cupcake experts please advise me........

[bettykelly123]

i love to bake and i especially like to make cupcakes so i have offeded to make 50 cupcakes for a charity event coming up. i have never made so many in one go and im nervous.
i have some questions i hope you kind people can help me with,
firstly when i make my butter icing and pipe it on the top of my cupcakes i use a very large nozzle i got from the cake dec shop but i find it puts too much on the cupcakes so am i using the wrong recipe and in particular butter? can anyone give me a fool proof recipe for frosting or buttercream for the top of cupcakes,
secondly what are the 3 easiest/most popular topping flavours
and finally if anyone has any further advice it would be very welcome.

thanks x

Hi, I did see this yesterday but thought you might have got a reply by now.
I use a book from oz, fool proof, recipes, techniques and icing stuff too.
It's quite a few pages so am happy to scan and email it ? I'm not a nutter!,,have done charity stuff myself and found it was more the decoration than flavour ! I split icing then do 1/3 cream, add some pink colour then do another, then last third bit more. Loads of balls, sprinkles , mini marshmalowsbetc and always goes a storm. I buy the cupcake boxes on eBay to carry them, 12 in a box , have a cupcake courier too, but boxes are reusable. Cupcake recipe is great too, foolproof if followed , has 24 in a batch so do one lot after another. Will make 50 easy.

For buttercream icing I usually use twice as much icing sugar as butter, eg 200g butter, 400g sugar.

Most popular I'd say chocolate, vanilla, perhaps red velvet with cream cheese icing? Or coffee?

Some people do buttercream with milk, the Hummingbird books have recipes for this, and their cupcake recipes are also great.

I'll second NomNomNom and highly recommend the Hummingbird Bakery books - always been foolproof and in fact were recently DH-proof - I use the recipes for all cupcakes I make for charity events, birthday gifts for friends etc. Good luck!

coansha i have sent you a message but i forgot to ask where is the cheapest place on ebay to buy boxes to transport them.thank you to everyone else too.
basically ive offer to make 50 cupcakes as a prize at a charity auction. they will also be having a tombola type prizes so im not sure if i should suggest to the person arranging it that it woiuld be better to keep the cupcakes as tombola prizes and then split them into 10's so that 5 people will win. obviously i wont make them until the people or person that wins them wants them, do you guys think this is better than making them for the night and expecting people to take them home. im new to this so all suggestions welcome.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-24-Strong-White-Cup-Cake-Cupcake-Fairy-Boxes-Trays-Corrugated-Cardboard-/170710155804?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Celebrations_Occasions_ET&hash=item27bf1e421c#ht_3047wt_1392

I re -use boxes, as very sturdy for cardboard, I do have a posh carrier but send this in to school with daughters and am not bothered if they get bashed or ruined. I would make them night before as it will be an early morning if doing it on the day.
I think cupcakes always sell out, selling seperately would make more money that but its up to you, I always head for the cake stall first!!!

When I do loads I transport them in apple boxes from the supermarket lined with foil then catering tissue paper. You can get 35 in a box and they stack.

I never pipe the icing on because I think you get too much icing- I swirl it on with a palet knife.

Colour is more important than flavour in my experience- why not do them in shades of a colour- pale pink to drk, for example- that always looks impressive.

And loads of glitter, obvipusly!

Oh, I think a cupcake voucher would be q better prize- then people can have them when they want them. But make sure the voucher has an expiry date and details of how much notice you need. [bitter emoticon remembering the woman who won a novelty birthday cake I donated then asked for it on the day before the child's party!]

how about a cream cheese frosting instead of butter cream?

here is a nice lemon one.

And here is the best buttercream frosting. It's the Hummingbird one:

500g icing sugar
140g butter
50ml milk
tsp vanilla extract

Simply blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor.

I second the Hummingbird buttercream recipes the lemon and chocolate are really good too. I would like to be able to put on icing with a palette knife instead and a few sprinkles or little icing butterfly to finish off.

Sorry to hijack, but do you have any tips to ensure a light and fluffy cake? Mine are always dense and open textured, whether I use butter or baking margarine, and regardless of how long I cream the fat and sugar. Is it my oven, method or recipe? Any suggestions gratefully received!

What temp are you cooking at? Have you tried cooking at a lower temp for a few mins longer?

Self raising flour AND a teaspoon of baking powder. And 6,6,6 with 4 eggs. If that doesn't rise nothing will!

Thank you Mike and Seeker. I usually bake at 180 (fan), I'll try a bit lower for longer and use the ratio you suggested

Damn! I meant

thank you
all so much, i like the idea of the voucher scheme.
im also thinking ill invest in the hummingbird book. ive seen it loads on the bookpeople website so i think ill treat myself and my sister too for that matter!!!!im also LOVING the idea of going from light pink right through to dark. sounds amazing.
thank you all for your replies i just love this place xxxx

Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with little fondant carrots on top they may be popular and obviously v tasty, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream with a malteser on top and you could do red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with red sprinkles

can i ask would it be a total disaster to make some cupcakes not decorate them but to freeze them? do they ever taste the same or is this a nono. i wouldnt do it for the chartity event but im thinking of more for my husbands local cricket teas. i get roped in alot and with two children under 3 its hard work.

I freeze mine un decorated, come out fine.