How to Display and Decorate Wedding Cupcakes

In a previous article, wedding cupcakes were listed as one of the money-saving ideas for planning a wedding reception on a budget. Serving cupcakes instead of tiered cake, or alongside a traditional wedding cake, can be trendy and fun, as well as cost-effective.

Choosing the correct way to display cupcakes on the cake table can make the difference between something that looks classy enough to be part of a wedding and someone just making a tray of cupcakes for a bake sale. Tiered cupcake stands, or cupcake trees, give the illusion of a traditional wedding cake as the layers of cupcakes are tiered. Cupcake stands can be made of metal, glass, colored plastic, or recyclable materials. There are many online stores that carry cupcake stands that, when filled with delicious baked goods, make an interesting and visually appealing display. This 24" clear cupcake tree from Wedding Fads can hold up to 90 cupcakes and sells for $72.95. Cupcaketree.com carries a number of both square and round cupcake displays, including several trees which can hold up to 300 cupcakes, if you have a larger wedding to accommodate. Some of their larger cupcake trees have a top layer that could hold a small sheet cake, which you could have baked and decorated to match the cupcakes in your wedding's color theme. Cakes By Sam, Inc.'s 26 inch square metal cupcake stand has a contemporary style and comes in bronze, gold, or silver. For those who need a smaller cupcake stand, several of the vendors listed above stock small cupcake trees, as do many hobby stores and department stores like Target.

The simplicity of cupcakes makes them the perfect DIY project for a wedding reception. Cupcakes can be decorated in a variety of ways. Select frosting and cake to match your wedding's color scheme. If your reception is decorated in pink and robin's egg blue (which is a hot spring color combination for weddings), have some cupcakes with each color of the frosting alternating on the cupcake stand. Cupcake decorating tools are available that are perfect even for beginning decorators, if you wish to have them frosted with a "designer" touch. By visiting the cake decorating section at your local hobby supply store, you will see that there are many options available for decorating cupcakes. Pre-made fondant can be used to cut out heart shapes with a small cookie cooker, then dressed up by "monogramming" your initial on the heart with a pastry tip and icing to be placed on top of the cupcake. Cupcakes can be embellished with pink, gold, or silver dragees, sugar pearls, sprinkles, colorful dusting powder, or nonpareils. Edible roses made from royal icing, such as these from Bake It Pretty can make an otherwise plain cupcake look elegant.

You can also dress up cupcakes with decorative wrappers, like these from Paper Orchid, which have a sophisticated lace-style and can be monogrammed with the first initials of the bride and groom. For a black and white themed reception, use black wrappers to add contrast to white icing. Cupcake wrappers come in many colors and styles, from simple to intricate and from metallics to pastels and everything in between.

There are many websites and blogs where wedding cupcake inspiration can be found. If you need a visual to get the ideas flowing, check out Cakella's Wedding Cupcake Inspiration page. So, have fun, be creative, and enjoy your wedding cupcakes!