DIY Wedding Cupcakes for 300 people

After months and months of planning the wedding is finally over. I have been kinds of obsessing about this since my friend Leigh Ann asked me to make the cupcakes for her wedding. We did several rounds of tastings, built a Pinterest board , and spent several months deciding on the menu.

The wedding presented me with a few challenges. First of all, it was 6 hours away from my house, it was an outdoor wedding and there were going to be upwards of 300 guests. I was trying to design the dessert table on a budget. For my first wedding project, it was a big one. Staying organized and planning ahead was key.

Leigh Ann chose four cupcake favors, two flavors of truffles, and a small gluten free cake. I first started by making a very simple cost sheet in excel where I detailed out my ingredients to determine the cost of each cupcake and what I needed to charge her in order to cover miscellaneous expenses. I saved costs by designing cupcakes that shared ingredients I could buy in bulk. I did a lot of shopping around to compare prices and took advantage of sales on ingredients that wouldn’t spoil in advance. I wrote a very detailed shopping plan.  I needed a lot of cupcake boxes of this event. The best deal I found was from here. For the cupcake liners, I also purchased them in bulk from Baker’s Stock.

Airheads “You caught my heart” Cupcake toppers

In a sea of Airheads, you caught my heart! 

I recently discovered the Blogger’s Valentine’s Day Craft Contest sponsored by Airheads Candy. I thought it was such a cute idea, and I have used Airheads for cupcake decorations before! They are really pliable and sticky, they hold a great shape and can easily be molded.

These cupcake toppers are simple to put together and they don’t require any special tools. You can make whatever shape you want if you have the proper cookie cutter!

Here is a list of items you will need:

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Okay folks, this really is easier than you think! You don’t need super fancy equipment, just a double boiler, melting pot or a good old fashioned microwave, some quality chocolate and fresh strawberries. Here is a quick step by step tutorial for homemade chocolate dipped strawberries!

Fresh and clean

If you invest in quality chocolate, you will be very pleased with the result. The easiest chocolate for you to get your hands on is probably Wilton candy melts. I find that when melted, the candy melts are still fairly thick and require a lot of crisco to be mixed in so that the chocolate is runny and smooth. I am absolutely in love with this chocolate bar I got, and it 2.5 lbs, so I will be able to use it for awhile!

Here is your step by step guide:

Cupcake Research- Tips for bakers!

Soooooo I have been doing some baking…. lots of baking. I noticed something about my baking habits, I much prefer chocolate over vanilla cupcakes, all day long. Over the weekend, I wanted to try something new. I am constantly looking for a new quick and easy vanilla cupcake. My first batch didn’t produce the results I was looking for,so i made another, and another.

The more and more baking I do, I learn that size, baking time and measuring batter is especially important. I wanted to give you an overview and comparison of some different sizes of cupcakes shown below.I am by no means an expert or trained professional, but I do a lot of baking, mostly cupcakes. I thought this was useful information for me to know and so I thought you might enjoy it as well.

You might need some pans

First I started with my new jumbo cupcake pan. My dad used to make muffins in a jumbo pan; like seriously, he never made regular size muffins. It’s been awhile since I used one and I definitely needed some more work. I love the idea of a jumbo cupcake because I think of it like a mini cake. I wasn’t sure how much batter to use, so I did some testing.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Vanilla cupcake with vanilla bean Swiss Meringue buttercream

Swiss meringue buttercream (SMB) is a light, silky and buttery alternative to traditional buttercream. It is much less sweet, and therefore allows for the true flavors in the cupcake to shine. It is easy to pipe and holds its shape very well.  There are a lot of flavor variations that make this a very versatile frosting.  Although it seems like this takes more preparation than other types of frosting, the end results are very rewarding.