Mike and I both are proud alumni of The University of Missouri – Mizzou or MU, to the locals. This time of year always gets our tiger spirit going – I’m snatching up every black and gold item at J.Crew and I’m thinking of fun ways to bring a tiger flare to our Game Day entertaining. If you do an online search for Tiger Stripe Cupcakes you’ll find a slew of pastry chef creations that look remarkably perfect. I can definitely appreciate those sort of confections, but my style is more “festive” than perfect. On this blog I try to present ideas that will delight your guests… and that are simple enough that you’ll actually be able to do it! These cupcakes are a perfect example of that. Since the Hydrangea Cupcake Video was such a hit, I’ve included a video with instructions for making these cupcakes. I have them pictured here with my“Mizzou Gold” Metallic Celebration Candles ($10.50) to make them even more festive. 
I packed these up as a hostess gift for a friend of ours – they are boxed in one of my kraft paper cupcake boxes (10 for $12).
I tied the “Mizzou Gold” Metallic Celebration Candles on top…
and added a Circle Label (48 for $12), of course.
Buttercream Frosting : 2 sticks of butter, softened 4 cups of confectioners sugar 1 tsp of vanilla In the kitchen aid fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter and sugar together for 5 minutes until it has transformed into a white fluffy frosting. Add vanilla. To make the perfect Mizzou Gold I added a lot of yellow, a little red and tiny bit of blue. In the photo, it was my first round of color – I ended up adding about 4x’s that to get a deep color.
Note : the color will deepen after about 20 minutes.
For the cupcakes, I used my favorite jumbo (but still fit in a standard cupcake pan) brown cupcake liners and a chocolate cake mix.
For the layer of gold frosting, I used another one of my essentials – a disposable pastry bag. No tip necessary… just snip off the tip with a pair of scissors.
Pipe a layer of frosting on each cupcake.
The video below will show you my technique. It really is so much easier than spreading it on with a knife – once you do it a couple of times, you’ll see it is so fast.
After piping, I smooth the swirl with a knife so the chocolate stripes will go on easily.
For the chocolate stripes, I melted 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of cream in the microwave for 20 seconds.
Done!
Fun and festive Tiger Stripes ready for the weekend! 
Products used :
Mizzou Gold Celebration Candles
