Help needed please

[maisymay]

hy im making 60 cupcakes for a christening and unsure on the quantities i need also iv been asked to pipe the tops and unsure about how to make the buttercream stiff enough to do this.any advice would be great thanks

[the card shark]

You don't need to have your buttercream ultra thick - otherwise you will have difficulty piping it and it might crack as you pipe. As for the recipe, they'll most likely be one on the back of your icing sugar packet.

If I pipe with buttercream, I tend to add a bit more icing sugar but soften it with a tiny amount of milk. I can't give you my exact quantities cos I judge it by eye! I find that the extra sugar helps 'set' the buttercream and the milk helps soften it so it can be piped easily.

A word of warning, make sure you've plenty of butter and icing sugar as you will find you use far more than you expect.

[sparklyshoes]

Well I use a 4oz butter, 4 oz sr flour and 4oz sugar, 4 eggs and a splash of milk (standard sponge recipe) and it makes about 12 cupcakes (largish ones). I used the recipe on the back of the icing sugar packet and that covered all 12 with some spoon licking for the littlies...

Tho I dolloped about 2tsp on each not piped..so you might have to make a small batch and do some maths!

I made about that many for my littlies christening, but made loads of different flavour toppings. I also have a fancy perspec (sp) 7 tier cake stand that they looked lovely on!

x

[Rosamundi]

I use this recipe for 16-18 large cupcakes
150g unsalted butter (soft)
3 tbsp cornflour
175g caster sugar
2.5 tsp baking powder
4 medium eggs or 3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
284ml (1 tub) buttermilk
220g self raising flour (or replace 50g flour for cocoa powder)

Beat all of the ingredients together except the flour and buttermilk until light & fluffy then mix in the other 2 ingredients.
Cook at 150ºC fan for 20 minutes

The buttercream recipe I use is:
250g softened butter
500g icing sugar
100g melted chocolate (plain or white)
splash of milk

Beat sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, mix in chocolate and milk and beat again.

[maisymay]

Thanks for your replies they all sound great.

[teacupcandles.co.uk]

If you can, try and get a 1m piping bag nozzle - open star tip.
It gives cupcakes that massive ice cream looking swirl, if you're after that effect.

[teacupcandles.co.uk]

Also, after being piped I stick them in the fridge until needed.

[maisymay]

Thankyou very much

[Rosamundi]

Another bit of kit I use for buttercream is disposable icing bags from lakeland, http://www.lakeland.co.uk/disposable-icing-bags/F/keyword/icing/product/2664it makes cleaning up so easy