Attack of the killer cupcakes!

We've all heard it. A couple on the eve of their wedding along with their sleepy relatives, are finishing their wedding souvenirs, making last minute alterations on their gowns or simply cramming something they should've done weeks ago. I myself had to do the same thing at my wedding -- asking help from my sisters to pack mint candies in the souvenir boxes and staple missalette covers.

Some brides, although I don't know anyone personally, have even thought of doing wedding flowers or their cakes themselves. Talk about trying to cut on costs or bridezillas on the loose.

Just last Sunday, Father's Day, I surprised our youngest sister with a debutante cupcake party. She didn't want to celebrate her debut with a real party because what she really wanted was a digital SLR camera. So, I asked all our relatives to come celebrate with us. My sister was so busy trying to make the chocolate fountain I bought run smoothly, she was oblivious to the fact that I was decorating our dinner table with flowers and cupcakes using her favorite colors of pink, purple and white. Using my mom's cake stands and glass coasters, I was able to make a nice setting for the party.

Here are the cupcakes I had made at the Shoppersville bakery (Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights) across Miriam College, which only cost me 11 pesos per cupcake.


I would have to say they tasted ok. Not enough to make me say I've died and gone to cupcake heaven but they were decent cupcakes. Not too sweet icing, not too moist nor too dry cake.

After I tasted the cupcakes at Mom's and Tina's Bakery in Libis (across SM Hypermart), I thought of buying their cupcakes for my sister's party (averaging 25 pesos per flavor), but when I found out that Shoppersville sold less expensive cupcakes, I chose to order the latter. Don't get me wrong though, I'd still go back to Mom's and Tina's Bakery for their cupcakes since they taste real good too. Here are some of them:


I've tasted Sonja's Cupcakes at Serendra and although I'd say that their cupcakes are good and relatively larger than M&T's and Shoppersville, using only the finest ingredients in cupcakelandia with more flavors to choose from, I find the prices a little a bit exorbitant for something my hubby can gobble in 15 seconds flat. :-)

Below are some cupcake bouquets from Sonja's that you might like to use as centerpieces too!

Above, Sonja's colorful sprinkles for her cupcakes.

I actually wanted a cupcake tree for my own wedding, wanting to deviate from the usual tiered fondant cakes that are usually made of styrofoam. I wanted to make sure that unlike other wedding cakes that are just for show at the reception, my caterer can easily distribute the cupcakes to my guests so they can partake in what is known to be another symbol of fertility in weddings -- the cake. In the olden days, it used to be bread that was to be broken over the bride's head. Weird huh?

I went through the motions of looking for cupcake tree suppliers but back in 2004, there were still very few wedding cupcake bakers. I inquired with one baker who wanted to charge me 25,000 pesos for 150 pieces of cupcakes. It sounded outrageous. There were other bakers however who quoted me 30 pesos per cupcake but by then, I had decided on my caterer and they offered a three-tiered fondant cake as part of my package. And so, I ended up with a regular cake after all.

If you choose to have a cupcake tree though, all you need to do is find a good cupcake maker, rent a stand or stands in various heights since they don't need to be on top of one another, add a few flowers (you can buy nice and inexpensive ones in Dos Castillas st. in Manila -- but that deserves a whole new post) and voila! your own do-it-yourself wedding (cup) cake!