This is just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to enter our Sex and the City Tour giveaway sponsored by Screentours. Please click here to enter!

Last week I discovered environmentally friendly cupcakes and the Build a Green Bakery in New York, and I got to thinking about how you can think green with your baking at home, or should I say brown?

Most cupcake liners are bleached and waxed, making them perfect for all our party needs, but when I am at home and need a fix, do I really care if the wrapper has colored polka dots on it? Lets face it, the little wrapper no matter how cute is going to end up in the bin anyway!  As long as my cupcake tastes good, I’m happy.

Unfortunately the eco-friendly options in Australia are limited so for now when I want a green cupcake, it will need to cook in its ‘birthday suit’ opposed to its ‘birthday wrapper’!  However in America, two companies produce these little brown babies; If You Care and Beyond Gourmet.

Understandably, they are well ‘brown’ and yes, a bit ‘boring’, so for those times when you need something a little more fancy, Green Party Goods has a number of different green options for home baking and display!  One great option they offer is the eco-cupcake stand, because who really looks at what the stand is made of? Especially when it looks so good decorated with a little bit of ribbon.

Two of my guilty pleasures are joining forces:  Cupcakes and Farmville.

Farmville is the great time-sucking application on Facebook.  It is a seemingly simple game which gifts you with a virtual farm, on which you can design your avatar, buy a puppy that will follow you around, and then you can plant and harvest your own crops.  I avoid real life tasks I should be doing by planting virtual coffee, lilacs, carrots, and pumpkins.

The game is ridiculously popular.  Farmville has over 82.4 million active users.  That’s more than 1% of the entire world population.  The game started one year ago today, and in celebration of the birthday, the newest crop in Farmville’s lineup is … you guessed it!  Cupcakes!  I can now plant cupcake seeds, and 8 hours, later, I can harvest them!  Could it get any better?

Here’s my (beautiful and virtually yummy) first crop:

I would have never thought that chocolate and pear would go together, but it looks like The Cooking Ninja has made that happen.

Check out her yummy looking recipe for Chocolate Pear Velvet Cupcakes!

Oh My Yumminess! (is that even a word?? hah, well it is now!)

I find it hard to not think about yummy cupcakes at the best of times!  But how would you go with a cupcake tattooed on your wrist?

Earl Nixon is a tattoo artist in California and he has done many a cupcake tattoo, and sent us these fantastic designs from his collection.  These two were my favorite and capture Earl’s style which he describes as traditional, but a with a new school twist incorporating bright colors and crazy cartoon style.  But these are by no means the limit to Earl’s cupcake creativity!  His portfolio includes funky cupcakes with cherries and also a spooky cupcake with bat sprinkles and a little skull on top!

The third season of HBO’s award-winning vampire drama premiered this past Sunday,

and cupcakers did what they do best! 

They celebrated in sweetness!

The Sweetness Bakeshop in South Miami, Florida

served up these True Blood tasty treats:

And an ATC fan sent in this picture of her very own Red Velvet True Blood creation:

(Thanks Emily!)

Show your dad how much he means to you by baking him something special for Father’s Day!

A Grate Gift for Dad Cupcakes from Disney’s Family Fun Website

These are so cute and it is something you can make with the kids for the man in your life.

What else do you plan on baking for your father on Father’s day?

On Sunday, the LA Times paid tribute to beautiful cupcakes by posting a gallery of gorgeous cupcake images!

Here’s my favorite:

Or maybe this one is my favorite:

I just love it when cupcakes get the attention they deserve!

 Check the rest of them out here!

I know that cupcake obsession appears to be a predominantly female hobby but let’s not forget those awesome men out there that love these sweet treats too!   I know that we  have a strong male following here at ATC and I want to recognize their cupcake needs too.   So today I found some items on Ebay and Etsy that would make great Father’s Day gifts. 

Johnny Cupcakes Shirt $49.98

Have you seen another good Father’s Day cupcake gift? Click on the comment area below and leave us the link!

Today, I am opening the door onto the many adventures and disasters that is cupcake creation in the Apple Cupcake household!  We have three kids, Alan,15 aka Cupcake Demolisher, Zoe, 11, Cupcake Designer and Megan, 6, Baby Cupcake. Together we make mess!

These images are from two recent cupcake bake outs, the first was for Mother’s Day, that is we got my mum to bake for us, so we could have all the fun decorating!  The only problem was we ran out of cupcakes, so I started decorating the girls!  That pic is Baby Cupcake, poor thing, I had her wedged up against the coffee machine and she just had no where to run! (evil laugh).

One of our disasters was when I had the great idea to chop up chocolate bars adding them to the wrappers (we had all the favorites, Boost, Cherry Ripe, Picnic etc).  Unfortunately they glued themselves to the wrapper, and the picnic ones just tasted like burnt peanut! Personally I would have tossed the little critters, but the Cupcake Demolisher came to their rescue!

