Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Cupcake Centerpieces!

A cupcake centerpiece

In September, I made cupcake centerpieces for the rehearsal dinner for my roommate who was getting married.  I wanted something elegant but fun to fit her personality and the style of the rehearsal dinner.  Her flavors were nondairy sangria and margarita cupcakes.  For the centerpieces, I decided to use upside down glassware (wine glasses, votive candle holders, schnapps glasses) and place to cupcakes on various tiers.  My centerpiece design was inspired by a style I saw online.  This design worked out great since the rehearsal dinner was at a classy wine bar.

Supplies for Glass Centerpieces (48 cupcakes)
24 votive candle holders
12 large wine glasses
12 schnapps glasses

Sangria Cupcakes 
Sangria is a red wine punch that is infused with a mixture of fruits.  These sangria cupcakes are flavored or garnished with orange, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and cherries.

Ingredients for the Cake (makes 24 cupcakes)
2 Duncan Hines Yellow Cake mix
Canola Oil
Eggs
Water
1 Bag of Frozen Mixed Berries
1 Bottle Cheap Merlot
1 Orange (to zest)

Directions for the Cake
Per my roommate's request, I used Duncan Hines cake mix rather than making the cupcakes from scratch.  She loves boxed vanilla cakes.  If I was making this for a different client who wanted the cake made from scratch, I would adapt the vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.    

Step 1:  Put the frozen berries in a large saucepan and completely cover the berries with the wine.  Boil the mixture on high until it is bubbling and all the berries have cooked into the wine.
Step 2:  Once this mixture has reduced to a thick stew, strain the cooked berries from the reduced berry-infused wine.

Step 2

Step 3:  Prepare the cake mix according to the instructions on the box.

Step 4:  Mix about 1/2 cup of the wine-infused berries into the cake mix.  Add more if the batter seems like it does not have enough berries.  

Step 5:  Zest half of an orange into the batter.   

What the batter should look like after Step 5

Step 6:  Fill 24 cupcake liners with batter and bake the cupcakes as instructed on the cake box.

Step 7:  Once the cupcakes have cooled, brush the tops with some of the berry-infused wine

Newly brushed sangria cupcakes

Ingredients for Frosting

2 sticks of vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance buttery sticks)

About 8 cups powered sugar

1/2 cup berry-infused wine reduction

2 teaspoons vanilla

Soy milk

Directions for the Frosting

Step 1:  Cream margarine in a large bowl until fluffy

Step 2:  Sift 2 cups powdered sugar into bowel

Step 3:  Add in berry-infused wine reduction and the vanilla.  Blend the remaining cups of powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency.  The frosting should be thick enough to pipe.  Add splashes of soy milk when needed.  

Creating the Cupcake

Step 1:  Cup to pieces of fruit to garnish the cupcake to your liking.  Stick to fruits that are in sangria. 

Step 2:  Pipe the frosting onto the cupcake and garnish!

Raspberries and cherries along with blueberries and oranges to garnish

Margarita Cupcakes 

So the margarita cupcakes were hard to make at the time.  I originally used the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but that turned out to be a mistake.  They came out HORRIBLE!!  TWICE!  Didn't rise and was very doughy, dense, and disgusting.  After perusing the internet in a panic, I found this recipe that used dairy and then non-dairy-fied it.  They turned out great and the folks at the rehearsal dinner loved them.  Whew!

Ingredients for Cake (makes 24 cupcakes)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks of vegan margarine 
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup soy milk

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Tequila

Grand Marnier

Directions for Cake

Step 1:  Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar together in a bowl and set aside to curdle.     

Step 2:  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend.  

Step 3:  Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time.  Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla.  

Step 4:  Mix in the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the soy milk/apple cider vinegar.

Step 5:  Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full.  Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Step 6:  Once cooled, brush the cakes with a blend of tequila and Grand Marnier in a 2:1 ratio.

Ingredients for the Frosting

2 sticks vegan margarine, at room temperature

About 6 cups powdered sugar
About 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice 

2 tsp. vanilla

Zest of about three limes
2 tablespoon tequila

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
Pinch of salt

Directions for Frosting

Step 1:  Beat the margarine until smooth.  

Step 2:  Add 2 cups of powdered sugar a little at a time until completely smooth.  

Step 3:  Add the lime juice, tequila, Grand Marnier, lime zest, vanilla and the salt.  

Step 4:  Add more powdered sugar and beat the frosting until it reaches the desired consistency.  Taste the frosting to determine if it is boozy enough.  Add more tequila or Grand Marnier if necessary. 

Creating the Cupcake

Step 1:  Cut slices of lime in half for each of the cupcakes

Step 2:  Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes with a 2D pipping tip to create a flared-skirt look

Step 3:  Place the slices of lime on the cupcakes as through the cakes were margarita cups.  Sprinkle with green sprinkles

This is before I added the lime slices, which I needed to do at the rehearsal dinner location or else they would have fallen off

Creating the Centerpieces

At the venue there were six tables seating 8 people each, so each centerpiece needed 8 cupcakes.  I had been playing around with the idea of making the centerpieces different for each table or some kind of funky design, but I decided on a very symmetrical layout for the glasses and let the cupcakes be a little different.  Each centerpiece had 4 of the sangria and 4 of the margarita cupcakes, but I tiered them differently on each centerpiece.  

With the sangria cupcakes at the top tier

With the margarita cupcakes at the top tier

They looked great in this airy and classy venue

The centerpiece in perspective

I definitely think this kind of centerpiece is a classy model folks can use with any assortment of cupcake flavors.  I think having at least two flavors really makes for some great contrast in the piece.  Enjoy!