How To Host A Cupcake Tasting

Some of you were interested in the Cupcake Tasting my friend Ann hosted a couple of months ago.  More specifically, you were interested in how-in-the-heck she pulled this off!  I asked Ann to write up a little synopsis on how she put on this fabulous event for those of you who are interested in hosting one.  I can tell you, as a guest, it was such a fun night and your friends would be lucky to have you should you decided to put one on!

Here is what Ann wrote up just for you:

Hello Cupcake lovers!!  Landee asked me to enlighten a little on the process that went into throwing this party, and the results of the scoring.  So I’ll just dig right in and get started.  I’ll try to be a little detailed to help you out if you’re considering trying it.  I hope it won’t be dull.  Some of it went off without a hitch, but I learned quite a bit in the process.  I mulled it over in my head for weeks before I even started writing anything down.  I obsessed over the number of people to invite, which cupcakes to make and how many flavors to do.  Especially which cupcakes to make! It wanted it to be a nice variation. 

For the guests:  I had polled my friends on facebook to see who would be interested in attending.  So when it came time to make my guest list, I had at least some solid names to write down.  From there, I just added people I know – from church, from school, neighbors, etc.  I decided to just blend it all together.  When I was finished, my list was approx. 40 people.  I begged people to give me their rsvp by a certain date, but there are always a few stragglers.  It worked out totally fine though.  All said and done, I had a huge response and about 35 guests, and finished with 30 completed rating sheets.

Extras:  I employed dear Landee to help.  She made the cutest cupcake markers on toothpicks and printed me a gorgeous menu to display on the counter next to all of the cupcakes.  I had many tiered cake plates and platters to arrange the cupcakes on.  I also printed larger versions of pictures of almost every cupcake / cake project I’ve ever done and displayed them around the house.  I had plenty of chairs and an extra table for people to sit.  I bought all new pencils and put them in a jar next to the rating sheets.  I borrowed a large drink dispenser and filled it with ice water and sliced up grapefruits, lemons, limes and oranges.  That morning I went to the grocery store and found a display of white stargazer lilies on sale for $5 a bunch!!!  So I bought 5 bunches and filled lot’s of vases.  My entire mantle was 7 smaller vases filled with lilies, plus two larger vases full.  One by the front door and one next to the jar of pencils.  Just enough decoration to be pretty, but very uncomplicated. 

For the cupcake prep:  Based on the guest list, I planned for 48 of each of the five flavors.  Some recipes had to be doubled, some did not.  Once I did all my research and had my flavors nailed down, I began by making a list of each cupcake, with all of the ingredients and recipe instructions for each in the same document.  I read through the recipes several times, so I would have a clear idea of the process and time needed for each one.  Surely not everyone has to do this.  But my brain handles pressure so much better when I’m well prepared.  Then, I carefully went through the recipes and calculated how much I would need for every ingredient; flour, eggs, fruits, cream cheese…that sort of stuff.  Some I just skimmed over, like baking soda and cinnamon because I knew I wouldn’t have to purchase any extra of those items.  And then I gathered the ingredients I could without having to worry about time, saving the perishable ones for just beforehand. 

Just FYI: the flavors Ann ended up doing were: Hazelnut Creme Brulee, Grapefruit & Buttermilk, Banana Cream Pie,  Mexican Hot Cocoa, and Lemon Blackberry.

Baking:  The party was on a Friday.  So my plan was to have all of the cupcakes baked by Thursday, and frostings all done on Friday during the day.  I regret making the cupcakes a few days in advance.  I think they would have been better.  Duh.  I think if it were going to be as close to perfect as possible, I would bake them alllll on one day, and frost the next day (the day of the party).  This would have been a marathon undertaking, however.  Nearly 250 cupcakes, you know?  And I’m no professional. 

Side notes about things I should have done differently:  Aside from baking too early, a big mistake I made was only vaguely stopping to consider the refrigerated storage space I would have.  This became a little bit of a problem, but I had a nice neighbor offer some of her fridge to help out.  Also true for the counter space when I started decorating.  It got a little crowded.  Another challenge with the baking and especially the frosting, is that every time I finished one frosting, and had everything piped, I would have to wash it all up and start all over with the next.  Washing my mixer and everything over and over on Friday was time consuming and tiring.  Next time I will beg a couple of friends to help me.  I must admit I don’t know if I can hand over the piping though.  I wanted each one to be so perfect.  I couldn’t bear for there to be any messy ones screwing up the consistency/prettiness of the final result.  And I know all too well from my amateur experience how easy it is to mess up the piping. 

(an example of Ann's immaculate piping skills!)

These are just the challenges of working out of my house I guess.  And, inviting so many people.  An industrial sized walk in refrigerator, some massive stainless countertops, 4 instead of 2 ovens…these things would have been fantastic. 

