Valentines Day Cupcakes

Tomorrow is "L's" Valentine's Day party at school and I signed up to bring cupcakes.  I made heart shaped, layered cupcakes topped with little hearts.

Since it is Valentine's and all, heart-shaped cupcakes seemed a perfect way to start.  I used a chopstick to push in the side of the cupcake liner filled with batter and dropped in a glass marble to shape the cupcake into a heart. 

Tip:  I found that if the marble is positioned higher up, it produces a better heart shape.

I also decided to try layered cupcakes.  I filled the liners 1/3 of the way with white cake batter and then using a ziplock bag filled with red batter, piped some into the center of the cake.  The original recipe I found made 3 layers (white, red & pink), but I just did 2 layers.  It worked out pretty well but I'm sure 3 layers would have produced more of a wow-effect.

Tip: Cut the tip of the bag really small.  The batter is so loose, it's harder to control if you cut it too big like I accidentally did.

I did intend on making this intriguing recipe for "The Best Whipped Frosting" that starts with a cooked mixture of flour and milk, but after putting the kids to bed, doing dishes and cleaning up, I decided (or really my aching back decided) that canned frosting would just have to do this time.