It's hard to believe it's been eight years since Georgetown Cupcake first set the nation's capitol in a buttercream-frosted frenzy, inspiring politicians and tourists alike to line up for hours—often enduring pelting rain, sweltering heat or teeth-chattering temperatures—to try the company's treats. Its success has spawned a TLC TV show, two cookbooks and multiple shops across the U.S.
Even now, cupcake addicts who can't make it to the store can watch the brand's Cupcake Cam, a live feed showing countless baked goods being decorated, shaped into butterflies or nurses (for Nurses' Appreciation Day, naturally) or placed in the brand's classic petal-pink boxes.
After admiring—and devouring—Georgetown's treats for all these years, we turned to the founders, Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis Berman, to get their advice for making equally impressive cupcakes. Even if you don't consider yourself a baker. And even if your frosting skills are completely (woefully) nonexistent.
Here are their tried-and-true baking tips.
1. Know What's Worth Paying Extra for.
When it comes to baking, there are three areas that are absolutely worth the splurge: Vanilla extract, chocolate and butter.
Pure vanilla extract has a richer flavor than the imitation stuff, but Sophie and Katherine swear by one brand in particular at Georgetown Cupcake: Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract. It's pricier, but if you want your desserts to taste just like theirs, it's worth the splurge.
For chocolate, they suggest using the highest-quality kind you can find in stores. They prefer Callebaut brand chocolate chips and Valrhona cocoa powder.
"Butter itself has a taste, so always go with the highest quality you can find. We like Plugra European butter, but go with whatever you like best," Sophie says.
2. Butter Up Your Frosting.
While room temperature eggs and butter help make for light, fluffy cupcakes, slightly chilled butter is better for making gravity-defying buttercream.
"You want it to be a little cool, so when you whip air into the frosting, it maintains its shape," Sophie explains. Butter that's too warm can result in soft, drippy frosting that deflates shortly after being piped onto the cupcake.
3. Whip it Good.
The biggest thing that trips people up when frosting cupcakes? The consistency of their buttercream.
If the buttercream is pouring out of the piping bag like pancake batter, add a little powdered sugar—just a teaspoon or two at a time—and keep whipping it until it's light and fluffy. (When you take the beater from a mixer out, the frosting should form soft peaks, holding the shape of the beater without being cement-rigid.)
On the flip side, "when you don't whip it up enough, it's so stiff that you try to pipe on the icing and it won't come out smoothly," Sophie says. "It winds up coming out like a big lump."
If the frosting is sputtering as it comes out, dump it back in the mixer and keep on whipping until it's easier to spread.
4. Get Fresh.
Freshly made buttercream tends to be easiest to use, but if you're making yours ahead, it can be stored in the fridge for up to three days, the sisters say. Just let it warm up to room temperature and whip it up with an electric mixer before piping, so you get the smoothest, airiest consistency.
5. Start with a Star.
A star tip—particularly a gigantic one, like the 1M size shown in the video above—is the easiest kind of tip to use, Katherine says.
"You can't really screw it up," she explains. "You just start in the center and go around in a circle, and you keep going around in a circle until you reach the edge, when you taper it off."
The key, Sophie says, is holding the piping bag vertically, so it's easier for the frosting to come out, and once you start squeezing the frosting, don't let up or stop until you're done. "Do it fast, and in one motion."
6. Take a Tip.
Sophie and Katherine say you can skip the piping bag and use a freezer bag with one end snipped off to create their fluffy, cloud-like "signature swirl," but if you want to go full Georgetown Cupcake, spring for an Ateco 808 tip. That's the very same large, round tip they use in all of their stores.
7. Candy Covers a Multitude of Sins.
If you've frosted a batch and you're just not happy with the results (and desperately don't want to start over), cover the buttercream with a sprinkling of candy. Some of Sophie and Katherine's favorites: Jujubes, M&Ms, toffee bits, crushed cookies, crumbled candy bars in any flavor.
For extra style points, you can always make a batch of mini cupcakes and layer them, trifle-style, with frosting and chocolate ganache in Champagne flutes or mason jars, like the sisters did with these Strawberry Champagne Sparklers they shared with us a while back.
And remember, no matter what happens: Even an ugly cupcake tastes every bit as delicious as a gorgeous one.
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