That title should read… “How to Make Wedding Cupcakes when You’re Not Really a Professional Cupcake Baker!”
Since I’m always bringing treats to people, those people occasionally ask if they can hire me to make treats. Not really wishing to create a business of making and selling food, I typically decline- however, a very sweet, young teacher at my son’s school was getting married last weekend and asked if I would do the cupcakes for her wedding. (In case you’re not in on the latest, apparently cupcakes are a hip alternative to a fancy wedding cake nowadays). We met and discussed the project, and I found myself agreeing to make 96 cupcakes!
Here are the details:
The bride wanted white and chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. I tested out some recipes and frosting patterns in the weeks prior to the wedding.
All Recipe Links for Cupcakes and Frosting are at the BOTTOM of this post.
The bride also wanted a combination of white, light blue and light yellow frosting. She chose two different frosting patterns and wanted some with pearls and some without.
Here are some of the pictures…
I used a 1G Tip by Bakery Crafts for this simple swirl. The chocolate cupcake recipe used was excellent. It was really easy to make and it stayed pretty flat on top, making it easier to pipe the frosting.
I used a 2D Wilton tip for this more funky pattern.
I loved the white cupcake… though I’m a little embarrassed to tell you about the recipe. It was a doctored-up cake mix recipe (gasp!!) I know that’s not very gourmet, and it’s completely atypical of how I usually bake, but I’m telling you that these cupcakes were GOOD!! And again, a really easy recipe to make- the tops stayed nice and flat & easy for frosting.
My kitchen and dining room were a sea of cupcakes for the better part of a day!
The bride requested that I make a dozen completely sugar-free cupcakes for a few guests who were not able to eat sugar.
This recipe for sugar free chocolate cupcakes with sugar free chocolate frosting uses a monk fruit alternative sweetener. They turn out pretty delicious!
The bride also asked that I make her a small cake for the top tier of her cupcake display. They wanted to be able to cut into a little wedding cake.
I made a 6-inch two layer cake. I used the same cake recipe as the cupcakes- same frosting recipe too. The tip used for the edging was the Wilton 2D. The bride placed flowers on top of the cake for additional decor.
Though it was a ton of work, it was a fun project to do. And I actually feel pretty good about how they turned out (having never, ever done fancy cupcakes before!) Now that I’m a “paid cupcake-baking professional,” I’m sure that it won’t be quite as difficult to do next time.
If you’re looking for the right supplies to make these cupcakes, here are my suggestions (these are affiliate links to Amazon):
- 12-cup muffin pan
- My suggestion for the cupcake liners is to visit a local baking supply shop where you live. They should carry a good, white liner that won’t have the cupcake turning out greasy.
- Edible sugar pearls
- large plastic disposable pastry bags for piping the frosting
- For icing the cupcakes, I recommend trying either the Wilton Open Star 1M tip or the Wilton Closed Star 2D. Both of these you can usually find at craft or baking supply stores. Or just order a whole decorator tip kit and try out different ones!
- These disposable cupcake boxes are great… because you can bake and decorate your cupcakes, then store them in the boxes and refrigerate them overnight!
Here are all of the recipes:
Chocolatey Cupcakes (not dipped in the ganache)
White Wedding Cupcakes
White Wedding Buttercream
White Wedding Cake
Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Sugar Free Chocolate Frosting
If you can have a little bit of sugar in the frosting, I prefer this chocolate frosting recipe
My son is getting married in 4 weeks and I am doing fresh floral arrangements – 11 tables, 2 alter arrangements, 7 bouquets and 7 boutineers I think I am crazy to try to do cupcakes too, but if I make the 100 cupcakes 1 week ahead and freeze them, then ice them the morning before the evening wedding I can do it!! You have done all the experimenting. I am going to buy the cheap frosting and try my hand at the swirl thing. He can’t afford $2.50 per cupcake plus $50 for the small cake on top of the display. Thank you for the recipes.
Glad you found me- good luck!
OMG, I have been asked by a good friend of mine to make her wedding cupcakes/small cake. Im soo NOT a baker. Im happy to help out to keep her costs down (im doing it for love). But… and its a BIG but.. im freaking out. When did you ice the cakes? Was it the day of the wedding or the day before? And when did you make the cakes?? Did you have to refrigerate the iced cupcakes before the big day? My piping bag broke at the last test bake. Not good. haha 🙂
I only had about 100 to ice, so I baked the night before and then iced the morning of. I don’t see any problem with completing them the night before though- as long as you are storing them refrigerated in cupcake boxes (I bought at a baking supply store). They’ll come to room temp the next day and be just fine!
