These days many people are opting for a tiered homemade cupcake platter for special occasions rather than an expensive bakery cake. After all, cupcakes are easy to prepare, and they rarely turn out dry. When creatively designed and arranged with care, they can be just as impressive as fancy overprice bakery cakes, and they can taste just as good or even better than professionally designed options. Instead of buying a costly ready-made display that does not hold much, use this easy way to make a tiered cupcake platter. The very top tier of the server can be used to hold a single giant cupcake. Best of all, the unique tiers can be decorated to match virtually any party theme.
An Ingenious Homemade Tiered Cupcake Platter
My best friend and her husband came up with this ingenious homemade tiered cupcake platter after discovering inadequate and grossly overpriced store-bought options. Many people were impressed with their homemade tiered cupcake platter, and they have loaned it out several times. Each person came up with a different cupcake decorating theme to fit their party platter. The unique design of this tiered cupcake platter made it all possible. My friend’s idea was absolutely brilliant, and she was kind enough to share the attached series of photos and the following easy instructions.
Necessary Supplies to Make this Easy Tiered Cupcake Platter
To make an easy tiered cupcake platter you will need four flat plastic platters in graduating sizes. The platters pictured can be found in larger craft stores. You will also need nine bolts, nine washers to fit the bolts and nine nuts of the appropriate size. Also required to make a tiered cupcake platter are nine clear plastic cups like those pictured, a fine-tip marker, a wrench of the correct size, and an electric drill and a bit to create the holes that will accommodate the bolts.
Homemade Cupcake Platter Procedure
Begin by drilling three evenly spaced holes around the center of the three smallest cupcake platters. The largest and most decorative platter will serve as the base, and as the picture shows, it will not require holes. To determine the proper location for the holes in the top three platters, tentatively place the clear cups on each one, and mark the centers with a fine-tip marker before drilling. Carefully drill holes in the center of each of the nine cups as well.
Next, attach the clear cups to the underside of each of the three smallest cupcake platters. After threading the washers over the bolts, carefully attach the nuts. Do not over-tighten them. Over-tightening the nuts could crack the plastic.
Lastly, stack the three upper tiers to fully assemble the tiered cupcake platter. Keep in mind that once the clear plastic cups are filled with decorative items, the hardware will not be visible. The cupcakes will surround the clear cups, and as previously mentioned, the smallest upper tier can be used to hold a giant cupcake made with a silicone cupcake pan. The filled tiered platter will look amazing!
Optional Tiered Decorating Ideas
Fill the clear cups with objects to fit the theme of the celebration. For example, to create a cute monkey theme, the clear tiered cups can be filled with Spanish moss or mini plastic palm trees and small plastic bananas. Use the monkeys from a Barrel of Monkeys game to decorate the platters. The monkeys can be linked and hung from the edges of each platter.
For a beautiful floral tiered cupcake platter, fill the clear cups with beautiful faux blooms. Use real edible flower blooms, candy fruit slices or gumdrops arranged in the shapes of flowers to decorate the frosted cupcakes. It can look absolutely beautiful.
When looking for other creative ways to decorate the clear plastic cups, they can also be lined with wallpaper, wrapping paper or any paper with eye-catching designs. Simply cut the paper to the correct size and insert them while assembling the platter tiers. If necessary, use small pieces of tape to hold the edges of the paper in place.
With clear cups holding up each tiered cupcake platter, the decorating options are truly endless. The clear cups can be filled with layers of colorful jelly beans, gummy candy, gumdrops, gumballs, candy corn, glitzy faux gems, pretty seashells or anything else that matches the theme of the celebration. Not only will this homemade tiered cupcake platter save money, but it will also look fantastic on any celebration table.
Source: Allison and Scott Homans, Cedar Lake Indiana
