Cupcake method/recipe/mix recommenations?
June 18, 2008 9:42 PM Subscribe
Recommend cheap, delicious/impressive, easy-in-large-batch (cup)cake recipes, methods, or mixes.
For our August wedding, my fiance and I will be making cupcakes in lieu of a wedding cake. We want to make 2-3 kinds for a total of 80-100 cupcakes. What's the best way to make impressive (as in, not obviously homemade) cupcakes for so many people without losing our minds? Answers may be in the form of 1) cake mix hacks 2) cake recipes or 3) kick ass (gourmet?) cake mix recommendations. Flavors don't so much matter but bonus points for some a bit off the beaten path.
For our August wedding, my fiance and I will be making cupcakes in lieu of a wedding cake. We want to make 2-3 kinds for a total of 80-100 cupcakes. What's the best way to make impressive (as in, not obviously homemade) cupcakes for so many people without losing our minds? Answers may be in the form of 1) cake mix hacks 2) cake recipes or 3) kick ass (gourmet?) cake mix recommendations. Flavors don't so much matter but bonus points for some a bit off the beaten path.
Best answer: The best cake mix hack I know is this, with accompanying story:
Last year we went to a birthday party for a small child whose mother is the ultimate status chick--fancy everything. She brought out an array of gorgeous cupcakes which I assumed came from a fancy bakery since they were in neat white boxes. They were delicious; I asked where they came from.
She told me she made them and the secret was thus: boxed cake mix. Sub butter for oil, sub milk for water. The icing was a standard buttercream, but she'd beaten in a bit of raspberry jam.
I later made these for my own kid's birthday, using lemon cake mix and adding a ton of fresh lemon juice and zest, and strawberry jam in the buttercream. Huge hit, everyone thought I was a genius.
Also, I used star shaped foil cupcake cups, which I found at my local grocery store. You just put them on a cookie sheet. It was awesome.
posted by padraigin at 10:53 PM on June 18, 2008 [15 favorites]
Last year we went to a birthday party for a small child whose mother is the ultimate status chick--fancy everything. She brought out an array of gorgeous cupcakes which I assumed came from a fancy bakery since they were in neat white boxes. They were delicious; I asked where they came from.
She told me she made them and the secret was thus: boxed cake mix. Sub butter for oil, sub milk for water. The icing was a standard buttercream, but she'd beaten in a bit of raspberry jam.
I later made these for my own kid's birthday, using lemon cake mix and adding a ton of fresh lemon juice and zest, and strawberry jam in the buttercream. Huge hit, everyone thought I was a genius.
Also, I used star shaped foil cupcake cups, which I found at my local grocery store. You just put them on a cookie sheet. It was awesome.
posted by padraigin at 10:53 PM on June 18, 2008 [15 favorites]
http://www.recipezaar.com/133387 [use apple cider vinegar].
it's a moosewood recipe i have been using for *years* as a cupcake fool-proof and passed on to more than one caf233; kitchen.
posted by tamarack at 11:03 PM on June 18, 2008
it's a moosewood recipe i have been using for *years* as a cupcake fool-proof and passed on to more than one caf233; kitchen.
posted by tamarack at 11:03 PM on June 18, 2008
Best answer: Rose Levy Beranbaum is amazing but the Cake Bible can be a little intimidating to a novice. The end result will be spectacular but that book gives me agita just thinking about the precision of the directions.
So my pick would be Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes. These are the most amazing cupcakes I have ever eaten and the recipe is really straightforward. If you don't like coconut, don't worry—the cupcake itself is a "plain" buttermilk cake that's extremely adaptable, so you can just use a different frosting.
The recipe as written is for 18 cupcakes and even though the author comes from a catering background, I always recommend doing doubled batches in two halves so you don't kill the leavening.
p.s. If you need to save yourself the headache of a scratch recipe (and I'm sure a wedding will lead to plenty of headaches!) then the Barefoot Contessa box mixes have won a zillion awards and I bet they'd be delicious. I'm starting to sound like a shill, but I'm just a fan!
posted by bcwinters at 5:40 AM on June 19, 2008
So my pick would be Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes. These are the most amazing cupcakes I have ever eaten and the recipe is really straightforward. If you don't like coconut, don't worry—the cupcake itself is a "plain" buttermilk cake that's extremely adaptable, so you can just use a different frosting.
The recipe as written is for 18 cupcakes and even though the author comes from a catering background, I always recommend doing doubled batches in two halves so you don't kill the leavening.
p.s. If you need to save yourself the headache of a scratch recipe (and I'm sure a wedding will lead to plenty of headaches!) then the Barefoot Contessa box mixes have won a zillion awards and I bet they'd be delicious. I'm starting to sound like a shill, but I'm just a fan!
posted by bcwinters at 5:40 AM on June 19, 2008
The Cake Bible is insanely precise -- so that when you, inevitably, add a bit too much flour, it won't have a major effect on the results. Her recipes are no harder than any other standard cake recipe -- easier, even, since you can't overbeat them. They are no harder or longer to make than a cake mix, and they are significantly better. You can use the checkerboard cake recipe and put chocolate in half of it if you want two flavours of cupcake with one recipe.
Her buttercreams are delicious, but a huge pain to make. You can then just add in different flavourings. She has a dozen or so suggestions -- raspberry, strawberry, apricot, mocha, hazelnut, etc -- and you can just split the icing recipe into two or three and add in different flavours to the same batch. You can add these same flavourings to any other buttercream recipe you like.
