Cupcakes!

ahoywedding

Has anyone done strictly cupcakes for dessert? How well did that go over with guests? What might be a good estimate for how many might be needed? Of course I'll also ask the baker how many they recommend. Most online estimates I've seen suggest 1.5 per person, which I *think* seems reasonable, but I have no experience providing cupcakes for a group. I'd rather have extras than run out, but I also don't want a ton of leftovers.

jacques27

It's fine - really no different than cake. In fact my crowd prefers cupcakes.  There are calculators out there.  When I bake for events I use 1.5 as my standard usually and rarely have more than 6 to 12 left over.  

If cupcakes are your ONLY dessert offering, you may want to consider 2.0 (maybe 1.75).  If you plan to have other desserts available, you could consider 1.25 or 1.0.  There are a few factors that come into play (full meal vs. Cocktail or dessert reception only, other desserts being served, etc).

If cupcakes are in lieu of cake, definitely have enough for everyone to have one, even if there will be other desserts. I've seen some try to get by cheap ordering enough for 75 percent figuring not everyone will have one or prefer one of the other dessert options, but when it is taking the place of the actual wedding cake you should definitely plan on everyone.  I probably wouldn't go less than 1.5 though.

lnixon8

Are you having only one flavor?  Anything "exotic"? If the choices are chocolate cupcake or vanilla cupcake I'll just take the chocolate. If you have red velvet, raspberry lemon, carrot, chocolate chip or coconut I might take 2 different flavors.

ahoywedding

lnixon8 said:

Are you having only one flavor?  Anything "exotic"? If the choices are chocolate cupcake or vanilla cupcake I'll just take the chocolate. If you have red velvet, raspberry lemon, carrot, chocolate chip or coconut I might take 2 different flavors.

We haven't thought about flavors yet, but I would definitely take that into account. I'm assuming if we go with more fun or different flavors, we might need more. Good point!

cupcait927

We did cupcakes for our wedding. We had the option between normal sized cupcakes and large cupcakes and went with the large. We had a guest list of ~50 people and ordered 65 cupcakes, in case some people wanted extras. If we had done the normal sized cupcakes, I would've gone with 1.5 per person. We just went with chocolate and vanilla flavors so I wasn't too concerned about people taking more than one (also, they were huge cupcakes). We ended up with about 20 leftover. 

OurWildKingdom

I was actually thinking about vegan and/or gluten-free cupcakes for our guests who need a special dessert. Good to know about the 1.5 cupcakes per person guideline.

ILoveBeachMusic

My only caution when talking to the baker is make sure you have enough for everyone to have at least one. Our baker originally said to plan on enough cake for 80% of the guests. There was no way I was going along with that! There were three flavors of cake so we ordered more than 1 piece/person in case people wanted more than one. There was very little leftover.

ahoywedding

ILoveBeachMusic said:

My only caution when talking to the baker is make sure you have enough for everyone to have at least one. Our baker originally said to plan on enough cake for 80% of the guests. There was no way I was going along with that! There were three flavors of cake so we ordered more than 1 piece/person in case people wanted more than one. There was very little leftover.

Oh my goodness, only 80% of your guests?!? I would have guessed they'd overestimate! I would plan on at least one per person, maybe 1.75 or 2 as PPs have said if we have multiple flavors. I don't figure anyone would get upset taking home a left over cupcake

holyguacamole79

We did cupcakes & they were a huge hit!  We had a cake-cake for the groom's cake (not sure if you're doing that).  We had 4 flavors, I think ... chocolate, italian cream, red velvet, & oreo.

I can't recall how many we ordered, but we did have leftovers (mmmm and now I'm hungry!)

AddieCake

We had cupcakes in 3 flavors, and they were well-received. We had 100 for 60 guests.

MesmrEwe

For DH's cousin's wedding, they had 200 guests and 400 cupcakes and at the end of the night a very messy table from where the cupcakes had been.  Same rule applies to cupcakes as it does to cake - GOOD TASTING gets EATEN!  It doesn't matter how it LOOKS, if it tastes like crud, it won't get eaten.  If you do your giving eachother a bite of cupcake right away when you enter the room and don't wait around, people will eat more as it'll be a snack through the evening.  Knowing your guests also makes a difference. 

IMO, plan two cupcakes per person, geometrically it's the equivalent portion to a wedding cake slice and no one ever complains about their slice of yummy cake being too big, but having been the guest at at least four weddings to NOT get cake, always err on the side of more than enough than not enough!

ahoywedding

Thanks everyone! It sounds like cupcakes have been a hit, so  over-estimating is definitely the way to go. I'd rather have too much than not enough, and no one ever complains about too much dessert!

spatulahands

I actually work as a baker in a cupcake shop and when we do weddings, we always recommend a few flavors, but not too many.  We see a lot of people who get something like 10 different flavors, but only a dozen of each, and what always happens is that a) guests are eager to try a flavor and then it runs out and/or b) people can't decide on a flavor!  I'd say the best bet is to pick one or two classic flavors (vanilla, chocolate, etc) and then maybe one or two fun/adventurous ones or ones that are favorites of yours!

Sammy1112

Everyone loves cupcakes. Go for it! 

marissaskisses

We are doing cupcakes in lieu of a traditional wedding cake, and the handful of people who know about it love the idea. Ours was purely a logistics concern, as there would be nobody there to cut the cake for 75 people, and I sure wasn't spending time cutting cake on our wedding day. LOL!!! We are having 2 different flavors of cupcakes, a small cake for our cutting which is a third flavor, and the cake will be surrounded by a fourth flavor of cake balls (think cake pop without the stick)

ahoywedding

@marissaskisses I love the cake balls idea! I had thought about having a second dessert, and something smaller-ish seems like a good idea. I'm a Girl Scout troop leader, so maybe Girl Scout cookies on a few of those three-level serving plates?

marissaskisses

That would be a great personal tie to your dessert! And who doesn't LOVE girl scout cookies? I have to fight the urge to buy them every year cause the Samoas/Caramel Dreams are my absolute weakness lol

SummerGirl87

We did cupcakes for our wedding and it was perfect. My FIL built a cupcake tower but I'm sure many bakeries can provide one if you ask. I was also able to choose two different cake flavors which gave our guests the extra option. We also just did a small two-tier topper - one tier we could cut for our first bite and a second, smaller tier we could save for our one year anniversary. I spent less on cupcakes than I would have a cake, plus no one had to cut and serve the cake which can take forever depending on your wedding size. I'd recommend it, it was cute, easy, and affordable. 

iloveu4ever

I would say have at least a couple of flavors. I agree if you just got white and chocolate cupcakes then I prefer white personally. But have like white, red velvet, and lemon.