On the day, I felt like I spent a few hours in limbo, just trying not to freak out.  It was too soon to make the frosting, but I had to gauge enough time to get all 5 flavors piped, garnished and plated.  I had to get the house straightened up and ready for guests.  My husband was gone, so without his help this was a challenge.  I cranked my air conditioning way up to like 68 degrees.  I couldn’t have frosting losing it’s shape and I was dying from all the nerves and rushing around.  I wasn’t specific enough about my expectations and I didn’t ask for enough help.  So when Landee told me she couldn’t be there until nearly 6:00, I almost started to cry (um, I was completely unaware of this!).  But one of my friends came swooping in with her husband.  They did all the dishes for me and helped me get a couple of last minute things done.  It gave me just enough time to get my clothes changed (lot’s of powdered sugar and stuff all over me).  My nerves were through the roof!  I was SO excited and so wired from the adrenaline and so very nervous that it wouldn’t go well.  Not only that, my mom and my sister were driving 8 hours that day just to attend my party and I was very excited that they were finally going to get to see and taste what I do. 

When everyone arrived, I thanked them for coming, went over the flavors, showed them the rating sheets and invited them to get started.  The most pleasing moment of the entire night was sitting on my fireplace and watching people’s faces as they bit into the cupcakes.  That was the absolute best best part.  For me, it’s like that satisfaction I felt the first time I made my husband a meal he really liked – but times 30.  I guess there’s something to be said for finding something I enjoy so much. 

Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute, from the beginning of the planning process to the end when I was completely wiped out.  A little burned out too, but it only took a couple of weeks for the need to bake to creep up again.  I recommend doing it, if you’re up for it.  I recommend a smaller group, and getting help from friends.  Oh…one last detail I forgot to mention.  I did ask everyone on the invitation for $5, to help me cover my costs.  It was a little awkward and I worried about it a lot, but everyone was so willing to toss that $5 in, some even adding an extra $5 so they could take some home afterwards.  Cheers and good luck if you decide to do one!  I’d love to hear about anyone’s experiences, things they did differently or things that worked better (and especially the RECIPES!!!)  This week I get a huge load of fresh peaches and the first thing I’m going to make is a peach cupcake with a mascarpone frosting.  YUM!!!  If they turn out the way I hope, I will see if Landee will share them with you.  

Um, duh, of course I will.

The rating sheets asked for a few things, some to be rating on a scale of 1 to 5.  Others just a yes or no.  In calculating the scores, I only counted the 5’s and the yes’s.  So, for instance, 30 out of 30 said the Lemon Blackberry was super pretty.  ::big grin::  Just for kicks, I decided to calculate how many perfect scores each cupcake received as well as how many got all no’s.  They are listed at the bottom.  These are my results:

Super Pretty

Lemon Blackberry 30

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 26

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 18

Mexican Hot Cocoa 16

Banana Cream Pie 11

Moist 

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 16

Mexican Hot Cocoa 15

 Banana Cream Pie 11

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 8

Lemon Blackberry 4

Accurately Named

Banana Cream Pie 28

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 23

Lemon Blackberry 22

Mexican Hot Cocoa 22

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 19

Liked the Frosting

Lemon Blackberry 29

Banana Cream Pie 29

Mexican Hot Cocoa 28

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 27

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 26

Frosting Compliments Cupcake Well

Lemon Blackberry 30

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 30

Banana Cream Pie 30

Mexican Hot Cocoa 29

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 27

Would Pay

Lemon Blackberry 27

Banana Cream Pie 27

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 25

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 22

Mexican Hot Cocoa 22

Would Have it Again

 Banana Cream Pie 27

Lemon Blackberry 24

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 24

Mexican Hot Cocoa 22

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 20

Perfect Score

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 13

Banana Cream Pie 10

Mexican Hot Cocoa 8

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 5

Lemon Blackberry 3

All No’s

Grapefruit & Buttermilk 2

Lemon Blackberry 0

Hazelnut Crème Brulee 0

 Banana Cream Pie 0

 Mexican Hot Cocoa 0

Some results were surprising.  I fully anticipated the banana to win for moistness, but to be fair, the buttermilk was totally full of grapefruit curd and it was hard to beat that.  The scores for the frosting being complimentary were so high, I figured it probably won’t be on the next rating sheet.  The numbers regarding whether people would pay for the cupcakes or not gave me a good idea as to whether a true business might be successful.

Finally, I expected that the perfect scores would be the best way to see which cupcake ‘won.’  That, as you can see above, would put the Grapefruit & Buttermilk in first place, Banana Cream Pie as second, and Mexican Hot Cocoa third. 

However, when I considered how many first places each cupcake received throughout all of the questions, the results were:

First Place: Lemon Blackberry

Second Place: Grapefruit & Buttermilk

Third Place: Banana Cream Pie

Interestingly enough, the only cupcake that received all no’s was the Grapefruit & Buttermilk.  Perhaps only indicating it’s a really love it or really don’t kind of flavor.



Thank you Ann for the write-up of tips, tricks, timelines, etc.  Good luck to any of you who want to do this!

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