Easy Graduation Cap Cupcake Cake (Pull-Apart Tutorial)
If you are having a fun graduation celebration this year, be sure to try these amazing Graduation Cupcakes! It’s a great display for dessert tables!
It’s graduation season!
It’s graduation season! If you have a graduate in your household this year, you already know how fast the calendar fills up and how expensive catering a party can get.
As a busy mom who has hosted my fair share of milestone celebrations, I am always looking for show-stopping dessert ideas that look professional but don’t cost a fortune. That is exactly why I love this DIY Graduation Cap Cupcake Cake.
Instead of paying a bakery for a custom cake, this clever pull-apart cupcake display uses 21 individual cupcakes arranged into a perfect graduation mortarboard shape. It makes a stunning centerpiece for your dessert table, requires no cake-cutting tools at the party, and can be completely customized to match your graduate’s official school colors!
Why Make a Pull-Apart Cupcake Cake?
If you have never made a pull-apart cupcake cake before, you are going to fall in love with this method. Here is why it’s the ultimate graduation party food hack:
Easy Graduation Party Food Ideas
For our family, I always like to have a variety of food options for guests, balancing both savory and sweet options. Alongside this fun graduation cap cake, I love to serve easy crowd-pleasers.
If you are building your menu, check out my Charcuterie Ideas for a great grazing table option, or my crowd-favorite Deviled Egg Pasta Salad Recipe which is perfect for outdoor warm-weather parties.
Why You Must Use Real Buttercream (Not Canned Frosting)
Before you grab your ingredients, there is one golden rule for this recipe: Do not use store-bought canned frosting. Store-bought canned frosting is formulated to be easily spreadable, which means it is too thin and soft. If you try to use it to span across separate cupcakes, it will sag into the gaps and your graduation cap will lose its structure.
Instead, use a thick, sturdy American Buttercream recipe. A proper homemade buttercream acts as a bridge, holding its shape across the gaps between the cupcakes and giving you that perfectly smooth, continuous cake-like surface.
What ingredients do you need for these Graduation Cupcakes?
21 pre baked cupcakes
1 American Buttercream recipe, split into two colors (I have a really great buttercream recipe here)
Gel food coloring
All of the detailed instructions are below but basically you will be gathering (or making!) premade cupcakes in the flavors of your choice with no frosting. Once you arrange the cupcakes in a diamond shape, you will be carefully icing all of the cupcakes into a graduation cap.
You can choose whatever color you like to match the your school colors or even your party theme colors.
There are some great tips for making this fun cupcake display in the notes section of the recipe card so don’t miss them!
What flavor cupcakes should I use?
I used vanilla cupcakes but you can use any flavor, a mix of flavors would be so fun!
What You Need to Make a Graduation Cupcake Cake
Piping Bags and Tips: Wilton Tip 1A (for the base) and Wilton Tip 5 and 16 (for the cap details).
FAQs
If your cupcakes are sliding on the board while you are trying to frost them, dot a tiny smear of buttercream frosting onto the bottom of each cupcake wrapper before pressing it onto your cake drum. This acts as a secure, edible “glue” to keep your diamond shape locked in place.
Yes! You can bake the cupcakes and mix your buttercream a day in advance. You can even fully assemble and frost the cap shape the evening before your party. Just keep the assembled board in a cool room or the refrigerator so the buttercream stays firm.
Achieving dark colors with gel dye can be tricky. To get a true black, dye your frosting brown first, mix it completely, and then add your black gel. For a vibrant school-spirit red, dye the frosting pink first before adding the red gel. This prevents you from over-saturating the frosting, which can ruin its consistency and give it a bitter taste.
Here are some more fun desserts for your next celebration:
Graduation Cupcakes For Your Graduate Celebrations
These graduation cupcakes make a perfect addition to any graduation celebration!
Ingredients
- 21 prebaked cupcakes
- 1 American Buttercream recipe, split into two colors
- Gel food coloring
Instructions
- Align the cupcakes like pictured making sure the top points in a V or arrow shape.
- The bottom will have a slightly more curved point.
- Fit a large piping bag with tip 1A and fill with the outside buttercream color (we used white)
- Applying even pressure squeeze a continuous circle on top of the cupcakes. It should be fluffy and thick. If it's not, you're not applying enough pressure.
- Do all of the outside cupcakes first. Then frost the center cupcakes as shown.
- Use an offset spatula to smooth the icing across the center cupcakes (this prepares the base for adding the second color.
- Grab a second piping bag and fit with a coupler and Wilton tip 5. Draw the top of an arrow across the top of the cupcakes as shown in the photo.
- Create a square to make the top of the cap.
- Then draw the bottom of the cap.
- Remove the tip and squeeze out the frosting to fill in the cap. Do the two sections separately. Smooth out the buttercream see notes section
- Fill in the second part and smooth out the buttercream.
- Line the third piping bag with a coupler and tip 16 with the first color and outline the cap.
- Switch the tip from 16 to 2 or 3. Make accent marks on the cap. Add congratulations message and you're done!
Notes
Cake drums are thicker than cake boards. If transporting the cupcakes I would opt for the drum not a board and they are on amazon.
Use gel food colors vs liquid to not change the consistency of the icing.
If you need really dark colors-it will be a two step process. For example if you need black dye the frosting brown first mix completely and then dye the brown frosting black. For red dye it pink, then red. Resist the urge to add a lot of food coloring-this will alter the taste and consistency and you won't achieve the color you want.
If your cupcakes move around you can glue them to the board with a little frosting.
Take your time if you've never done this before.
Tips for smoothing icing:
- Use an offset spatula that has been sitting in piping hot water. Whipe off the water and allow the heat from the spatula to smooth the icing.
- Allow the icing to crust over. Meaning it's dry to the touch. Place a piece of parchment paper on top and smooth the icing out with your hands on the parchment.
- Use a Plain white (zero decorations-no patterns) VIVA paper towel (only this brand works) and lay it over the icing once dry. Smooth out the frosting using hands.
*Use buttercream NOT canned frosting.
Nutrition Information
Yield
21Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 299Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 17mgSodium 261mgCarbohydrates 41gFiber 2gSugar 31gProtein 3g
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Hi! I’m Nellie. I am an entrepreneur, a busy mama of 3 and a wife to my high school sweetheart. I have been sharing content for over 12 years about how to cook easy recipes, workout tips and free printables that make life a little bit easier. I have been featured in places like Yahoo, Buzzfeed, What To Expect, Mediavine, Niche Pursuits, HuffPost, BabyCenter, Mom 2.0, Mommy Nearest, Parade, Care.com, and more!
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