Valentine’s Day cupcakes are a great way to celebrate the month of love and are a classic treat.
You probably already have your favorite flavor cupcake combination in mind for this Valentine’ Day, but here at the bakery we like to mix things up a little and wanted to share some of our favorite frosting recipes.
Let’s start with the basics.
Frosting is delicious (and addicting) all on its own, but to be experienced in all its glory, it needs to be crowing a delicious Valentine’s Day cupcake.
Of course you can always bake your cupcakes from scratch using your favorite gluten-free flour blend, but if you want to get to the frosting fun quicker, we’ve developed a few ready-made mixes to get your Valentine’s Day cupcakes off to a delicious start.
Our gluten free cake mixes come in chocolate and vanilla and are the pre-packaged equivalent of what we use here in the bakery. All you need to do is mix it up with the wet ingredients, pour into your muffin tins, and let the Valentine’s Day cupcake baking commence!
Once your cupcakes are baked and cooled, it’s time for the main attraction--a gooey mountain of your favorite frosting.
Types of Frosting
There are different types of frosting you can choose for your Valentine’s Day cupcakes. Though each is delicious, the recipe for each differs slightly. We'd like to offer you a couple of options for frosting:Royal Icing
Royal icing is a classic icing often used for Christmas cakes, cookies, and gingerbread houses. Royal icing is best used for piping and detail work, or anything that you want to hold its shape. It’s easily made with just a couple of ingredients that you usually have hanging out in the cupboard and is stiffer in consistency than some of the creamier frosting options we’ll explore below.Royal Icing Recipe Ingredients
4 egg whites
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
(optional) food coloring of choice
Directions
Beat egg whites in a clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla extract. Add coloring if desired. Beat at high speed until thickened.
Buttercream Frosting
Unlike royal icing, buttercream frosting is smooth, soft, and very creamy. Creaming together the fats (butter and oil) with the sugar is what gives this frosting such a silky texture.
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt
Directions
With a paddle attachment, cream butter on low until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix to incorporate. Add half of sugar and mix on low until mostly incorporated. Add remaining sugar and mix until smooth.
If clumps remain, mix briefly on medium to help break up sugar clumps. Avoid overmixing.
Fun Valentine’s Cupcakes Frosting Flavors
Now that you have your base frosting, you can go nuts with adding flavor! Go for a classic like chocolate or vanilla, or try something more unique with tea or jam infused frosting!
Chocolate Frosting
Making chocolate frosting is easy! Simply add cocoa powder to your desired level of chocolatiness and you're golden!Peanut Butter Frosting
Especially delicious on chocolate cupcakes, a creamy peanut butter frosting is like eating a huge, freshly-baked Reese's cup. Simply add 2TBS of your peanut butter of choice to your base frosting and you have a bowl of peanut buttery deliciousness!Tea-Infused Frosting
Adding tea to your frosting is a unique way to get the flavor of your favorite tea blends on a cupcake. Simply pulse your tea in a blade grinder until the leaves are powder. Then add the powder to your frosting, stirring until well blended. Use 1 tea bag worth of leaves per 1lb. of frosting.Fruit-Infused Frosting
Fruity flavors can also be easily infused into your frosting by adding 2 TBS of your favorite jam. Raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, peach--you name it!Cinnamon
Sprinkle some cinnamon into your base frosting and mix to taste!Candy Frosting
Mix sprinkles, M&Ms, chocolate chips, Skittles, or any other of your favorite candy into your frosting base, or save the candy to decorate the top of your Valentine's Day cupcakes.Let yourself get creative and experiment with different flavor combinations. Some of our best-loved recipes here at Nuflours began with good old fashioned experimentation. We hope you have a sweet Valentine’s Day filled with love and enjoy your cupcakes!