I have to make 150 cupcakes in a month.
I was wondering a few things...
It seems that when I make them, they dry out really fast. How do I avoid that? Ice them right away?
And how do you get a perfect swirl? What tip is commonly used?

From my experience and what I've read here, recipes that use oil don't dry out as quickly as those made with butter. What kind are you having to make?

As far as tips, I love the huge tips sold at Bake It Pretty. www.bakeitpretty.com

Good site. Thank you.
I do have the large round and star tips. I guess i just have to practice my swirls.

tip 2d

I use the 1M tip - it seems to be a popular choice and gives a great swirl

i use formac tip 15 for my cupcake swirls.. its a plastic one..

1M tip makes a pretty swirl.

You will be surprised how little time it takes to make that many cupcakes. Depending on what time of day you need them, you could bake them all in one day and frost them too. That way they won't dry out.
If you haven't mastered the swirl and you have the large Ateco pastry tips (or even the large Wilton tips), you can always just hold the bag at a 90 degree angle from the cupcake and squeeze a large dollop.

Depending on what recipe you use...when I use a doctored mix recipe for cupcakes, I store them in one of those foil cake pans with the plastic lid (doz per pan) and keep them at room temp. (You could also freeze them this way) And it would allow you to stack a couple of pans to save space!
Also...I put one of those bubbly rubber shelf liners in the bottom of the pan so they don't slide around.
HTH!!

Depending on what time of the day I need my cupcakes done by, I usually make my frosting the night before, then get up early the day of to bake cupcakes. I also use a 1M tip for a swirl.

I have one of those 3 dz cupcake carriers. When I store my cupcakes in it, it always traps condensation, and I end up with moister cupcakes....that's both good and bad depending on your recipe (Oh...and I can't store fondant decorated cuppies in there cuz it'll ruin the decoration)

I like crusting BC and I have found that if you store frosted cakes/cuppies in plastic the crusted BC becomes non crusted again...lol..So cake/cupcake boxes are the best for me and WASC recipe, both vanilla and chocolate.

I love the Ateco large tips (got mine from bakeitpretty) but they do take A LOT of icing.

I did 160 cuppies in a short amt of time. Baked them that nite, let them cool covered them lightly with cling film and then the BEST tip came from a fellow CC member. Place the cupcakes INTO the holder BEFORE piping the swirl! Oh man that went fast.

Best of luck!

JustToEatCake...that last tip makes so much sense! Eliminate the step of moving them around. Good one!
Thanks to everyone for the advice!

If u brush the tops with simple syrup with a pastry brush before you pipe on your swirls it will help keep them moist

I use the 1M tip too..quick and pretty.

I put my cupcakes in those plastic cupcake holders that fit in the bottom of cake boxes, double wrap them in saran and pop them in the freezer. I take them out, frost them frozen and bring them to their new owner. They stay nice and moist and Always delish!