How to make a pull-apart cupcake cake
What is a pull apart cupcake cake?
Do you ever want a personal cake for the birthday person? Or something else in addition to the main dessert? Pull apart cakes are a fun and convenient way to do just THAT!
A pull-apart cupcake cake is a cake MADE FROM cupcakes. It’s not a cake SHAPED like a cupcake. It’s a huge hit for birthday parties, baby showers, and other celebrations.
The beauty of if is the ease of serving. No knife needed. No plates either. Each guest simply grabs a cupcake from the design. Easy peasy!
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My friend asked me to help her make one for a baby shower. It was a lot of fun making it! As a bonus, it was much, much more inexpensive than what the stores charge. We know…we checked!
Follow along and see how easy it is.
First, decide on the design.
After considering baby rattles, strollers, and some other baby designs, we decided on a pink and white baby’s dress.
Bake the cupcakes.
But don’t frost them yet. Let them completely cool. We used a box cake mix. Here are some great cupcake liners, too.
Prepare your frosting.
We used buttercream and it was fabulous. It was smooth enough to flow through the icing tip and it was thick enough to hold its shape. The recipe is in my FREE Resource Library. You can get the password for the free Library by filling out the form at the bottom of this post or in the sidebar.
Assemble the cake.
Lay out your design with the unfrosted cupcakes. Place them on a cake board or whatever serving tray you’ll be using and arrange them in the design of your choice. We used 23 cupcakes for our design, which filled a 13″ X 16″ cake board. By the way, we picked up the cake board at our local grocery store bakery department for $1.
Now that your design is laid out, pick up one cupcake at a time. Spread a glob of frosting on the bottom of the cupcake wrapper. This will act as your glue to hold the cupcake in place. It’s also soft enough to allow a guest to easily remove a cupcake while not disturbing the others. Don’t overdo it or the excess will spread out the sides.
Place the cupcake back in place. Then repeat with the next cupcake. The frosting still allows you to move the cupcakes a bit as you go, in case you need to squish some closer together or rearrange a small bit.
Frost the tops of the cupcakes.
Do this only after all the cupcakes have been “glued” into place. Leave the cupcakes as they are, “glued” in place. Depending on your design and how closely you arranged the cupcakes, you will be left with some gaps. Fill these in after you’ve frosted the others, so the icing will have nearby icing to cling too. We had marshmallows on hand, just in case some gaps were too bit and needed to be filled in. But we didn’t use them after all. The icing in the gaps held up just fine!
We used this Wilton tip for the large swirls, and this tip for the edging of the sleeves and neckline and the buttons.
Add decorations
This is the time to add sprinkles, before the frosting forms a crust. We also added a ribbon, using more frosting to “glue” it in place.
Here is our final result. We were pretty pleased with it and the Mom-To-Be at the baby shower was delighted, too!
We also frosting extra cupcakes and placed them on a tier, just to round out the table. The table looked fantastic in the end, don’t you think?
Want to know the Best Part of the Pull-Apart Cupcake Cake?
The three of us baking, mixing, measuring, and putting it all together made great memories and had a blast doing it! You just don’t get that kind of friendship by going to the grocery store to pick up a generic cake. (I like to think ours tasted better, too — wink –wink.) I definitely know it was less expensive!
Here’s an easy way to load your icing bags.
So are you ready to try this yourself? If so, I’d love to hear from you and see a photo of your own pull-apart cupcake cake. Get the recipe in my free Resource Library by filling out this form and subscribing to my newsletter.
RELATED READING: Learn how to hand paint cookies.
More Ideas
Here are some of my tried-and-true favorites supplies for cake and cookie decorating. Perhaps they will help you as well.
And here are some other ideas for a pull-apart cupcake cakes.
This AWESOME Elsa Cupcake Cake will delight your little Frozen fan!
A super adorable cake perfect for any little princess on her birthday!
3) Pull Apart Soccer Ball Cupcake Cake
This Pull Apart Soccer Ball Cupcake Cake is perfect for your soccer player!
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