cupcake help

jodie114

i have been informed this morning that we are having my mums birthday celebration at my place on sat evening.
It has been requested that the birthday cake is a small 'normal' cake, with some cupcakes round the outside.
i cannot bake to save my life, but after looking online, and anything nice, even in the supermarket you are looking at £3 for 4, i only want about 15 ish, but with a cake, its going to cost a fortune.
How easy would it be to buy basic ish fairy cakes and ice them myself? they wanted the stiff icing in the swirl pattern if possible, but would love to do the glittery bits and flowers etc.
Is it fairly easy? can i do flavoured icing? coffee, lemon etc? is it just buttercream, or something else to make it stiffer?
Help!!!

MummyOfTwo

just buy a cheapy cupcake kit, and make your own buttercream. this link should help you with the actual decorating:D

http://www.wilton.com/technique/1M-Swirl

bigmuffins

Hi!
Am in rush so just quickly.
Do you have a food mixer or electric whisk? If so mix up a batch of buttercream - make sure your butter is soft to start with, about room temp and whisk with icing sugar until changes colour - gets lighter.
The more u whisk the better it tastes! Add flavouring of choice, vanilla or lemon or chocolate if u like.
Use a piping bag with star nozzle and pipe. Alternatively make a cone with greaseproof paper, cut off end and pipe.
Am sure u can find instructions if u google.

Buy plain fairy cakes (supermarkets sell them) or simple to make if you have mixer.
Alternatively make muffins - add wet ingredients to dry and stir by hand until just mixed. DON'T overmix. Looks lumpy and wrong but works beautifully!

HTH

Will try to come back later to post links if u need.

Good luck.
:beer:

lindens

you can buy a cheap cake mix, and can buy ready made buttercream icing too. fairy cakes and big cake can all be made out of several of the same cake mixes.
ready-made fairy cakes tend to be already decorated, rather than plain and then decorate yourself.
if you want them swirly you need an icing bag and a certain amount of skill!

jodie114

yes please, any links would be great... how far in advance could i ice the cakes? i ideally wanted enough time to go out and buy some if i managed to muck them up.
i can handle fondant icing, but buttercream and piping is all new to me

Phoolgrrrl

It was my sisters OH's bday recently and she asked me to decorate the cupcakes. We got asda smartprice fairy cakes, less than £1 for 12 and I iced them using buttercream made with butter and icing sugar and food colouring with a piping bag and nozzle from the pound shop. Just started with a big circle round the outside and swirled round until was into the middle. Was very quick and easy. We also got sprinkles and silver balls out of asda and I sprinkled (what else?) them over the buttercream.
I iced them in the morning abt 8 hours before they were eaten.
I would buy the fairy cakes as they have a flat top, when I bake buns they are at best rounded but normally lopsided.

valk_scot

jodie114 wrote: »

i have been informed this morning that we are having my mums birthday celebration at my place on sat evening.
It has been requested that the birthday cake is a small 'normal' cake, with some cupcakes round the outside.
i cannot bake to save my life, but after looking online, and anything nice, even in the supermarket you are looking at £3 for 4, i only want about 15 ish, but with a cake, its going to cost a fortune.
How easy would it be to buy basic ish fairy cakes and ice them myself? they wanted the stiff icing in the swirl pattern if possible, but would love to do the glittery bits and flowers etc.
Is it fairly easy? can i do flavoured icing? coffee, lemon etc? is it just buttercream, or something else to make it stiffer?
Help!!!

Err..if you didn't offer to do any of this, who is volunteering you? I would think if you were having to tidy up the house and make it ready for the party then someone else could make the cake. At the very least they could fork out for the cake. In which case, M&S make very attractive cupcakes.

Failing that, got any neighbours or friends who bake that you could do a bit of a swap with? I made, baked and iced a cake for my neighbour in the space of one short morning when her dog ate their two year old's birthday cake. (She would never have heard the end of it from her MIL if she'd gone out and bought a substitute cake.) Her MIL complimented her on "her" home baking....and I got two nights of babysitting in return, lol.

bigmuffins

Sorry pc been giving me aggro past week - died mid job application!
Anyway, links for muffin recipes:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=1492632&postcount=5

Have forgotten how to do the short links!:o
Hope that helps
:j

Sarah_Joanne

You can make and ice them the day before with no problem. Buttercream is perfect for piping, use a stick of soft unsalted butter to 500g icing sugar and a splash of milk (or lemon juice if flavouring with lemon) and beat until the colour visibly changes. Coffee , lemon, vanilla - you can use any flavouring you like really.

To avoid too much "doming" make sure the oven is not too hot. 180 normal oven or 160 if fan oven.

Ziggazee

Morrisons have started doing cupcake decorating kits. They come with a tub of buttercream/icing and decorations to go on top (the one I got had sparkle sugar and little sprinkle stars). There are a few different varieties (flavours and colours) and they're about £1.39. Try this link for more info: http://www.fdin.org.uk/2010/09/morrisons-introduces-new-cupcake-range-to-its-stores/