Wedding cupcakes

I was asked to do some cupcakes for a friends wedding a while ago and of course I said yes, just 40 cupcakes no problem. But eventually the figure grew to 60 (still no problem) and a giant cupcake (big problem). I have never baked one of the giant cupcakes, nor have a really wanted to and would I ever want to do another - I can safely say the answer to that question is no...

The giant cupcake tins or moulds don't come with a recipe as such, just how to make them using boxes of cake mix and they do seem to be more based on US users than UK. So after lots of searching for ideas and recipes I chose one and got to work the day before collection. Unfortunately halfway through mixing I realised that the recipe I was following was incorrect but at least I realised in time and managed to fix it. Basically a giant cupcake is made with a victorian sponge recipe x 2. 

The next problem was how to decorate it. As the wedding is not until Saturday I needed to ensure it would be as fresh as possible so chose to cover the bottom in fondant icing, not as easy as it looks. I tried to do a wrap around icing as on the net but I thought this just looked messy and after having taken it all off to start again I decided to try it my own way and it did turn out much better. At this stage I still had no idea what to do with the top!

Yesterday started at 6.30 (day of collection) and all 60 cupcakes were cooked and cooling before breakfast. So now I had all the cakes made as well as some little fondant flowers, which luckily I could make in advance.

Aiming to put off the inevitable I went to Rhiannons to help oil her newly sanded parquet floor and killed a couple of hours there, then dragged her back to mine to decorate the cakes and for moral support. 

The cupcakes were no problem once we got going and we finished those off fairly quickly, apart from having to keep mixing up more buttercream icing. I actually ended up going through 3kg of icing sugar in total and what felt like a ton of butter!

Each cupcake will have a blue wrapper added when in situ.

Then onto the giant cupcake and still no idea how to do the top. After more failing attempts Rhiannon checked the net again and we decided on an old ladies swimming hat design. After adding the flowers it actually turned out quite pretty with a nice neat fondant icing bottom.

I am promised a photograph of the cupcakes in their wrappers and on their stand after the wedding and look forward to seeing the final result. Hopefully they will taste great too.