Tricolour cupcakes resemble the Indian flag, aka the Tiranga. We all know our national flag has three colours viz saffron, white & green.
The same colours we will integrate into our cupcakes. The idea is to celebrate the national festival & the spirit of freedom. Before we begin making our tricolour cupcakes let’s discuss the basic structure.
To make these cupcakes, we need to make the base first. It’s green in colour. In short, the cupcake will be completely green. For white & saffron colours, we will use buttercream frosting.
What we will do is turn white buttercream into saffron. Doing this will give us the national flag colours. Once everything is in place, we will assemble green cupcakes with white & saffron frosting.
That’s how we will make our tricolour cupcakes.
Table of Contents
Corn flour slurry stabilises your buttercream frosting. Why do we need to add cornflour or the slurry in the frosting? Why? The necessity to add cornflour slurry in buttercream frosting is deeply rooted in the hot Indian climate. Yeah, that’s true.
First, understand this, we are making frosting using butter. The problem with butter is it starts melting as soon as it is exposed to room temperature. That’s a challenge we will face while making buttercream frosting.
The reason is the hot & humid temperature. Given these points, the frosting won’t hold the shape & will meltdown. I have experienced it.
Hence, we need something that can stabilise our frosting. The vegan option that we have on hand is cornflour. Mix 1 tbsp cornflour powder in warm water, mix & keep it aside.
Your cornflour slurry is ready. Either pour it all at once or gradually mix while beating the cream. Stir the slurry properly before adding it to the cream. It is because the cornflour will settle at the bottom.
Making buttercream frosting is easy. But making a stable buttercream frosting is challenging, especially in hot climates. Having this in mind, we have several ways to do it. Refer to them below.
Vegetable shortening has a high amount of fat content. Hence, combine veg shortening with butter & beat them together. It will make the frosting stable and give you sharp curves & edges while cake decoration. The best example is making a rosette using a nozzle.
Not to mention that vegetable shortening is available on Amazon India. On top of it, you can do the same at home too. Follow the instruction in this youtube video.
Okay, this is my personal experience. I add 1 to 2 tbsp strawberry jam to my buttercream frosting. Jam contains a thickening agent. So when you add jam, it thickens your frosting too.
The only side effect is it turns your white buttercream frosting into baby pink or light yellow. It is because fruit jams are either red or yellow.
However, it won’t affect you if you are adding food colours. This is because the gel food colours easily overpower the soft baby pink or yellow colours from fruit jams.
I like adding strawberry jam to my buttercream frosting because it adds sweetness. Moreover, it adds a soft baby pink colour. This way, I don’t need to add & eat extra food colours. Above all, it stabilizes my frosting.
All in all, it’s a safe method to achieve a highly stable buttercream frosting for cakes or cupcakes.