I volunteered to do a neighbors daughter wedding cup cake display (150). They are were filled cupcakes. It took forever to do! Lots of work. I like you looked for the best recipes for this project. Did some samples and tried out on my friends. I used a six tier cake display for the cupcakes. She wanted milk chocolate shells on some (beach theme) and silk dazy blooms on others. Like I said lots of work and just did it because I never had before! Fun, but lots of work. A week later my niece asked me to do it again at her wedding reception. Got some good pictures and will send when I can find them. For the top of my nieces cake I used one those large cupcake pans. Looked really neat!!
Yes, lots of work- but everyone is so happy in the end! Glad it worked out okay for you!
I just made these for my daughters birthday. They were fantastic! Cupcakes were great and frosting was great! I will definitely be making these for many more birthdays. Thanks for the awesome recipes!
These turned out yummy! Makes a ton of cupcakes, so next time I will have to half the recipe.
Would this work for a half sheet cake? Thanks Rose
I’m not sure. It makes enough batter for three 8-inch rounds pans, if that helps!
Used your recipe for the wedding cupcakes and icing to make my son’s 16th birthday cake. If I can figure out how, I’ll post the pic!!!! Take wait to taste it.
How very lovely these turned out! I am doing 120 cupcakes for a wedding in 2 weeks. I am very nervous about it. I have made dozens of cakes and sold a lot, but this is my first order for wedding cupcakes! I don’t even know how much icing I need, can’t decide how much to put on each one! Thanks for your post, it made me a bit less nervous!
@Jennifer – I made 625 cupcakes for my son’s wedding and froze them 2 weeks prior to the wedding and decorated them the day before, and then refrigerated until putting them out for the reception. They were amazing! So moist and and delicious. So don’t be afraid to make them a week or two prior to your big day. You will have enough going on the week of the wedding, that getting the cupcakes out of the way will be a good idea. Good luck and best wishes!
Hi there! For my upcoming wedding I will be making my own cupcakes, which is very exciting but terrifying (don’t want to screw up) I have been practicing different methods of keeping the cupcakes fresh for the big day and have come to the conclusion that I will need to make them no more than 4 days in advance. I will be making just the cupcakes (the doctored up white cake recipe that I got from this article, sooo tasty) on a wednesday evening for the saturday event. The frosting will be whipped up (the buttercream recipe) the day before. The cupcakes will need to be stored and then I will be transportng them in my car from my home to where the wedding will be (about an hour away) What tips do you have for storing them for the days leading up the wedding and for the car ride? I have purchased cupcake holders for the finished cupcakes (didn’t want the frosting to get smooshed) but Im afraid that I don’t have room for all of them in my fridge (I am making 5 dozen). Would it be okay to leave them in the holders but just leave them on the counter? Or should they be in the fridge? any advise would be much appreciated
I cleared out my fridge and refrigerated mine. Transport was easy since I had nice cupcake boxes. I’d suggest experimenting with leaving some out at room temp and refrigerating some and see which ones you like better.
This recipe is amazing!!! Thank you so much for posting it! I have noticed that Duncan Hines cut the package size of the Classic cake mixes from 18.25 oz to 16.5 oz. Do you know if the recipe above will still work for the new cake mix size?
I had no idea that they changed the ounces- that’s horrible! I’m not sure… I haven’t tried it with the new amount. Seems pretty insignificant, but you never know.
I was so excited to make these as they looked so beautiful! They didn’t cook??? I cooked for 18 minutes, then another 2 and another 2 and another 2…then the outside was “hard” but the inside was doughy. Disappointed to say the least. Followed the instructions exactly 🙁
Susan- I’m not sure what to say… something tells me that you must have made an error somewhere- I make them all the time, and if you read the reviews… others have had success as well. Don’t give up on the recipe- it’s a good one!
Thanks for this post! Did they transport well in a large box (no sliding around)? How many cupcakes fit in a box (and do you remember the size box you used?)
I used cupcake boxes, so there were dividers already in between each cupcake. I think it would be pretty hard to do otherwise.
I just made a batch of these tonight. I used egg whites from a carton instead of separating 4 eggs. I feel like the cupcakes were not sweet enough, stuck to the cupcake liners, and it had a strange consistency (like too many air bubbles). I used the cheapest cupcake liners and maybe I beat the batter for too long? The butter cream turned out really good!
