DIY Cupcake Bar
Hi friends!
I had the opportunity recently to host a fun party and got to get a little creative. 🙂 My original plan was to do a fondue with different toppings and finishes, but the whole process of keeping the chocolate melted for hours was a bit daunting to me. After thinking about what I could do to create a similar effect, I decided to make a cupcake bar where people could choose their own toppings for a cupcake. Perhaps buttercream icing is the new fondue? 🙂
I started by picking up several candies from the grocery store:
I used my favorite kitchen appliance of all time, the Vitamix to crush the candy. I used the Dry Container and kept it on a level 3 for about 10 seconds for the Oreos and Butterfingers, which crushed easily. The Reeses and the Snickers were a level 10 for about 15 seconds and the M&M’s and Sprinkles were left alone in their “natural” state. 😛
I was super excited to get to use my Washi Tape and some long toothpicks to make some flags to differentiate between the different candies- believe it or not crushed candy can be hard to tell apart. 🙂 I stuck with a gold and peach color scheme- I absolutely love these two colors together! They are so classy and spring-y. Wedding colors anyone? If I ever have a baby girl I would be tempted to use this color scheme for a nursery! Cute, cute, cute.
I hate icing cakes and cupcakes so I decided to bake both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and leave them both un-iced. I used this recipe for buttercream icing and was really pleased with how it turned out. I simply left it in a bowl along with pretty cups full of the candy with the flags so people could make their own cupcakes with whatever toppings they chose. It worked out perfect.
I also did a cheese plate. I’m going to do a tutorial soon on how I turned a slate tile piece into a cheese board, but for now here’s the visual. I made a few sample crackers using some ideas I had read about. One cracker was topped with gorgonzola cheese, an apple slice, a candied pecan (recipe here) and a drizzle of honey. The other had my favorite cheese of all time with a smear of orange marmalade. They were delicious! I definitely recommend adding a little sweet with your cheese.
So there you have it. The cupcake topping bar would be super fun for any event – wedding showers, baby showers, a gender reveal party (put blue or pink icing depending on what your guess for the gender is!) or just a random Wednesday. Why not? 🙂
Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.
Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.
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