Cupcake Recipes, Tips & Ideas

yay :D i copied all your cupcake recipes and now im gonna print em out and make em all! for my friends, holidays, parties, and just when im feeling snackish! uh oh im gonna get fat... :o hehehe :p

i know this is an old thread but it does seem to be the definitive guide to cupcakes so thought i'd keep my question in the same place!

something came over me the other night & offered to make cupcakes for a 1st birthday party next weekend & i need your expert advice/opinions!

there are 60-70 guests so i'm thinking that 36-48 cupcakes would be sufficient for those numbers?

also, the party is at 12 so i'm trying to work out when to make them. i'll ice them on the day but won't have time to make them as it's my mum's 70th birthday the next day & i think i'll need to pick up her cake on the saturday morning. would i be okay to make them the night before or would it even be better to make them earlier in the week & freeze them? i've decided on the crabapply bakery vanilla cupcake recipe.

i guess i could buy a packet mix & do them that way, especially seeing as i'm making & picking up food for my mum's party, but i really prefer to bake from scratch & i just can't help myself!
:doh:

I would make more cupcakes than guests unless you know for sure half the people there wont have a cake.

oh always more ckaes than guests...especially if there are any children around.

My usual rule of thumb is 2:1 - 2 cakes to 1 guests. People like cake, they want to eat more than one most often.
ALWAYS more cakes than guests.

Also, make them from scratch if you can, taste better, and freeze them. Ice them frozen on the morning and they will be thawed by the time you need them :)

Good Luck!

:bump: *bump* :bump:

Was this bumped for me? If so, thanks :D

Ok I've read through and have some great looking recipes to try but I'm still confused about my timing...

Can I make them on Friday, without freezing?

Our freezer is chokablock full at the moment... cakes just won't fit...

If I store them air tight, will that be ok for icing on Sat?

Or is my best bet to make them all up, let them cool, then truck them down to the IL's freezer overnight, then ice on Sat morning? They've got enough room...

Also what should I store them in when/if I freeze them? Ziplock bags? Tupperware? What works best?

Thinking maybe I will freeze now as then I could make half on Thursday and if they are a disaster I've still got Friday to start again... or just make the other half...

Hello ladies,

I want to decorate some cupcakes for our baby shower.
What do I need? I like the look of piped icing, i think it's buttercream icing.
There are so many different nozzles you can get, what's best? what's a great buttercream recipe? what density of buttercream?
Basicallyasking what do i need to know to do this myself?

Thanks :)

Firstly, Please check which section you are posting in before posting as we have a cooking/food/recipes section...

Secondly there is a cupcake thread so I'll add this to that for you but there are lots of clever chickens around here that will be able to help :)

And Thirdly YAY @ babyshower :D

It is really very simple.

Google Buttercream icing and you will find many recipes, any and all are good really - it is simply butter and icing sugar, colouring if you want it.

In terms of piping, it will depend if you want the star nozzle or the ound (or the dog poo nozzle ;p) and also in terms of size of nozzle, what size your cupcakes will be... IE A larger nozzle for larger cupcakes will give you a nie swirl on top, which you can then sprinkle with a few silver suagr balls or the premade sugar decos from the supermarket.

HTH :) If you have any more specific q's feel free to ask...you may need to practice a bit with the bag first but it is quite simple, there is a technique but you should be able to find some you tube vids on it, it is a bit tricky to explain over the puter!

I bought a cupcake icing kit off ebay, I think it's Wilton. It has several different sized nozzles and disposable piping bags. It wasn't expensive.

Wilton has the best cupcake icing stuff. Who am I kidding they have the BEST decorating tools.

Check out there website as they teach you how to decorate cakes using all their tips. Also if you want the fashionable palette swirl there are heaps of you tube videos which are great too.

Sorry Rouge :(
And thanks ladies, I'll check out Wilton.
Limey the dogpoo nozzle sounds perfect ;)

You get the dogpoo nozzle in the wilton cupcake set too :rofl:

LOL @ dogpoo nozzle!!!!! I'm guessing that's the soft serve style one? :ROFL:

Babyluv - Buttercream icing is really really easy to work with and always tastes light too. And if you make too much you can freeze it.

Hey how do I post a link here to my FB page? I have photos of all the cupcakes I've done with buttercream.

There's a 12 piece cupcake decorating kit on the Wilton website, did you buy from the Wilton website or should I like for a stockist?

I got it off ebay.

Okay, here are my two favourite cup cake recipes. The first, I actually found on BB somewhere, but I don't know where from exactly, or who it was originally posted by. So, whoever you are, thank you, it makes wonderful cupcakes for children's birthdays, etc. The second, from Nigella Lawson (scrawled down from one of her tv shows), produces rich, buttery cakes, which are my favourite in ice cream cones. When I make ice cream cone cupcakes, I put one teaspoon of batter in the bottom of the cone, then a whole glace cherry. They make a wonderful little sweet surprise in the bottom of the cones. Sorry, not sure on the quantities each one produces, my notes are basic, and I often change the size of cupcake I make.

Yummy Cupcakes, Author from BB

2/3 cup castor sugar
150g butter
2 cups self raising flour (or 2 cups plain flour plus 4 tsp baking powder sifted through)
200mL milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 170 C fan forced. Line muffin or cupcake pan with papers, or arrange ice cream cones on a tray.
Cream together the sugar and butter. Stir in the flour, alternating with the milk, then eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Spoon into prepared pans, place into oven and bake for 15 mins until baked (cones may take different times).


Nigella Cupcakes

125g castor sugar (about 1/2 cup)
125g self raising flour (or plain flour and baking powder, 1 cup flour and 2 tsp baking powder)
135g butter, softened
125g eggs (or, 2!)
dash vanilla

Place all ingredients into food processor and blitz. Add a few tablespoons of milk into the chute for a 'dropping consistency' batter.
Put one tablespoon per wrapper, bake at 200 C (180ff) for 10 minutes. Check after 7 minutes for mini cupcakes.

Or made about 11 ice cream cone cakes, baked for 18minutes I think at 180 C fan forced.

Enjoy.