Good morning bakers! I'm new to the cupcake business world and was wondering if anyone has shipped their cupcakes around the US? Or has an article that is really good about shipping?

I'm not a business just yet due to WI not having a Food Cottage Law in place, but I am trying to gain support and getting my name out there so that once it passes (fingers crossed) I have people who already know about me and are ready to place orders or I have a commercial kitchen to bake out of. With that said, I want to do a contest on my Facebook page that someone wins a free dozen cupcakes but don't want to limit it to a 30 mile radius where I live.

Help please????

This is not going to be helpful.... I've been on the hunt for and have not found a good way to ship cupcakes.

I did want to say however, that your website is really nice and I love the way you staged your pictures.

Good luck.

The question has been asked before on this site. I don't believe anybody has ever found a really good way to ship them and have them arrive at their destination intact. That is at least the iced cupcakes. Now plain cupcakes is another story. I ship mine and send the icing in a sealed bag with instructions to cut the tip and ice.

Shipping across state lines requires an FDA licensed kitchen. No home kitchen will qualify.

Your information is available at your state Dept of Ag. Once you are licensed, there are very strict guidelines set up by the FDA concerning food safety during shipping. These issues need to be addressed before you decide how to ship for looks.

Bakeries ship cupcakes all the time. Because packaging, both for safety and aesthetics, is so expensive, it takes quite a commitment and investment to accomplish this. Two to look into are Georgetown Cupcake and Williams-Sonoma. Look at charging your customers at least $25.00 and possibly much more for shipping alone.

A fellow CC'er has a blog entry about Georgetown Cupcakes' packaging for shipping that you might find informative:

http://fromscratchsf.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/review-georgetown-cupcakes-packaging-and-other-stuff/

Cupcakes available for shipping are specially packaged with dry ice in an insulated cooler and shipped via FedEx Express. Since they hand mix their frosting colors there may be color variations on the frosting flower that may not be an exact match to the colors on the website. They will remain fresh after arrival for 4 days. Please allow the cupcakes to reach room temperature before enjoying. Wrap any remaining cake with plastic and refrigerate.

This is the right way to transport cupcakes. By this we can easily save our yummy cupcakes to make a smile to one's face.

http://www.WeTakeTheCake.com/cupcakes.html
http://www.facebook.com/wetakethecake
https://twitter.com/wetakethecake