The Tape Hack For Easily Transporting A Tray Of Cupcakes
Homemade cupcakes are a relatively common dessert to bring to an event because making them doesn't require a lot of complicated steps, unlike a cake that you have to trim, frost, and decorate in addition to baking. However, there's one aspect of cupcakes that presents challenges: Transporting them. If you've ever attempted to do so without a box specifically designed for cupcakes, you know that it's almost impossible to prevent the frosting from getting squished during transport.
The good news is you don't have to buy a cupcake carrier or settle for ruined cupcakes. All it takes is some masking tape and a cookie sheet. Simply take long strips of tape and stick them to the sides of the pan, positioning them so they form a grid with squares about two inches by two inches, enough to fit an individual cupcake. This tape grid will keep the cupcakes from sliding into each other as you transport them, ensuring they arrive at their destination looking as good as they taste.
The more tape the better
If you want to make sure your cupcakes are extra secure, it also helps to put more tape elsewhere — either the bottom of each cupcake liner or the surface of the cookie tray where they'll be placed. While double-sided tape is ideal for this purpose, regular tape folded over itself to make both sides sticky can also work well. Regardless of the type you use, the extra tape will help keep movement to a minimum, especially if you anticipate a bumpy car ride.
If you're low on tape or don't have it on hand at all, you can also achieve a similar result with some frosting or melted chocolate. Instead of a piece of tape under each cupcake, simply put a dollop of chocolate or frosting. When it dries, it should stick to the tray in the same way the tape would. Combine this hack with the tape grid one for best results, but it can still keep cupcakes fairly secure even when used alone.
Can't you just use a muffin tin?
Since both aforementioned tape hacks require you to put the cupcakes on a baking sheet, you might be wondering if using a muffin tin would be much easier. The problem with this, as people pointed out in the comment section of an Instagram reel, is that when a cupcake is decorated, the frosting touches the sides of the cups in the pan, making them messy to remove. A standard cupcake pan only has enough space for 12 cups, but you can transport more than that on a regular baking tray with the tape hack.
However, a muffin tin can still be useful for transporting cupcakes if you use it to create a mold for a cupcake box insert. This entails pressing aluminum foil against the bottom side of a muffin tin so it takes on the same shape. You'll be left with what's basically a more shallow cupcake tin made out of foil, which you can then put in a box or on a baking tray. If you plan to transport more than 12 cupcakes, however, it's still just as limiting as a muffin tin in terms of space, and in that case, the tape method is probably your best bet.