This weekend I was out with my daughter, fulfilling a flat-kid project for my niece who lives in California.  We took her/it up to the Capitol building for a tour and many, many pictures.  But it wasn’t until we were on the way home did we drive past a Cupcakery ~ Grand Opening!  Holy what in the world?!?  This was news to me!  My daughter pointed it out, as I was minding my own business, diligently paying attention to the road and all of the crazy drivers yesterday.  Ironically, I turned into one of those crazy drivers and made a bee-line for the first parking spot and well, you know the rest.

If you’re in the South and up for a yummy treat:

Cupcake Shoppe Bakery
104 Glenwood Avenue
Raleigh, NC 
(919) 821-4223

If you’re a scrapper, which I am in my mommy time, you will love Leah Fung.  She has a scrapbooking blog, Leah’s Desktop Dictionary, which I adore.  It is packed full of videos and pictures and event information to satisfy every scrapbook enthusiast. 

By the way, she is a contributing editor for Better Homes and Gardens and Scrapboooks Etc.  Okay, she’s a rockstar and totally sweet.  Take a few minutes to check out her video for making a cupcake make-and-take at a charity event ~ the Unforgettable Crop for Kids. 

It’s been a while since I have posted, been a little under the weather but I think I am ready to get back into the swing of things, again! First and foremost, I run and operate an online consignment/collaboration shop called Hey Pretty Cupcake and I am on the search for amazing cupcake items to feature in our shop. I am hoping to launch a whole cupcake section and if you’re interested, please drop me an email at [email protected]. If you’re not sure what consignment is, send me an email and I will be more than happy to give you a little explenation :D

Finding cupcake item’s that my fellow bloggers haven’t blogged about already is pretty tricky. I have a folder in my bookmarks marked cupcake just for this blog and I have to delete them often! The fellow ATC woman have style!

I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite collaborators (at my site), her name is Monica. She is an artist and she has the yummiest cupcake print! This print can be found in her shop memory on Etsy. It is called “oh no” and you can pick up a 4 x 6 for $6.00 or an 8 x 10 for $15.

“Signed, unmatted and unframed. Professionally Printed on archival paper.

The colors are soft and warm pastel tones. The cupcakes are sheer, with the polka dot background peeking through them. This piece is humorous and cute. The story behind it:

I painted this in ink, and then digitally colored it. I even made the polka dot background myself from scratch. I adore cupcakes, but unfortunately do not get the opportunity to eat them very often.”

I also sell these cupcakes on 1″ buttons, 1″ magnets, 1″ rings, 1″ hair pins, 1″ necklace’s, 2 1/4″ magnets, 2 1/4″ mirrors and more. If you’re interested in any of the above, just let me know! (They aren’t available in her shop!)

With the switch, All Things Cupcake got a new feed address. /?feed=rss

Update!!

Yummy AND Sassy, an awesome combo! Want to stay warm this winter and look great doing it? This 5 foot long scarf is the way to go! An awesome image of a frosted cupcake with skull sprinkles in hot pink is screenprinted onto a lighter pink scarf. It’s made of super soft fleece with hot pink stitching and is VERY snuggly. Only $18.00 at ShanaLogic.com, one of my favorite online stores!

April with Abby Sweets has posted the most amazing cupcake recipe EVER. 

 Double Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.

Chocolate Espresso Ganache:
(a.k.a. Gale’s Famous Truffles from Butter, Sugar, Flour and Eggs)
1 1/2 Cups creme fraiche or sour cream (I use sour cream)
2 Tbsp finely ground espresso
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Combine the sour cream and espresso in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as it boils, turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Strain the hot sour cream mixture into the bowl. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cover and let rest in a cool place overnight. Do not refrigerate. The mixture will become firm but not hard.
(If you want to roll into balls, I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight.)

White Chocolate Cupcakes:
6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 Cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Place white chocolate and butter in mixing bowl over saucepan with simmering water. Stir until melted and combined. Remove from heat and add the sugar, mix well. The butter will separate and come to the top. This is ok. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat with electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. The mixture will thicken and will combine together. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture, mix on medium speed until blended.

Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes. Rotate pan and bake for 7 minutes longer.

Chocolate Buttercream:
2 Sticks butter, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
8 Tbsp. cocoa
2 lb. bag of powdered sugar
milk

Mix the butter and cocoa together with a mixer, add vanilla. While mixing, gradually add the powdered sugar and add milk to get the consistency that you want.

To assemble the cupcake:
Cut out a cone in the top/middle of the cupcake. Fill the hole with ganache and top with the piece of cupcake that you cut out. Pipe or spread on the buttercream.

