Two-Tone Icing Swirl Cupcakes

This is a beautiful icing technique that looks difficult but is really so simple! I love the effect that it produces and the endless colour combinations you could use. It would be perfect to use on cupcakes fora baby shower, wedding shower, graduation, or any event that has specific colours associated with it. It's also a great technique for making icing flowers that have a more realistic two-tone colouring. Even if you're not a skilled decorator you can master this technique very quickly and produce impressive, unique looking cupcakes that will wow your party guests!

First you need to prepare your icing bag. I used a Wilton 1M star tip to create the big swirl of icing - but any star tip will work fine, it just depends on how big or small you want your swirl to be. Once you have your icing tip inserted into the icing bag, put the bag into a tall glass cup, tip-first. Fold the top 2-3 inches of the icing bag over the lip of the cup so that your icing bag is wide open. 

Separate your prepared icing (either homemade or storebought) into two bowls. Each bowl should have about 3/4-1 cup of icing if you are making 12 cupcakes. Dye each bowl of icing in the colours of your choice. You could also try using half chocolate icing and half vanilla icing instead of two different colours of the same icing. Take an angled spatula or butter knife and scoop out one colour of icing from the bowl. Smear the icing into one side of the prepared icing bag. The icing should be against one "wall" of the bag and not completely covering the middle of the bag. Repeat this technique with the other colour of icing on the other side of the icing bag. It's alright if it's not perfectly even, as long as the two colours are separated "vertically" in the icing bag. Next time I make these I will remember to take a picture to show exactly what this should look like!

To ice the cupcakes, apply even pressure to your piping bag and start your swirl on the outside edge of the cupcake, moving around and up in a circular motion. The two-tone effect may not come out on the first squeeze, so you may want to squeeze the first bit of icing onto a piece of paper towel or a plate until you see both colours starting to come out, then switch over to your cupcakes. If you run out of icing and need to refill your icing bag, then make sure it is completely empty of icing and repeat the filling technique from above. For less mess, you could also remove your star tip from the empty icing bag and start fresh with a new, clean icing bag. Continue until all the cupcakes are iced and then enjoy!