Cupcake Bar?

cupcake_rampage

I was looking up ways to transport cupcakes and one website suggested that, to avoid all the problems with transporting frosted cupcakes, you could always set up a cupcake "bar," letting people customize their own cupcakes.

What do you guys think of this idea, in theory?  I could foresee it getting a bit messy, unfortunately, and any way to have frosting in "single-serve" portions almost seems like more trouble than it's worth.  I guess you could do little swirls of frosting in those tiny "nut and party cups" that Wilton makes...

Good idea?  Crazy idea?

Nebb

I personally would not want to actually ICE my own cupcake, I wouldnt mind putting sprinkles or nuts or something on it, but the messiness and time it would take to ice it wouldnt interest me. I just like stuff ready to be stuck into my mouth.

You could always just pipe some icing on the top, not enough to reach the edges so it doesnt get messy once you get to the venue? then guests could go from there.

niffycat

We transported cupcakes. It wasn't that big of an issue. The place we bought them from had boxes that they put them in that seperated each cupcake out and kept them from hitting other cakes.

cupcake_rampage

Yeah, I hear that.  We're planning to make our own, if possible, and we'd really like to be able to just stack them on top of each other to transport, because otherwise we'd have to buy a bunch of flat carriers.

I'm half thinking it's more trouble than its worth and that just making a wedding cake would be easier and take less time...

MissIntentional

you HAVE to have cupcakes. it's in the name. i also wouldn't want to frost my own cake, it makes your fingers all sticky.

tlv204

I'm in the minority on this I think, and I know it's not what you're asking, but I generally prefer wedding cake to cupcakes any day. Cupcakes seem to informal to me for some reason. BUT like PP said, it's in your name I also agree that I would not prefer to frost my own cupcake.

cupcake_rampage

Ha ha, yeah you guys are right, it IS in the name.  Plus, since we probably won't have people staffing our reception, a wedding cake means people have to cut their own and get all sticky anyway.

tlv, our entire wedding + reception is intended to be very casual, actually.  We're leaning toward barbecue for the reception - well, barbecued food, real plates and silverware, as neat as possible.  Not messy, but casual.

We may yet end up just getting a lot of smaller plastic or cardboard carriers - I just prefer not to.

mwhitson14

We're doing  cupcakes!

I bought cupcake wrappers, so the pretty frosting won't get messed up:

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=20083557

lalap69

We had a decorate your own cupcake theme to a bake sale at my school recently, and although it was a big hit, it was REALLY REALLY messy.  So it depends on how much of a factor mess is for you.

MissIntentional

could you pipe the frosting on after transportation?
you inspired me to change my sig to my favorite cupcakes.

cupcake_rampage

mwhitson, those are all kinds of adorable!  I didn't realize how far away the frosting was from the edge of those kinds of wrappers, so theoretically I guess I could just sit them all next to each other in a shirt box or something without worrying.   That's an idea...

lalap69, good to know.  Mess IS a factor, and even though I think it would be very cool to let people pick their own cake/frosting combinations, I don't think I want to add that much "sticky" to the reception.

MissIntentional, that is an option.  We are only going to be at the reception site about an hour and a half prior to the ceremony, though, and since we're probably going to be setting up everything ourselves, I doubt we'd have the time.  Otherwise that would be my top pick idea, for sure.  And, those cupcakes look sooo awesome!

mwhitson14

Yeah, I talked to my baker and she said she will sit the cupcakes in the wrappers and then frost them. And they detach easily, so people will just detach them and enjoy!

mrsamyjones

I think that it could be fun...the question you're really asking is how do i make a cupcake bar less messy.

A few ideas...

-have frosting in piping bags that can be capped or something like that

-do one step at each station
start the process at one table i.e. grab your cup cake at table one, frost at station 2, toppings at table 3

-and release people by table or something along those lines to have a semblance of crowd control

but for the casual fun feel you're going for I think its a great idea

thesuninherhead

I'm torn. On one hand, this could be fun if it were at a party etc. At a wedding though, I'm just unsure. It could go either way, I think, and I just think I couldn't sacrifice the prettiness of the iced cupcakes in favour of DIY.

janedoe1113a

I would not be too terribly happy to ice my own cupcake.

polichik

I'm guessing it might be expensive (but who knows?), but I've seen cupcake tops in Martha Stewart Weddings. I think they're little sugar tops with designs in them, and they wouldn't be messy..

amblizman

With the holidays coming up, you might be able to get something cheap meant for storing ornaments to keep your cupcakes from touching each other. 

If you need to frost them at the venue, buy some cheap piping bags (Ziplock bags also work fairly well) and large tips.  Fill all the bags at home, and when you get to the venue, you should be able to pipe on the icing rather quickly.

And I didn't pay enough attention to determine if people decorating their own cupcakes was a novelty idea or a byproduct of possibly having to frost the cupcakes on site.  My two cents for that is- if you DO want people playing with their own sprinkles and whatnot, you will want the cupcakes frosted as close to decorating as possible because once the frosting starts to harden, the embellishments are not going to stick.

squirrly

Whit, I'm mad at you now.  Because the little cocktail sticks on that seller's site are too cute - I'm now going to have to try to make some.  Gah.