Fairy cake semi-fail

Mr V and I made some fairy cakes today (mini cupcakes). They taste great, but my attempts at icing (after Mr V had gone to bed) aren't quite so great:

I iced them all and then tried to put the sprinkles on. Turns out that doesn't work too well. I had to poke each tiny sugar star into the icing. So, next time it's ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle etc, etc.

The recipe is from Easy to Make! Cakes and Bakes (Good Housekeeping). First one I've tried from there, but so far, so good...