Tea Party: Buy v. Bake Cupcakes

Tallulah-32

Hi

I'm having an informal tea party for the Royal Wedding and also my engagement.

I don't know whether to buy or make cupcakes or cakes in general. There will be about 30 people coming (including 15 kids). I want to do an old style tea party with cake stands and cucumber sandwiches etc.

With Asda and Morrisons doing cheap cakes I don't know whether it is worth me bothering to bake cakes considering that I'll need to buy a bun tin, cake tin, piping bag and other utensils then there's the electricity. I'm saving up for a wedding next year so I'm try to be careful with my money.

To buy or bake? which is most economical if each person eats around 3 cakes each?

Bitsy_Beans

Personally I'd bake but I prefer home made.
Can you not borrow the items you need of anyone?


My current fave is chocolate cupcakes with nutella slathered all over the top

angeltreats

Making your own would be a bit more expensive but definitely worth it as they are just so much nicer than shop-bought. All you need is a bun/muffin tin (pound shop), paper cases (Sainsburys do lovely ones for very cheap), a palette knife or similar for spreading buttercream on top (no need to pipe it - Hummingbird Bakery don't pipe theirs!) and any decorations you fancy.

MsHoarder

You don't need a tin: just put them on plates and straight out for the party. And no need for a piping bag either, use the back of a teaspoon to spread the icing (1 tsp of icing onto the top of each cake). Its much nicer/more traditional to back your own, but don't forget to cheat and use your whisk/food processor (if available) to speed the process up.

Nimeth

I think home baked tastes better than store bought. Depending on what you want to do with the cupcakes, you might not need any more than a cupcake tin, cases and a palette knife.

If each person eats about 3 and you have 30 people, it might be more economical for you to bake them yourself.

happierdaystocome

I'd bake as they taste nicer,as others have said you wont need a piping bag for the icing, I use a spoon.

Tallulah-32

Thanks for all the great replies! I might as well invest in some baking stuff. Is it true that you might as well spend on a heavy bun tin as the cakes turn out better? B&M etc have some great bakeware.

angeltreats

Tallulah-32 wrote: »

Thanks for all the great replies! I might as well invest in some baking stuff. Is it true that you might as well spend on a heavy bun tin as the cakes turn out better? B&M etc have some great bakeware.

Nooo! As long as you're going to use paper cases, you really don't need an expensive bun tin (baking sheets or cake tins are a different story though).

If you're going to make large cupcakes you'll want a muffin tin. If you're going to make smaller, fairy cake style buns, try and find a deep bun tin rather than the shallower type as they will give your cakes a much better shape.

Deep bun tin

Shallow bun tin

Not suggesting you fork out for them at Lakeland, it's just so you can see the difference

caitybabes

Just imagine the glow of pride as people tuck into your tasty cakes and you can say "Oh I'm glad you like them, I baked them myself". So worth it.

Marm0set11

You can't beat homemade cakes! Cupcakes are pretty easy, and cheap cupcake tins work fine- I did a buffet for 60 people last summer for my mum's 50th and made about 200 cupcakes. It was far too many with the other food, but they were probably the least stressful element of it all!

I found some lovely recipes on the bbgoodfood.com website, and you can freeze some of the cakes uniced to get ahead if you'll be pressed for time.

Good luck, I'm craving cake now!

zippychick

we do have an Old style afternoon tea party thread which should have loads of ideas. For some odd reason I would make various cakes instead of buns - just because I'm odd like that :D

I would make sticky ginger cake 3-4-5 days before , carrot cake two days before (i use rachel allens recipe)- and keep the frosting in a tub in the fridge ready to be iced two delias squidgy logs the day before (with shop bought chocolate mousse, and i wouldnt cook the fish slice in the oven this time) and maybe some bread - wheaten or something! (delias log, i would make the sponge, and whip the cream the day before - so all you need to do is assemble a couple of cakes come the day)

ill merge this with the tea party thread later. Let us know what you make!

Zip