Decorating Cupcakes the Disney Way

We are expecting 7 girls tonight for my daughter's 10th birthday party! Instead of a homemade/decorated cake (I have a history of making crazy/creative/audacious cakes for my girls' birthdays...and some have been "caketastic" failures!), this year she requested cupcakes, more specifically, chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and peanut butter icing. Not too difficult. But I couldn't let them be just ordinary cupcakes. They need to be special. Birthday special. So I decided to take a few tips from the talented pastry chefs at Walt Disney World.

Here's my tutorial on decorating cupcakes the Disney way. Please keep in mind that I am an amateur baker, at best. In other words, if I can do this, so can you! Start with your basic cupcake--any recipe (or box) will do!



For the filling, I used a recipe from Martha Stewart's website. It's basically peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and marshmallow fluff.



For filling the cupcakes, and getting beautiful high mounds, I used a trick I got from a Disney online video tutorial years ago. With a small serrated paring knife, cut out a cone-shaped portion from the top of the cupcake. (Do this by holding the knife at a 45 degree angle, with the point of the knife at the center of the cupcake.)



Pipe a dollop of the filling into the hole, then replace the "divot" upside down to create a tiny mountain...like these.



Next, pipe icing (mine is a cup of peanut butter, a stick of butter, a teaspoon of vanilla, about a pound of powdered sugar, and enough milk to make it creamy) onto the cupcakes, starting at the bottom and circling up to the tip.





To add a little extra magic, I put chocolate sprinkles (Jimmies) around the edge. (This idea also came from the Disney tutorial mentioned above.) Do this over a bowl to catch any that drop. Hold the cupcake at an angle and gently press the Jimmies around the rim...like this.



And, finally, I garnish with a miniature peanut butter cup. Here's the finished product.



And a look at the inside.



And, in the interest of research, I did taste it...and, for the record, it's yummalicious!