Pineapple Cupcake Cake

Ingredients:

• 6.5 tbsp. American buttercream
• Yellow gel food coloring
• Green gel food coloring
• Ivory gel food coloring
• 24 of Your Favorite Cupcakes
• Special equipment: 2 pastry bags with medium star tips; 1 pastry bag with a round tip

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, tint 4 cups of buttercream bright yellow. In another medium bowl, tint 2 cups of buttercream green. In a small bowl, tint the remaining 1/2 cup of buttercream ivory. Transfer the yellow and green buttercreams to two separate pastry bags fitted with star tips. Transfer the light buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a round tip.
2. On a large cutting board or serving platter, arrange the cupcakes as follows: arrange 10 cupcakes in a tall U shape. Inside the U, arrange the cupcakes in two columns of 4 cupcakes (8 cupcakes total). To make the pineapple leaves, place 2 cupcakes in the top center, 3 cupcakes in the next row, and finally, 1 cupcake at the very top.
3. Pipe yellow frosting in star shapes onto the main body of the pineapple. Pipe vertical stripes of green frosting onto the pineapple leaves (the top three rows of cupcakes). Pipe light frosting in a grid pattern onto the yellow part of the pineapple, then pipe frosting inside each diamond shape to form a small inverted V.