As a general rule, both cupcakes and buttercreams will freeze well, so you can make them at different times and put them together when it's convenient.
posted by jeather at 6:20 AM on June 19, 2008
Her buttercreams are delicious, but a huge pain to make. You can then just add in different flavourings. She has a dozen or so suggestions -- raspberry, strawberry, apricot, mocha, hazelnut, etc -- and you can just split the icing recipe into two or three and add in different flavours to the same batch. You can add these same flavourings to any other buttercream recipe you like.
As a general rule, both cupcakes and buttercreams will freeze well, so you can make them at different times and put them together when it's convenient.
posted by jeather at 6:20 AM on June 19, 2008
This article from May 2008 Food & Wine looks like it might be helpful: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/perfecting-the-cupcake
posted by maloon at 6:23 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by maloon at 6:23 AM on June 19, 2008
Do you have a costco near you? Their cupcakes are awesome and very pretty. Plus, they come in flats of 20 which are easy to transport. If you called ahead to the bakery, they'd probably do something special with the icing- maybe sprinkles in your wedding colors.
With all the wedding stress, do you want to be baking, packaging and transporting 100 cupcakes?
posted by 26.2 at 7:01 AM on June 19, 2008
With all the wedding stress, do you want to be baking, packaging and transporting 100 cupcakes?
posted by 26.2 at 7:01 AM on June 19, 2008
Response by poster: With all the wedding stress, do you want to be baking, packaging and transporting 100 cupcakes?
not really - and we're looking into bakeries that will do this on the cheap - but we're really looking for the aforementioned yummy-but-unusual quality (though i suppose we could make this in the frosting rather than the cake, which remains an option). if we found plain bakery cakes for cheap enough, a compromise could be made, but at this point we're still looking for things like padaraigin's suggestion or the contessa's coconut cupcakes to see if we and a few helpers could do it easily enough. i'll also be looking into the cake bible - thanks all (and keep 'em comin')!
posted by alpha_betty at 7:25 AM on June 19, 2008
not really - and we're looking into bakeries that will do this on the cheap - but we're really looking for the aforementioned yummy-but-unusual quality (though i suppose we could make this in the frosting rather than the cake, which remains an option). if we found plain bakery cakes for cheap enough, a compromise could be made, but at this point we're still looking for things like padaraigin's suggestion or the contessa's coconut cupcakes to see if we and a few helpers could do it easily enough. i'll also be looking into the cake bible - thanks all (and keep 'em comin')!
posted by alpha_betty at 7:25 AM on June 19, 2008
I just made this Best Ever Chocolate Cake (based on a boxed mix) for Father's Day, and I think it would make fantastic cup cakes. I'd do a buttercream frosting on them though - I don't think the coolwhip frosting the recipe calls for would work well on cupcakes.
posted by geeky at 8:19 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by geeky at 8:19 AM on June 19, 2008
I should add most cake mix recipes make about two dozen (24) cupcakes.
posted by geeky at 8:26 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by geeky at 8:26 AM on June 19, 2008
Another option, if you want flavourings in the cake instead of the icing, is to make a white cake and use various extracts in it. Almond, lemon, mint, orange, coconut, etc.
posted by jeather at 8:33 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by jeather at 8:33 AM on June 19, 2008
The Cupcake Project is a blog that's all about trying a million types of cupcakes for use in a wedding. Stef, who writes it, is very friendly, and I bet if you email her asking for advice, she would be happy to give helpful suggestions on managing cupcakes in a wedding situation.
posted by aubilenon at 9:33 AM on June 19, 2008
posted by aubilenon at 9:33 AM on June 19, 2008
Not a recipe, but a presentation suggestion: Depending on how formal your wedding is, every large party I host, I set up a cupcake "bar" and it seems to be the biggest hit.
A beautifully arranged stack of unfrosted cupcakes of various flavors, typically marked (they sell cupcake stands cheap at Bed, Bath & beyond and similar). Bowls full of a large variety of frosting types and other things that are good as toppings (marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar, creme fraiche) with butter knives or rubber spatulas. And then tiny bowls filled with sprinkles/jimmies, edible decor, candy flowers, mini marshmallows, etc. I often have a dessert syrup or writing frosting as well.
I typically put a camera there so people can document the cupcakes they made as well. You can dress it up with the types of dishware you serve it in and by the variety and type of toppings by including some more exotic things.
Easier to transport by about a million. Much less of a headache for you prepwise. It's an activity, not just a dessert. And people get precisely the dessert they want.
posted by Gucky at 9:41 AM on June 19, 2008 [6 favorites]
A beautifully arranged stack of unfrosted cupcakes of various flavors, typically marked (they sell cupcake stands cheap at Bed, Bath & beyond and similar). Bowls full of a large variety of frosting types and other things that are good as toppings (marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar, creme fraiche) with butter knives or rubber spatulas. And then tiny bowls filled with sprinkles/jimmies, edible decor, candy flowers, mini marshmallows, etc. I often have a dessert syrup or writing frosting as well.
I typically put a camera there so people can document the cupcakes they made as well. You can dress it up with the types of dishware you serve it in and by the variety and type of toppings by including some more exotic things.
Easier to transport by about a million. Much less of a headache for you prepwise. It's an activity, not just a dessert. And people get precisely the dessert they want.
posted by Gucky at 9:41 AM on June 19, 2008 [6 favorites]
Response by poster: Upate: I will be using the cheat padraigin gives above for eternity, but upon researching vendors for buying cupcakes, my fiance and I have decided to go with either Costco ($15.99/20 cupcakes) or Wal-Mart ($5.00/dozen) for our wedding cakes. Thanks to everyone for replies! You can bet I'll be using these suggestions for birthday parties and the like.
posted by alpha_betty at 7:00 AM on July 4, 2008
posted by alpha_betty at 7:00 AM on July 4, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by HotToddy at 10:30 PM on June 18, 2008