Cupcakes are packaged around the frosting: it's the tallest, softest part and the first thing ruined in a box that's too short or a cupcake that slides. The answer is an insert, a card or plastic tray with a hole for each cupcake, in a box tall enough to clear the swirl. A single clamshell with an insert is the counter single. A four-pack box suits a market buyer who wants a few flavors. A dozen box with a 12-hole insert carries preorders and parties without the cupcakes sliding into each other. A café that sells from its own case takes them on a tray, each in a tulip liner with a flavor and date sticker. In the example below, a Huntsville cupcake bakery prices four options: 4 to 26 cents a cupcake. Below are the options, the label, the example, and a free cost calculator.
The short version
- Use an insert: one hole per cupcake, so nothing slides.
- Choose boxes tall enough to clear the frosting.
- Counter singles: a clamshell with an insert.
- A few flavors: a four-pack box.
- Preorders and parties: a dozen box with a 12-hole insert.
- Cafés: a tray, a tulip liner and a flavor and date sticker.
- Label packaged cupcakes with the required lines and a date.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the packaging in every batch's cost. More below.
The options
| Option | Holds cupcakes in place | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Single clamshell with insert | Yes | Counter singles |
| Four-pack box with insert | Yes | Market buyers |
| Dozen box with 12-hole insert | Yes | Preorders, parties |
| Café tray, liner and sticker | On the tray | Cafés selling from their case |
The label
A boxed or packaged cupcake carries the label your license requires: the name, net weight, ingredients, allergens such as wheat, milk, egg and any nuts or soy, and the name and place of business, plus your state's cottage food statement if you sell under one. A café's sticker gives the flavor and date the café needs for its own sign. How cupcakes are priced is in cupcake pricing, and the label in food labeling requirements for small business.
An example: four options for a cupcake bakery
Cotton Row Cupcakes, the made-up cupcake bakery in Huntsville, Alabama, I use in these examples, bakes about 350 cupcakes a week in a shared kitchen: singles at two markets and a Saturday counter, preorder dozens, and four cafés:
| Option | Parts | Per cupcake | 350 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single clamshell with insert | Clamshell 22¢, label | $0.26 | $91.39 |
| Four-pack box, per cupcake | Box 96¢, label, per cupcake | $0.25 | $88.89 |
| Dozen box with insert, per cupcake | Box $1.80, insert, label, per cupcake | $0.19 | $66.52 |
| Café tray: liner and sticker | Liner 3¢, sticker | $0.04 | $13.92 |
Singles go in clamshells, preorders in dozen boxes, and cafés get trays. On a café dozen that sells for $30 and costs $17.40, the liners and stickers are 48 cents; dozen boxes for the cafés would add another $2.28 they'd throw away. What the bakery earns is in cupcake business plan, and every packaging cost in packaging cost per unit.
Get the calculator
Download the cupcake packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a cupcake uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per cupcake and per week at your volume, with notes. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Markets, preorders, four cafés and events in one week, frosting that keeps a day or two, and inserts that run out the night before a big order. A cost sheet doesn't say how many dozen boxes are left for Saturday.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the packaging in every batch's cost.
Each batch dated. A batch of cupcakes gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with it.
Packaging in the recipe. The clamshell, box or insert is an item in each product's recipe, so every batch uses them up at the price you paid, and the boxes left are counted by every batch.
What each channel earns. Margins show by product and by customer, so a café's dozen and a preorder dozen are compared plainly.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date on a box | Written by hand | From the batch's lot |
| Dozen boxes left for Saturday | Counted when you run out | Used by every batch |
| What a café earns | A guess | Margin by customer |
Lots, expiry, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.