For all of you out there making the cupcake bouquets.. what recipes are you using? I have yet to be able to make this work. My cupcakes always fall apart or off. I am using the right stuff.. I even got skinny craft sticks.. they are 1/4 inch wide and a little thinner than a popcicle stick to see if that would support it better but I think it made it worse.. How long do you let the cupcakes sit out before you ice and put them on the bouquet? I am a scratch baker and I think this is where my issue is. I don't like mix cakes though and am trying desperately to make this work. I used the WBH golden butter cake and I think I didn't let them set up enough as they fell apart.. I feel like a HUGE failure. All I want to do is make ONE that is nice and sturdy.. LOL.

I made them using a terra cotta planter with a hard styrafoam ball inside. I then inserted shishkabob skewers into the styrafoam ball, then carefully got the cupcaked on the skewers. I didn't have any problem with the cake falling apart...you might want to try those.

I'm also having trouble with the cupcakes falling off. The toothpicks/skewers seem to cut right through my cupcakes. I have tried a scratch and a doctored mix. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! This is so frustrating. So many people have made such wonderful bouquets and I can't get it to work.

l also use skewers. I bake my cupcakes at least 1 day before and let them sit in the fridge. I also use doctored cake mixes. That may be your problem. I think in other posts ppl were saying they were having problems with their scratch recipes being able to hold up on a cc bouquet. I have made several of these and the only problem I ever had was my icing slid off of a couple cc on one of the bouquets. I think I know what the problem was with that though. I have pics of a couple of them in my photos if you wanna look!

I might have to break down and try a doctored mix.. I just want this to work with my favortie recipes.. I have used the skewers and they worked okay.. at least the CC's didn't fall apart.. LOL. When you put them in the fridge.. did you cover them? And did you let them come to room temp before icing and putting them on the skewers? Ugh.. it seems like it should be so easy.. I can make fondant.. shape it into cool things.. bake and frost a cake nice and smooth.. but I can stick a cupcake on a stick and not have it go kerplooie.

Yes, I put them in a tupperware container and placed in the fridge. I got them out and let them come to room temp. After I made the rose swirls with the icing, I tapped them on the counter to make sure the icing set well. I have heard of some ppl icing them after placing them on the skewers as well. The only problem I had was that I had iced some with cold frosting and the icing seem to want to slide off of those ones.

I feel your pain here. They look awesome, but can be labor intensive when it comes to putting it all together. I've tried three of these and I've had problems with all of them, but was able to pull it together by delivery time. I use a cake mix and I've noticed that waiting until they are absolutely cooled helps. I use tooth picks to fasten them to the round foam ball. I've also anchored them with extra tooth picks. I've found that the success also depends on the kind of pot you use, making sure that things are proportionate. Good Luck!

I made my first with a white chocolate mud cake mix and had some problems with the cc falling off. But I got to keep them and eat them! LOL. I then tried the (scratch) Magnolia Bakery Vanilla cupcake recipe and I haven't had any dramas since. It is a very yummy recipe too! I just pop them into freezer o/n (after they have cooled) and then ice them the following morning after they have defrosted. I let the icing crust up a bit (and tap them as previously mentioned) before putting them on. I just attach using toothpicks into a polystyrene ball. HTH

I have made a few (in my photos) and the white sour cream cake recipe here on CC worked the best b/c it was so dense (but yet moist). I usually use the cake mix with added pudding and they were just falling off the skewers like crazy. So I recommend the denser cake. I also used just a tad of bc icing and I used the royal icing flowers. Check them out in my photos I also used the small cupcakes instead of the bigger size. Good Luck!!!

I tried using 2 boxed cake mixes, plain vanilla and a box of pound cake mix. That is what Wilton recommended for the 3-D stand up bear so I figured it would also be dense enough to keep the cupcakes. Problem is, the texture of the cupcakes is not good!
As an alternative, I just changed the way I attach the cupcakes to the styrofoam ball. I use toothpicks, and in addition to putting one or two toothpicks into the center of the cupcake to attach it to the ball, I also put toothpicks underneath to support the cupcake. So for the cupcakes closest to the bottom, they have to sit at a 45 degree angle. So there are toothpicks underneath and the cupcake just sort of rests on those toothpicks. It is kind of hard to explain! But I used green toothpicks and green cupcake wrappers, so you can't see the toothpicks at all. Plus if you use tissue paper or some other sort of filler, you definitely will never see those toothpicks. I will try to post a picture of my bouquet shortly.

I cover my stryofoam ball with green cellophane first - then use a little swirl of green royal icing on the bottom of the cupcake (which was baked at least the day before : too fresh = sliding) to help anchor it to the ball. After they all are positioned on the ball - I use shishkebob skewers to give them a little extra support. Then I ice using room temp BC.

Holds up well - even for delivery. I have several pharm reps that are ordering them as gifts for docs offices...

Hope that helps!

Thanks everyone!! I am going to try again using these tips. I am DETERMINED to make this work without using a box mix.. LOL.

AWhat was the problem with the icing? Mine keeps falling off the bottom row

I have problems also with the icing falling off a few of the cupcakes. Should I icing the cupcakes and then pipe flowers?  I've just been piping the flowers but the ones on the bottom row or the row above it fall off.  I use wooden skewers to help hold the cc on the bouquet.

I have problems also with the icing falling off a few of the cupcakes. Should I icing the cupcakes and then pipe flowers?  I've just been piping the flowers but the ones on the bottom row or the row above it fall off.  I use wooden skewers to help hold the cc on the bouquet.