Finding the perfect special-occasion cupcake recipe in today’s world is easy. You simply need to type “rose cupcakes” into your favorite search engine. You will find plenty of recipes, photographs, and videos that tell you how to make the perfect dozen.
Cake Mix Recipes for Mid-Century Convenience
Of course things were different for past generations. I’m a baby boomer who grew up in the sixties. I observed my mom going no further than the cake mix section of the super market for cupcake inspiration. A cake mix has all the dry ingredients mixed together in one convenient box. It is a way to make a delicious cake with ease.
Before the internet, women’s magazines provided hybrid recipes that extended the convenience of a cake mix into something spectacular. In 1963, Good Housekeeping featured a “Cake of the Month” recipe in each issue. Their June edition told readers how to make rose-capped cupcakes in an article titled, “Party Bouquet of Cupcakes”.
Make cupcakes from a mix, frost them a light-pink, and top with sugar roses.
Good Housekeeping Magazine – June 1963
The cupcake project used a commercial cake mix, a commercial frosting mix, and a yummy made-from-scratch “rose cream” frosting for the rose-shaped top.
Good Housekeeping readers who wished to make the cupcakes were instructed to make the rose-shaped icing tops the day before the party. They were made with a frosting tip swirled onto wax paper. The icing tops were stored in the freezer and then placed on top of the frosted cupcakes the day of the party. The recipe even told the baker how to arrange the cupcakes using an inverted bowl. The recipe is shown below.
More Fancy Cakes using Cake Mixes
The image you see below is from a collection of recipes published in the February 1962 edition of McCalls magazine. They featured fancy cakes made with a commercial box of cake mix.
These recipes can be found in an earlier post.
Here is another article from McCalls titled “Tricks with with a Mix” from their February 1962 edition. It features cute finger cakes. They were also made using cake mixes.
Recipes include:
Petits Fours – with assorted variations
Butterscotch Mincemeat Cakes
Chocolate Nuggets
Chocolate-mint ice cream tarts
If you are curious about how to make these yummy treats, you can download the article below.
Mid-Century Page 
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