Buttercream Swimmer Cake or Cupcakes (fondant-free)

I made this cake and the matching cupcakes to celebrate the end of an amazing high school swimming season for my boys. 

What You Need:
1 x 8 or 9" 2-layer cake (see my recipe for doctoring a cake mix here.) 
  OR 24 cupcakes
4-6 cups decorator's icing (recipe here; I subbed 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening)
Red, yellow, brown, black food coloring (or whatever color your team/swimmer is)
Silver & Gold Luster Dust
Red Petal Dust
For cake: Tips 1A, 12, 5
For cupcakes: Tips 12, 5, 3, 2

Ice the sides of the cake smooth, and the top can be roughly iced, as it will be fully covered.

(Click here for my tutorial on how to ice a cake smooth.)

Using the Tip 1A and the shade of icing you choose for skin, cover slightly more than half of the cake with a thick layer of icing. (I achieved this color with a drop each of red, yellow and brown.)

Smooth the icing with a spatula. 

If you use an icing like my decorator's icing that forms a "crust," use parchment paper or a flat paper towel (Viva) to smooth icing even more.

Do the same with the "cap color."

Add all of your details. I used a tip #5 to make the edges of the designs on the cap, a tip #12 with dark gray icing for the goggles, and a tip 1A for the nose.

Once the icing had set, and I smoothed it further, I added the sparkle to the cap, goggles, and the brush of pink to the cheeks.

For the cupcakes, I used a Tip #12 for the face, cap, nose, and a size 3 or 5 for the goggles. The decoration on the caps was done with Tip 2.

To do the varying skin tones, I started with the palest, then took out 1/3 of the icing, added more brown and black to get the darkest color, then combined the two for a mid-tone.