Take cupcakes to the next tier

1. To begin, bake three different sizes of cupcakes. Place regular size liners in a regular cupcake pan and use small and bon-bon liners in a mini cupcake pan. Fill the liners with batter using various sizes of ice cream scoops. For the mini cupcakes, a tablespoon works well.

2. Once cooled, stack the cupcakes by piping a dollop of icing to hold the two cupcakes together; or you can stack after decorating. When creating a three-tier cupcake, you may need to use a support, such as lollipop stick, to keep the cupcakes upright.

3. For a cute rubber ducky design, begin by stacking two cupcakes and filling half a pastry bag with blue icing and half with white.

4. Use star tip No. 234 to pipe a reverse shell border around the bottom cupcake and cover the top of the small cupcake using the same motion.

5. Place a plastic duck pick on top of the small cupcake, and finish the design by placing several white sugar pearls or sixlets to mimic bubbles.

1. For a versatile flower design, mums work well. Stack two cupcakes together, and use a u-shaped tip No. 80 to pipe white petals to cover the tops of both cupcakes.

2. You can use a small amount of airbrush color on the bottom cupcake to make the petals pop, or for a more dramatic effect, airbrush the entire cupcake.

1. Another fun flower design uses sugar flower picks from suppliers. To begin, stack two cupcakes, and pipe green grass over both cupcakes using grass tip No. 133.

2. Place the sugar flower in the center of the top cupcake, and place a sugar ladybug on the bottom cupcake. Complete the design by adding multicolored dragees.

1. Yet another flower design uses gumpaste flowers and some small drop flowers made ahead of time. You can also use sugar flowers available from suppliers. Stack two cupcakes and use grass tip No. 133 to cover the tops of both cupcakes with shoots of green icing.

2. Place a large gumpaste flower on top of the stacked cupcakes, and add some drop flowers to the bottom cupcake.

3. Join the ends of a fence-shaped cupcake sleeve and place the cupcake in the center.

1. A martini theme always makes for a fun cupcake. Rough ice a regular and small cupcake with white icing. Carefully roll the edges of both cupcakes in sanding sugar shortly after icing them; if you wait too long, the icing may crust and the sanding sugar won’t stick.

2. Paint the top edge of a plastic martini pick with corn syrup. Dip it in the same colored sanding sugar as used on the cupcakes.

1. With Valentine’s Day approaching, this lip design will be a hit. Use a swirl motion to pipe the tops of a regular, small and mini cupcake with white icing. Stack the cupcakes. The lip topper, which is added later, will serve as a support.

2. Use a chocolate lollipop mould to create the red gumpaste lips. Place a 5-in. lollipop stick in the gumpaste lips. This length will sta-bilize all three cupcakes. Paint the lips with a 50/50 mixture of corn syrup and water, and coat with red disco dust. Tap off excess.

3. Place the lips on top of the cupcakes, ensuring the stick goes through all three cupcakes. Add a few gold dragees to all three cupcakes to finish the design.

Ashley Vicos Like many girls of her generation, Ashley Vicos’ love of baking began at age 5 with an Easy-Bake Oven. That love has become her career as she now owns Atlanta-based Sweet Ashley’s, a commercially licensed cake studio, where she creates custom cakes and teaches cake decorating classes. Vicos stars in her own show–Have Cake, Will Travel–airing on the Food Network, and has competed in several televised decorating challenges.