Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside while you make the batter.
In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed until lighter in color and smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until it’s well-incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and yogurt, and continue to mix until incorporated. Set the bowl of wet ingredients aside.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Pour about one-third of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined using the electric mixer. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix just until everything is combined.
Fill the cupcake liners halfway to ⅔ full with batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a cupcake inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to rest and cool completely before decorating.
Make a simple buttercream cupcake frosting by creaming butter in a large bowl. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, and continue blending to get a smooth frosting. Add additional cream if needed to get the right consistency for piping.
Separate the icing into separate bowls and tint with gel food coloring as desired.
Decorate the cupcakes with buttercream frosting using the instructions below.
Buttercream Rose with Wilton tip #104 (Petal Tip)
Start by making a small blob of icing right in the center of the cupcake.
Hold the icing bag so that you are on the side of the blob but mostly above it, and position the tip so that the widest part is down.
Pipe a circle around the center blob.
With the widest part still down, pipe petals by creating overlapping strips of frosting around the piped circle, slightly lifting in the center to create an arched shape.
The first few rounds will have 3 or 4 petals, and as you reach the outside there will be more petals added.
Buttercream Rose with Wilton Tip #2D (Closed Star Tip)
Start in the center of the cupcake and pipe a continuous spiral until you’ve covered the whole cupcake.
Add leaves if desired using a leaf tip.
Buttercream Flower with Wilton tip #104 (Petal Tip)
Start on the outer edge of the cupcake for this design. Hold the piping bag so that the thicker part of the tip is pointing downward and touching the top of the cupcake. Angle the tip about 45 degrees up.
Each petal is a semi-circle “loop” shape. Pipe petals around the whole outside of the cupcake.
Repeat the process, making a smaller circle of petals inside of the first one.
Make the center of the flower using an edible sprinkle or candy.