How to Make a Cupcake Cake for any Occasion
Last weekend my husband and I attended a birthday celebration for friends who were both turning 60. Being such a milestone birthday, friends and family organized a semi-surprise party and planned a feast for royalty.
In July, I ordered mini cupcake pans from Easy Bakeware, which I had not had a chance to try out. Several years ago, another friend of mine taught me how to make cupcake cakes. The guest list included several children and I thought mini cupcakes would be a great way to keep them away from the "grown-up" cake until it was ready to be served.
I was preparing several dishes for the party and needed to save a little time, so I purchased boxed cake mixes and canned icing. Overall, I baked about 225 mini cupcakes. Although I only had two 12-cupcake mini muffin pans, the Easy Bakeware made the process a breeze!
I used mini muffin paper baking tins and filled each about 2/3rd's full of batter. Baking time per batch was 13 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. I used three types of cake batter - French Vanilla, Dark Chocolate and Butter Chocolate. The Butter Chocolate was by far my favorite; although all of them were quite tasty and addicting!
Next, I cut a cardboard moving box into a 24"x18" rectangle and covered it with foil. I had purchased decorative letters and colored sprinkles at the store. For the cupcakes used for the mini cupcake cake, I spread the icing evenly using a small icing knife, then placed one letter on each mini cupcake.
As you can see, I used white frosting for the cupcakes with letters. It reads: "Happy 60th Birthday Maeme and Carl". I alternated flavors on each row. The first, third and fifth row are French Vanilla cupcakes, while the second and fourth rows are chocolate cupcakes.
Using some of the extra mini cupcakes, I created little islands on the sides to fill in the extra space. I purchased paper palm trees attached to a toothpick. These palm trees gave me fits because they had this teeny-tiny square adhesive covered in paper. The paper had to be removed and the palm trees stretched out and attached to the other side. Considering it was 4am when I was finishing up this cake, not all the palm trees came out uniformly. As they say, it's the thought that counts!
I used the butter chocolate mini cupcakes to create the islands and used a piping bag to swirl the icing. I placed 3 to 4 "island" cupcakes together and then placed one on top of the stack to create the illusion of an island. I then used white icing to pipe around the edges of the cardboard and topped with colored sprinkles.
This was my first attempt at making a cupcake cake and while it isn't perfect, it was certainly a huge hit at the party. I placed the remaining cupcakes on dessert trays and when we departed the party, I noticed only 3 were left. The cupcake cake was completely devoured.
Not only was the cupcake cake a lot of fun to make, it didn't take much time and the guests absolutely loved it. Homemade gifts are always a great way to make people feel special. Even though I used boxed cake mixes, I could not have been more pleased with the final product.
If you are wondering how I transported the cake, I simply covered it loosely with foil. The palm trees helped keep the foil off the icing. I drive a Toyota Rav4, so the cardboard platform fit perfectly in the tailgate area. We drove extra careful to make certain we didn't need to make any sudden stops or take corners on two wheels ;-)
The possibilities of cupcake cakes are endless. Grocery stores, dollar stores, and party stores carry a wide range of novelty items that can be used to create all kinds of theme cakes. If you don't own a pasty bag and piping tips, you can place icing inside a sandwich bag and snip one corner off. Piping the icing on the cupcakes is considerably more efficient than using an icing spreader.
After using the EasyBakeware muffin pan, I can honestly say that I will be converting ALL my bakeware to this brand. The pans are made from silicone (I think!) and are super easy to clean. The muffins popped out easily and there was little mess to clean up.
EasyBakeware is currently offering FREE bakeware. You can receive any piece of bakeware for free, but will have to pay the shipping cost of $7.95. I've seen this type of bakeware in stores and the average retail price is $19.95 to $24.95 per piece!
If you're like me and love to bake, I highly recommend giving EasyBakeware a try. Click on the banner below and take advantage of the free offer before it's too late.
