I've been seeing the darling cupcake cakes that everyone is making. Question is....do you just get an idea of what you want the end result to look like and then arrange the cupcakes to that form, and then frost the WHOLE thing as one? Looks like from pictures that is what is done. How does it work when you take a cupcake away? Does it screw up the frosting on the rest? Or who cares after everyone sees how cute it is to begin with?

hi, I have only made one, but I did put them in the shape I wanted then icae the top as one with my icer tip. when they ate the cupcakes they just lift them up, and no noone cares how they look at that point.. at least not at the party i did them for

Thanks! This just seemed to be some new craze that I had not seen before. You're right...cupcakes are just good no matter what!

When you arrange the cupcakes make sure you stagger them to eliminate gaps, otherwise you may end up with holes in you icing. If you use the crusting bc icing, taking a cupcake away should not disturb the other cupcakes.

I'm new to this and don't really understand the "purpose" of a cupcake cake. Maybe I need to do some research on the forums here. LOL. Are they mostly used for "fun" for kids parties, etc???

Thanks for your help

Here's a great tutorial by cali4dawn :
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/105830324epGFhn

Thanks for the tutorial! Guess it's all up to the imagination!

I have worked in a bakery before (for a very short time) and what we did was take the cupcakes arrange them in the pattern and then use a swirl method on each individual cupcake. But you have to make sure that the icing is touching each other or there will be gaps in them. What I have done at home when I do them is draw the shape on the cake board first and then arrange them.

Hi,
Yes, frost the whole thing as one. Arrange the cupcakes as best as you can without any gaps, then frost the entire top with the icer tip if you have one. That works best for me. Some of the grocery stores around me do simple designs with the swirly frosting on each cup cake then arrange them into some pattern: flower, football, balloons, etc. But I like a CCC to be all decorated together as one cake.

One great reason for CCC's is for kids' class parties at school or birthday parties. The teachers love this idea because it's new and kind of fun compared to just individual cupcakes, really cute and much less messy than slicing a real cake. The frosting will kind of get pulled apart as each cupcake is pulled away from each other but it's no big deal at all.
Plus there are endless variations on how to arrange the CCC's so any design is possible.

Hope that helps!
KimAZ

everyone is right. couple side notes- make sure you plan out your design ahead of time, because they don't always want to fit. make sure your board is big enough, and when you get them situated, put a dab of icing under each one to hold it in it's spot. I ice all of mine seperately so people can get them off easily, glue them down, then airbrush the top to make the pictures. It's just more fun for the kids when their cupcakes are also in a shape!

Thank you to everyone for all the help and comments! I wish I could do the airbrushing, but the last time I tried it, I had one heck of a dye mess!