Cupcake Stands

First the disclaimer. I do not get paid or reimbursed or compensated in any way for any products that I recommend or endorse. My function and purpose is to share new ideas, products and innovations to help those in the baking and wedding industry. That said .....

I recently came across a wonderful product that I project to be very popular with the increased demand for cupcake weddings and parties.

There is always a question of how to display cupcakes other than just lining them up in a box on a table. Nice. But no "wow" factor. There is also a concern with the baker of renting stands, getting them back, wanting to make sure their sugary art is displayed in the best artistic way, etc.

Enjay Converters Ltd, a company that has been in business for more than 25 years, offers disposable cupcake stands to the commercial baker.

The tiers are approximately 8", 12" and 14", plenty of space to display cupcakes. I can see two or even three of these on a cake or dessert table. With the various colored foils available, (the photo shows three of them) one could almost color code the display: white cupcakes on the white stand, chocolate cupcakes on the silver stand and yellow cupcakes on the gold stand.

As your demand for cupcakes increases, be sure to visit their website at http://www.enjay.com.

Let's Talk Cupcakes!

What picture comes to mind when someone says "cupcake"? Is it the regular cupcake-with-a-swirl-of-icing on top?

Here are a few photos showing what you can do with cupcakes. Great ideas for weddings, parties, showers, birthdays or just because!

Love chocolate covered strawberries? Here are white cupcakes topped with a chocolate ganache, then a chocolate-dipped strawberry placed on top. The whole thing was then drizzled in white chocolate.

Cupcakes can be a wedding favor AND double as a centerpiece. Here are champagne flavored cupcakes, topped with a raspberry buttercream, with and without a fresh strawberry on top. Have a bottle of champagne on each table and your guests will be wowed with this simple but elegant refreshment/centerpiece.

Cute for a baby or wedding shower, these ladybug cupcakes will add color and that extra touch of pizazz to your event! The icing is a special recipe topping made with melted chocolate and butter that will have everyone licking their fingers to get every drop!

For the next family reunion or neighborhood backyard BBQ, confuse everyone with a cupcake that looks like a cherry pie! Fruit filling is placed on top of the cupcake and buttercream icing is 'woven' into a lattice pie covering.

Not really a cake person? (ok, I'll forgive you this once!). Here are brownies baked in cupcake liners, topped with a chocolate fudge icing. We then topped them with a few cherries (we used canned cherry pie filling), then drizzled with a white chocolate. We called them "Black Forest Brownies".

.

Cupcakes: Cheaper? Maybe ... Maybe Not

Cupcakes are all the rage .... well, if you listen to wedding magazines and websites, they are. These same magazine and websites usually imply how much cheaper cupcakes are.

Not always.

I want brides to go through the wedding planning process with their eyes wide open. I want them to be aware of all of their options. I want them to take nothing at face value and to do some in-depth research.

So with that thought, allow me to share what I've encountered with cupcake requests.

Bride hears that cupcakes are cheaper. Bride pops into the local grocery store bakery and sees that cupcakes are sold 12 to a pack for about $6 (50 cents each). The cupcakes are your basic grocery store cupcake ... standard size with a swirl of icing, maybe some sprinkles or candy stars on top.

Bride quickly calculates 100 cupcakes for her wedding will run her about fifty bucks. Great! What a boost to her budget!

Here's where the problem starts.

Bride doesn't WANT a grocery store cupcake with a swirl of icing on top. She wants the cupcakes the magazines are showing her, with the fondant icing, topped with a rose that has been hand made from gumpaste, with gumpaste leaves swirling out from under the rose and perhaps a small edible star on a wire rising from behind the rose. Oh, and how about those cute special cupcakes wrappers with hearts cut out in the design (available here: http://www.fancyflours.com/site/xdpy/sf/Paper%20Goods/Baking%20Cups/index.html )

Those special cupcakes wrappers themselves start at $1.25 EACH. The baker has to make 100 gumpaste roses (instead of just 15 or 20 buttercream roses to cascade down a small 3-tiered wedding cake). Gumpaste roses can range from $1 to $2.50 EACH. Plus the time/materials for the gumpaste leaves....let's add 25 cents for those. The fondant stars that need to be hand cut out and applied to the food safe wire can add 50 cents to $1 to each cupcake.

What are we up to .... $5 per cupcake and we haven't even added in the cost of the cupcake yet! I know lots of custom design bakeries that will make a full size regular wedding cake for that price or less.

And the bride's mouth drops open as she says, "But it's just a 50 cent cupcake!"

No, darlin', it's not.

The plain, mass produced, made God-Knows-When cupcake at the local grocery store is a 50 cent cupcake. But that's not what you ordered from the custom cake designer.

You wanted a cupcake with bells and whistles. Bells and whistles cost extra.

If you are happy with a simple grocery store cupcake, then it's a smart purchase. But go into this decision with eyes wide open. I find it a conflicting message when the "experts" at the wedding magazines try to tell you cupcakes are cheaper and then show photos of nothing but custom designed "designer" cupcakes. It's confusing to brides and leads them to believe they can get a $7 cupcake for 50 cents.

Cupcakes usually require special stands that must be rented or purchased.

By the way, if you choose cupcakes for your wedding, I recommend you order extra (here you go, having to spend more money to have "cheaper" cupcakes!).
- When cupcakes are the wedding cake, guests are more likely to have more than one.
- If you have multiple flavors, guests are more comfortable having 2 cupcakes than they are having 2 pieces of cake. (After all, it's "just" a cupcake!)
- It's easier to grab a cupcake to take home than it is to grab a plate of sliced cake.

I've seen many incredible towering displays of cupcakes that were wonderous works of art. They can be as grand as any traditional wedding cake and can look truly regal at a reception. My intent, here, is to educate brides on what the cost can be ..... a custom designed wedding cupcake is not the same price as what you see in the grocery store.

So plan accordingly, price shop a few places, and go into this process with a taste of reality.

As a friend said to me once, "Cupcakes can be cheaper but only if you use cheap cupcakes."