I'm meeting a bride tomorrow about a Cupcake Wedding Tree. Her colours are Ivory and Sage Green. I have to come up with some ideas for presentation.

All she wants is plain madeira bun mixture in muffin sized silver cases. I think a nice thick buttercream swirl might be a better way to decorate than Fondant or Royal Icing as I think that the plain madeira with fondant or royal icing will feel dry and very plain, so I'm trying to swing her towards the Buttercream. I have ideas for decorations either way but I have a couple of questions on the buttercream.

Should I go for a crusting or non crusting buttercream for this and secondly any idea's for flavours that won't affect the creamy colour of the buttercream.

I use the old Wilton buttercream recipe - it gets just set enough that you don't have to worry about shapes shifting, but is still soft enough to enjoy. People seem to like the buttercream the best.

For the madeira cupcakes (which is like our pound cake), I would NOT suggest using fondant or royal. You're right...it would be too dry tasting & extremely plain, not very palatable, IMO. As for the buttercream, I would use a non-crusting, you want something smooth & creamy with a cupcake, I think. I would use IMBC...Italian Meringue Buttercream. It's really creamy, and because of all the butter in it, it is naturally an ivory color. The texture and flavor of it would complement the madiera cake very well, I think. For decoration, you do a nice swirl of frosting with either just a round tip or a 1M or a large star tip or a large tip of the ones used to make drop flowers (can't remember the # of that one )...the possibilities are endless, really. It just depends on what look she might like best. You could also make a monogram of their last name initial with royal icing in the sage green color and stick them into the top of the buttercream so that their standing, on each cupcake. Or a small flower. Hope this helps...let us know what you end up doing!