Hop on over to her blog for other amazing recipes!

 

This was sent to me by one of my fav bloggin babes. Thanks! Lililputians NYC Boutique is offering this Faux Suede Mod Mini Dress dubbed ‘Lil’ Cupcake’. This darling dress comes in sizes 6 months to 8 years. Priced at $69.95, I think this would make an adorable holiday dress. Again, one of the many times I wish I had a girl!

 

 

Check out mod*mom for a fantastic giveaway of 10 dozen divvies cupcakes! Wow, that’s a lot of cuppies! These tasty treats were created with allergy sufferers (and vegans!) in mind- they are dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut free. Head over to mod*mom before midnight on Valentine’s Day and enter to win! These cupcakes and their creators were featured on Martha Stewart on Tuesday, so you know they’re a good thing ;)

You’re not the only one! So is industrial designer and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena professor Krystina Castella. It all started with a tiki-themed potluck according to Krystina, on crazyaboutcupcakes.com, she was assigned the job of “baking something” and she chose cupcakes. Why? Because, “Cupcakes are friendly! Cupcakes are stylish! Cupcakes are nostalgic! Finally, cupcakes are portable!” And quite right she is! Cupcakes are a perfect little, little dessert. Especially Krystina’s tiki cupcakes, which ended up being a big hit at the party. After such success Krystina decided to accompany many other celebrations with cupcakes. A block party? An art opening? A ninth-birthday? A Halloween party? How about an Academy Award party? The answer, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes! Now thats my kind of girl!

According to Krystina, “I see cupcakes as art. I consider all three parts -the cake, the icing and the decorations- all work together to make a good cupcake experience.” Over the next five years she developed thousands of recipe and decorating techniques. Lucky for us 300 have made it into her book titled, of course, Crazy About Cupcakes.

Crazy About Cupcakes is available to order through Amazon and Barnes & Nobel (visit this link for the sweet treat of peaking inside the book). This book has it all, “whether they’re chocolaty, spicy, crunchy, fruity, or creamy, these exquisitely decorated treats look as astounding as they taste—perfect little temptations designed to make adults nostalgic and children happy.” Also, if you order from Amazon you can get not only Crazy About Cupcakes but also, Super-Duper Cupcakes: Kids’ Creations from the Cupcake Caboose for only $22.16!

What some more? Well, you are in luck! Krystina’s website is a plethora of cupcake how-to goodness. It “offers inspirational recipes and decorating techniques for cupcake lovers who enjoy the process of baking and decorating as much as sharing and eating their artistic creations. It features tips, techniques and skills needed to design cupcakes that are uniquely your own. ” Currently showcased on the website are such yummies as tiered cupcakes, candy cupcakes, tiki cupcakes, and a sweet selection. Krystina also outlines decorating techniques basket weave and chocolate leaves. Furthermore, you can deepen you knowledge of cupcakes by looking into the link labeled Cupcake Basics and add some amazing new recipes to your collection perusing the Recipes link (both links under tab Learning & Recipes).

With its intricate weaving of art and cupcakery the whimsical Crazy About Cupcakes website is sure to enchant you for hours, make you mouth water, and leave you with heaps of sweet inspiration!

(All images are from www.crazyaboutcupcakes.com)

A fun little squeaky toy for the dog who enjoys the finer things in life.

$9.95 at Glamour Dog

A big, rich Chardonnay from California’s desirable Central Coast, where the sun drenched grapes create full and elegantly-textured wines. Decadent layers of butter, cream, bright citrus and vanilla melt into a balance of oak and subtle spice. In other words: Sinful.

Available In Store Only

Region: Central Coast
Goes With: Crab cakes, seared Ahi tuna on waffle crackers or fresh-baked French bread and cheese.

Can be purchased at World Market.

There is such a place that exists where you can purchase cupcakes online and they ship them out to you. The cupcakes are delicious and come in adorable packaging. I always thought this was too good to be true, so I just HAD to place an order. Here is my experience with Fat Daddy Bake Shop.

All in all, I rate my experience with them a 10! The cupcakes were delicious. I put mine in the microwave for a FEW seconds, no more than 10 and it was very moist, delicious and oohy goohy. Yum! I wish I would have ordered 5 more.Check out Fat Daddy Bake Shop!

Oh so cute!

 I found this cute little set on Etsy.com.  Vintage inspired apron set for an adult & child. 

Even the seller Boojiboo thinks the fabric is “ridiculously cute.”  And we totally agree!

Apron Set is $39.50