Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Pink rose cupcakes

I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I don't mean that to imply that I'm bitter about being single on Valentine's Day--I've had dates for it in the past and it still didn't thrill me. It's just an odd sort of holiday that makes single people feel a bad and puts pressure on couples to do something extra special for no real reason. That said, I totally stand behind Valentine's Day desserts. Chocolate and more chocolate with the occasional red berry and a hint of pink. What could be better?!

Anyway, in keeping with tradition, these are dark chocolate cupcakes and the vanilla buttercream is a lovely pale pink. To decorate, I used different tips to get a rose-like swirl and a couple other simple swirls. I'm not sure how I feel about the rose swirl. I know they are in right now, and they are very pretty, but they are a bit flat so there isn't as much buttercream as with a normal swirl. Then I sprinkled them with beautiful vintage-y colored coral, pale blue, and white jimmies. I think they are quite pretty for Valentine's Day but still sufficiently un-Valentine's-y to work for any time of year.

All three different icing swirls