Cupcakes – it’s the sweetest trend in cute wedding cakes. Gone is yesterday’s tired old fruit cake and in its place stands a teetering mountain of delightfully pretty and gloriously tasty cupcakes, decorated so delicately that each one is a tiny work of art.
Image courtesy of Sugar
We all long for beautiful wedding cakes, and if you’re a little bit creative and are looking for a fun group activity for the afternoon of your hen night, then a cupcake decorating party workshop could be just the thing. They are ideal for a girly hen do or an artistic decadent daytime treat.
The cupcake decorating workshop
I tried out a cupcake decorating workshop with three other girls to see what it was like, and ended up with a presentation box filled with surprisingly brilliant looking little cakes, all expertly decorated by moi!
In a large stylish kitchen, in the centre of a huge wooden table, was an impressive cake stand adorned with beautiful iced cupcakes. We flicked through the fancy cupcake tomes that were to hand and picked up some ideas for what we would like to create.
The workshop began with us each being given two plain cupcakes ready for icing. My experience of making and icing cakes has been pretty hit-and-miss in the past. I can bake a cake but never seem to get the icing quite right so I was all ears and ready to learn, and with a drink in my hand I was there for a good time too!
We learned about the subtle differences between the types of icing you can buy, and discovered top tips for mixing the icing to just the right consistency. We began by using fondant icing and colouring it to our chosen hue. A simple but genius tip for ensuring an even coverage was worth coming for alone!
For the first time in my life I created a perfectly iced cake and I was childishly proud of myself. I compared my efforts to the other girls and we all made lovely and surprisingly professional looking cakes.
Images courtesy of The CupCake Bakery
Next, piping bags and nozzles were handed round and again, before I knew it, I was getting creative and icing two more cupcakes, this time with butter icing, the kind that gives that wonderful swirly effect. We decorated our swirly iced peaks with delicate rice paper butterflies and the tiniest sugar love hearts. Two more cupcakes later and we were rolling out Royal icing that we have coloured, drawing initials freehand onto it and dipping into hundreds and thousands bits of glitter for an amazing effect – I felt like a pro!
We were having such a wonderful time that we didn’t want to leave, but the two hours was up before we knew it, our six cupcakes each were finished and we left feeling like we’ve learned loads and had fun too. If you’re considering making your own wedding cupcakes, or would just love an alternative to the spa day for your pre-hen night celebrations, then book yourself and your bridesmaids in for a workshop and you could have a relaxingly creative afternoon and actually learn a new skill!
The verdict
A wonderfully creative way to spend a couple of hours. Essential if you’re considering making your own wedding cupcakes, a great idea for a hen party and, if you change your mind and don’t fancy making 100 cupcakes after all, at least you now know someone who will do them for you! And it’s not expensive either – the average cost is around £35 per person.
And, whether you’re feeling inspired after your workshop to make your own wedding cupcakes, or have decided to have them made for you, you can still have fun choosing pretty contemporary or very lovely vintage cake stands, cake toppers and accessories to show them off!
There are more great hen party ideas in the Hen & Stag section!
