the outer edge of your cupcake design, and then and fill in, again I do not put a tip on my bag. Once I have the entire area covered, I take a spray bottle of water and squirt all over. Take a HOT, WET offset spatula and smooth. It comes out as smooth as glass. Pop in the frig to let it dry, because it will be wet now. Decorate. HTH. I only have one in my gallery..it's the sunglasses (that look like a bra!) LOL