All I can think of is that it must have been the carton egg whites.
Thank you sooo much for these recipes. I have been searching for so good chocolate and vanilla cupcakes as well as a good buttercream to use at my wedding a little under a month away. I was starting to panic because I couldn’t find anything I liked and even started to gain a bit of weight taste testing everything! lol All of these recipes turned out great and I will be using them for my big day 🙂
Glad to hear!
Omg… I used this recipe to make my daughter’s birthday cake. I used 3 small cake pans and did a gradual color change with each pan using purple gel coloring. The taste was amazing! Thank you SOOOO much!
How fun! I’ve always wanted to try a rainbow cake like that.
Want to try the frosting. but I live in a tropical island will the frosting melt if i were to have an outdoor wedding.
The only way you will know is if you test it out and see!
These look great and sounds like something I could do for my grand-daughter’s wedding.
Thank you..
Thanks so much for this site and the great pictures and recipes. My future daughter in law mentioned to me she would like cupcakes at the wedding but wasn’t sure who to ask. This site inspired me to make 400 regular and 225 mini cupcakes for her and my son’s wedding in June. I used your white wedding cake recipe, a strawberry cream cheese and two kinds of chocolate recipes. I used your buttercream frosting recipe and added cocoa to it for the chocolate. Colors were pool blue, ivory and I added a little brown coloring to the chocolate frosting. Everything was amazing! I received so many compliments and have somehow managed to commit to 2 more weddings. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and talent with others!
Love hearing that the recipe was a success. Thanks for sharing that, and I’m glad it is working out for you!
Beautiful cupcakes! where did you get the pearls?
At a baking supply store. Craft stores should have them too!
FIRST, I must say, I am in NO WAY A BAKER; however, YOU inspired me to bake ‘wedding cupcakes’ and a ‘wedding cake’ (sm. one) for our daughter’s wedding… (A ‘wedding’ cake was going to cost upwards of $600.00!) SO, I practiced making c.c.’s using your recipes for the last 3 mths at every family get-together; and two weeks ago I made approx 250 regular cupcakes and about 100 mini’s, along w/a 3-layer wedding cake AND groom’s cake! THANK YOU for the inspiration AND the AWESOME recipes!~ EVERYONE (close to 200 peope!) RAVED how melt-in-the-mouth YUMMY they were!!
I did reduce the flour and sugar to 3/4 c. each (which made them a little lighter and less sweet) and I “coned out” the centers of about 2/3’s of the c.c. and filled them w/a raspberry topping, fudge filling, and ‘dulce de leche’; then recapped and frosted using a 1M tip (couldn’t find the one you used-but the outcome was VERY similar) and topped with the ‘pearls’ (and some glitter on the cakes:)….. SOOOOO elegant!
The buttercream frosting: For our ‘sweet-tooth’, we found using only 1-1/2 c. Pwdrd sugar and mixing (in a stand mixer) for 30-sec (to cream butter); then 2-3 min increments (5-6 min total) made it A LOT whiter, WAY less sweet, and VERY light–but still stiff; WONDERFUL, COULD NOT STOP EATING IT 🙂 and it does double VERY WELL! YES, it was time consuming– BUT, it was a ‘Labor of Love’ :~) and I would do it all over again! Actually…..This 4th of July weekend we will be holding a 3-day family reunion w/approx. 150-200 attending and I will be putting your recipes to use AGAIN!!!
I CANNOT thank you enough–nor can the new ‘bride and groom’! I will ~forever~ be using your wedding cupcake recipes!!! God Bless!
What a great message! So glad they worked out!
Gorgeous cupcakes, what a helpful post!!
Very pretty, Lori! It’s amazing how much work it is to make cupcakes or a cake for an event like a wedding.
Beautiful cupcakes! So elegant and lovely!
Hi, First of all, beautiful cupcakes and decorations, very talented talent. I’m making cupcakes, cake pops and a cake for a 5 year old birthday party, I was just wondering how the frosting tasted? Is it similar to whipped cream, which is what I usually use. I would hate to have it taste greasy
@Diana, It doesn’t taste like grocery store cupcake icing, that’s for sure… those are made w/ shortening. This is your typical buttercream frosting- it’s not like whipped cream. Best to try it out first if you want to make sure it’s what you’re looking for.