Cupcake Boxes

People who own and run their own bakery shop tend to focus most of their attention on the products themselves - that is, the cakes, muffins, cupcakes, etc. that they are selling. As a result, they might inadvertently neglect other important aspects of the business. One of these, which will be the topic of discussion in this hub, is the storage for the finished products. Specifically, I’ll be looking at cupcake boxes since cupcakes (also called fairy cakes in the UK) are commonly sold by bakeries.

Once you have baked your cupcakes, you obviously need a safe container to hold them, especially when they will be transported and as you probably know, delivery is a common service provided by a bakery. Hence, it is important to find a good quality cupcake box. As expected, there is a wide variety available in the market today and I’ll go through the main ones you are likely to encounter.

Cupcake boxes are generally made from cardboard, which is the most economical choice anyway since you want to keep your running costs low in your business. Another possible option is clear plastic. Although plastic cupcake boxes can be slightly more expensive, this is a convenient way of allowing customers to see the contents prior to purchase. There are also cupcake boxes which are made from a combination of cardboard and plastic. These boxes are mainly cardboard with either a plastic lid or with a portion of the side wall having a plastic window.

When you are looking for cupcake boxes, this is something you should ask yourself as you can get individual cupcake boxes as well as boxes that can hold multiple cupcakes together. The single cupcake boxes are commonly used in special occasions such as gift boxes to hold wedding cupcakes for wedding guests or during Christmas. Getting this part right allows you to estimate the number of boxes to order and hence try to save with buying cupcake boxes wholesale and in bulk.

Whichever option you choose, the boxes will come with removable inserts. Each of these inserts basically sits at the base on the box and has a slot in which the cupcake will rest. The purpose is to keep the cupcake upright and prevent it from sliding or tumbling within the box when being transported. As such, it is essential that you check that the depth of the inserts and diameter of the slots are suitable for your cupcakes. If they are too wide or too shallow, they would be ineffective.

There are three common sizes for the inserts – standard (7/8 inches deep and 2.5 inches in diameter), mini (3/4 inches deep and 1.25 inches in diameter) which are meant for mini cupcake boxes and jumbo (5/8 inches deep and 3 1/16 inches in diameter) which are for muffins and the like. Despite this standard sizing, you should still perform your due diligence and find out the actual measurements for the inserts you are looking at.

In order for the large cupcake boxes to hold the cupcakes without getting damaged either from coming in contact with each other or the walls of the box, each of the slots in the inserts are separated sufficiently. The slots are generally laid out as follows – 1 by 2 (commonly referred to as double cupcake boxes), 2 by 2 (4 cupcakes), 2 by 3 (6 cupcakes), 3 by 3 (9 cupcakes), 3 by 4 (12 cupcakes) and 4 by 6 (24 cupcakes). With this range, you can accommodate for buyers intending on individual consumption or for the larger function caterings.

The most common design for cupcake boxes is a square base with a round insert to fit the cupcake properly. And then there are round based boxes as well as novelty designs such as flower, bow shapes and boxes with handles (similar to Chinese takeaway boxes) and boxes with daisy tops.