A Bouquet of Cupcakes

For the wedding cake, which you can read about here. I wanted a interesting way of presenting cupcakes that wasn't just the usual stands or just simply spread about on the table. Each of those methods I looked into required a lot of equipment. Cupcake stands are not cheap and are not easy to transport also with the numbers I had to make (150) buying fancy wrappers and cases and making decorations to make each cupcake look the same and look good would be far out of my budget. Therefore when a colleague of mine at the staff bake off made one similar and showed me how she did it, it was the answer to all the problems.

This type of presentation requires no fancy stands, the cupcake cases are not visible and decorations can be kept simple but they also look pretty good when finished.

Plus it's all very simple to do even though it looks quite complicated at first glance.

These recipes use the 'weigh your eggs' method as in whatever weight your eggs are when weighed in their shells then every other main ingredient uses that measurement.

Lemon/Chocolate cupcakes
Ingredients (makes around 50 mini cupcakes, scale up or down as required)
7 eggs (470g)
470g butter
470g SR flour
470g Caster Sugar
Zest of 4 large lemons or remove 50g of flour and replace with cocoa powder

Method
Weigh your eggs to get your measurements. Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric hand whisk until a smooth batter is formed. Pour gently into the cupcake cases and bake in a preheated oven at 160C for about 20 minutes or until the cupcakes are golden.

Butter Cream Icing
(Makes enough to cover about 70 cupcakes)
300g soft butter
1.050kg Icing sugar
150ml Milk

1 capful peppermint extract and 10g green colour paste or zest of 3 large lemons

Method
Mix the sugar with the butter until well combined then add the milk until the consistancy you want is formed, add a tbsp or two more if required.
Add the peppermint extract and green colour paste for a peppermint icing or add the lemon zest for a lemon icing.

Decoration
Simply roll out white and bottle green royal icing to the thickness of a pound and use a cutter to make as many butterflies and leaves that you like.

Assembly
Equipment
4 floral oasis balls
4 small bowls
toothpicks
cling film
2 piping bags and small star nozzles
Cling film the balls and place in the bowls.
To attach the cupcakes, stick a toothpick into the bottom of the cupcake and press into the foam ball, alternate with chocolate and lemon cupcakes around the ball and make sure there are no large gaps.
Fill an icing bag with the green icing then ice each chocolate cupcake from the inside out in a circle, finishing in the middle. This should give a rose look. Repeat with the lemon icing on each lemon cupcake. Do not try to decorate the cupcakes before attaching to the oasis ball.

May have made a mistake at the back. oops

Randomly place the butterflies and leaves around the bouquet and sprinkle with edible glitter if you like.

Enjoy

By some random coincidence. Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked are doing a cupcake themed Tea time treat challenge this month of which I will be submitting this as my entry.