Quick Tip #8 - Homemade Cupcake Carriers

I'm sure you'll all be surprised to know that I bake a lot, especially cupcakes!  I have some great cupcake carriers I use to bring them around to parties and work.  But when I have a party at my home, I like to give away leftover cupcakes to my guests.  Here are two homemade cupcake carriers I've whipped up on the fly for my guests to take their cupcakes home for breakfast.  They may not be the classiest or cutest of carriers, but they certainly work well if you're in a bind...and who's going to complain about the carrier when they are getting a cupcake to go!

Single Cupcake Carrier
This is such a simple carrier that only requires you to do a little washing.  Take an empty and CLEAN tall food container with a cover.  Some great containers are tall yogurt containers or a 1L ice cream container.  Put the cover down on a the counter upside down and put your cupcake on top.  Then, place the container over top your cupcake and snap it into the cover.

Three-Cupcakes Carrier

Need to unload more than just one cupcake?  You can make a cupcake carrier that holds three with a shallow box and some scissors.  Take an empty shallow box like your cake mix box or cracker box and cut three holes on the front that are large enough to drop the base of your cupcake in, but small enough that the icing top sticks out.  Drop your cupcakes in and your guests have a sturdy cupcake tray they can bring home.  This one is the most popular carrier I've rigged because you can take home more than three!  The only trouble is when you make more than three cupcake flavours and people have to pick!  Like this past weekend when I whipped up four new flavours including the popular Death by Chocolate Cupcake, recipe to follow in my nest post.

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Cupcake Carrier Count...Three

I love baking cupcakes and eating cupcakes, but I love sharing cupcakes the most. But they can be tricky to transport in a tin or a cake carrier.  I remember back in the day when my mom would make cupcakes for the bake sale at school and trying to find a container to bring them in.  The worse part about transport them was that the icing would either end up wasted along the sides of the tin or all over the plastic wrap cover.

These days, cupcake transportation is easy with cupcake specific carriers.  Thanks to my family and friends, I have three GREAT cupcake carriers. The first one I received was the collapsible carrier that fits 24 (thanks SR).  It's a great carrier that is easy to store and has two tiers with individual cupcake holders.  Warning - be careful when you expand the carrier.  The handle isn't all that strong and can easily break, so push it out from the inside.

The second carrier I got was a a three tiered rectangle carrier.  This carrier is not only great because it holds 36 cupcakes, but it also fits square and rectangle cakes (thanks SM and RD).  The trays are really easy to stack and very stable.  It also has individual cupcake holders in each tier.

The last of my cupcake carriers was just recently given to me by a friend of mine (thanks JH).  This carrier is key to work or school survival - the single cupcake carrier.  It fits one cupcake, perfect for a lunch surprise for someone special OR just for yourself.

All in all, I love, love, love all of my cupcake carriers!  They are essential for any baker and I use mine regularly. They are also great just for storing your cupcakes at home.

One of the many cupcakes that have been transported in my cupcake carriers is my Café au Lait Cupcake - recipe coming soon!

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