For my daughter’s birthday party, rather than making a big cake, I made cupcakes—one batch of vanilla cakes, and one batch of chocolate cakes—and I left them all bare! I arranged the cupcakes on two pedestal cake plates and decorated them a bit with some paper leaves arranged to make the cakes look like flowers.

THEN! I let the kiddos go wild, frosting and decorating their own cupcakes. As I expected, this was a hit with the children…but I was surprised to see just how much the adults loved decorating their cupcakes too. I made plenty of extra cakes, so everyone felt free to go back for seconds (or thirds or fourths…), and most of the adults embraced that opportunity as they experimented to find their favorite, most delicious combinations of frostings and toppings.

I was thrilled to see how well this idea went over with all the guests at our party, and I plan to do it again in the future. However, I think this could be a hit at occasions other than a kid’s birthday party—of course, I immediately thought of baby showers, and more specifically couple’s showers.

When you offer guests the opportunity to top their own cupcakes, it becomes “an activity” that most everyone enjoys…which can be difficult to come by for couple’s showers. I’d suggest, if you’re planning a shower for both Mama- and Daddy-to-be, you consider dropping one of your games, and offer them cupcakes instead!

 Cupcake Topping Ideas

Here’s the list of toppings I offered at my daughter’s party, but really, this list could be infinite—use your imagination and see what creative toppings you can come up with!

• Chocolate Frosting

• Whipped Cream

• Seedless Raspberry Jam

• Chopped Toasted Almonds

• Toasted Coconut

• Sprinkles!

• Diced Kiwi and Strawberries

• Sundrop Candies (like M&Ms)

• Peanut Butter Chips

• Mini Chocolate Chips

 Happy Decorating!

Posted by Shannon, a Dot-arilla Blogger