Cupcake Liners, Cupcake Wrappers, and Cupcake Boxes

The cupcake craze was sparked in the 1990s in notable bakeries such as Magnolia Bakery in New York City, and has continued to sweep across the United States ever since! Shows like Food Network's Cupcake Wars are proof that people love the sweet little treats.

With endless cake and frosting flavors to concoct, decorating techniques to perfect, and creative ways to display them, cupcakes are a fun alternative to traditional cakes. Bakers in households everywhere have been whipping up fabulous recipes and using their creativity in new ways.

There are more baking accessories available on the market than ever before, including cupcake liners, cupcake boxes, and cupcake wrappers. There are great new designs and patterns that coordinate beautifully with bridal showers and baby shower themes, wedding themes, and birthday party themes. Whatever the occasion, these baking accessories are a great way to dress up your cupcakes!

Most of us baked cupcakes as children and remember the standard pastel pink, yellow, blue, and white cupcake liners. These boring colors are now a thing of the past (unless you prefer them for nostalgia's sake)! Several companies have designed modern and stylish paper patterns that take an ordinary cupcake and make it special.

You can find cupcake liners to suit almost any style or party theme. Are you having a baby shower? There are rubber ducky inspired cupcake liners that would work perfectly. Are you having an urban dinner party where chic style will be appreciated? Consider a fabric-inspired pattern or classic cherry blossom motif.

Some cupcake liners require two paper layers, usually with a plain white paper layer underneath a decorative or metal layer, depending on the inks and paper used and if they are safe to touch the cupcake directly. A major benefit of using two cupcake liners is to that they prevent brown discoloration from burning or overcooking that you might get if you only use one liner.

Silicone baking cups are a great alternative to paper cupcake liners if you prefer not to waste as much paper. These baking cups fit perfectly into a cupcake tin and replace standard cupcake liners. They have easy-to-read fill lines for accurate baking and cook the batter evenly, and are made from food-safe silicone.

Cupcake wrappers are a step up from patterned cupcake liners. The wrappers are usually more elegant and elaborate in their shape, and often disguise a plain white cupcake liner. Quite often you place the cupcake into the wrapper after you are finished baking. This gives your presentation a flawless clean appearance.

If you shop around you can find cupcake wrappers in intricate laser-cut patterns, various colors, and with fluted edges. Or, you can save a little bit of money by making your own. One easy way to make a quick cupcake wrapper is to take a plain old paper doily, cut the center out, cut the round outer part into two sections, wrap around the cupcake, and secure it in place with a little glue (see video). This gives the illusion of laser-cut details and the flared edges found on expensive cupcake wrappers, but will cost you significantly less. Another way to create your own colorful wrappers is to press origami paper squares into a muffin tin with the bottom of a glass and flatten the folds against the sides of the glass.

Apparently edible cupcake wrappers are the wave of the future; a woman named Deborah appeared on the TV show "Homemade Millionaire" in conjunction with HSN and named her product Bake Huggers. At the time this article was written, HSN was completely sold out. You can watch her HSN product premiere in the video below and see her demonstration.

After spending so much time perfecting your cupcake recipe, frosting each cupcake perfectly, and adding the final decorative touches, you might want to give one or two away as a gift.

Handing a cupcake to someone who isn't going to eat it immediately is usually not the best way to give it to them. Companies like Wilton have created some very cute cupcake boxes that can hold single cupcakes to give as gifts or wedding favors, or larger cupcake boxes that hold four cupcakes or more.

You can find cute animal cupcake boxes for children's parties, or elegant silver boxes that work really well for weddings. Coordinate the cupcake box with the cupcake liners you've selected and you will have a beautiful gift to share!

Happy baking!