Then just the other day I gave Cupcake Designer icing pens, and along with her friend Emma, Cupcake Sidekick, they designed this batch of strange looking cupcakes!

Hello Hanna has created these sweet stands, perfect for displaying cupcakes!  They are easy to assemble with no gluing or cutting necessary.  For $10.95 you get a pack of 6 white stands made from recycled paper.

All you cupcake bakers out there this is the necklace for you…

Baker Charm Necklace with Antiqued Cupcake Tin and Measuring Spoons found on SaritasJewelryBox Etsy Shop.

I think that this is the most ADORABLE necklace ever! I want it!

Now this is a first for us here at ATC!  This week we are hosting a giveaway for a Sex and the City Hotspots Tour by Screentours.

The giveaway is for a gift certificate for two tickets to Sex & the City Hotspots Tour, which runs daily (an $84 value). The gift certificate never expires so you can use it during you next planned trip to NYC.  Perhaps you are wondering how this tour relates to cupcakes?  Read the tour highlights to find out!

*Shop at the store where Charlotte bought her “Rabbit”
*Stop at “Scout,” the bar owned by Aidan
*Enjoy cupcakes like Carrie and Miranda
*Go on location to the art gallery in SoHo where Charlotte worked
*Shop at the hottest boutiques & stores in Greenwich Village
*Visit Buddakan, site of Carrie and Big’s wedding rehearsal dinner
*See new locations from Sex and the City: the Movie

To enter this giveaway, please click on the comment area below and tell us one Sex and the City show fact.  Please only enter this giveaway if you have the ability to travel to NYC!! One winner will be chosen on Monday, June 21st. 

Do you have a love for cupcakes and wine? If you do you can share those loves in one spot! On the The Tasty Cupcake & Wine Tour put on by Santa Barbara Adventure Company.

The cupcakes that they serve are of course wine infused cupcakes from Enjoy Cupcakes. The tour also includes wine tasting in the valley of Santa Ynez, a deli lunch and well versed tour guides. Check out their website for more information.

I know Heather Lynn is rooting for her own homestate of Massachusetts in what I think is All Things Cupcake’s new favorite show, Cupcake Wars. I just wanted to take a moment to mention that I will be in the cheering section for Team California, or really, Team Southern California.  I grew up around Los Angeles, which just happens to be one of the cupcake meccas of the U.S., so I’m happy to see my former home well represented.

During tonight’s episode I have been rooting for Catarah Hampshire of Southern Girl Desserts (LA) and Todd Becker of Becker’s Bakery (Manhattan Beach, CA).  I’ll do my best not to spoil anything for folks who might be catching the repeat shows later tonight, but while I am loyal to my homestate, I was actually most impressed by Hollis Wilder of Sweet! (Orlando, FL). Ms. Wilder was hands-down the most adventurous cupcaker of the bunch.  I cannot believe she pulled off good cupcakes with salmon in them!  I wonder if this will be the beginning of a new wave of savory cupcakes?  Watch out bacon!

Southbank Centre, an arts and culture center in London, recently spearheaded a new project of interest to us cupcake-lovers:  Poetry Cupcakes!

GPS, otherwise known as Global Poetry System, is a Southbank Centre project that tries to explore and map the poetry of the world.  The project is built on the idea that poetry is all around us, from gravestones to graffiti.  GPS invites people to take a fresh look at where they are and to find the poetry that inspires them.

And today I have:  poetry on a cupcake.  The project has earned a nickname:  Poetry Digest!  Ha!  Get it?  Digest!

Why didn’t my English teachers think of this?

Well hello there all my fellow cupcake lovers! How many of you out there have heard of the new show on the Food Network’s new show Cupcake Wars? Well if you havent you should check it out. It premieres tonight at 10PM on the Food Network!

I have invested extra interest in this show because one of the local bakeries here on Cape Cod will be on the show soon! Cupcake Charlie’s was founded by a husband and wife team right here on the Cape in Mashpee Massachusetts. They also have a shop in Plymouth Massachusetts. Their Cupcake War will premiere on the 29th of June @ 10pm! Check out the article on Cape Cod Times about Cupcake Charlie’s and Cupcake Wars. Also make sure to check out their audition video on there as well. Also become a fan on the FaceBook Page

I hope everyone is glued to the TV with Cupcake in hand watching the preimere tonight. And I hope all of you will be rooting for Cupcake Charlies on the 29th as well.

The Eat My Blog Bakesale will be held next Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 10am to 4pm at  Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood on.  The charity bake sale will donate all proceeds to  the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  While the bakesale will have over 1000 sweet items to choose from, daring cupcake lovers will be inticed by Kurogoma Cupcakes with Matcha Cream Cheese Frosting.  If you’re like me and have never heard of Kurogoma, it is black sesame seeds. According to a Los Angeles Times article, Cathy Danh started the bake sale because she found herself looking at food blogs thinking, “I wish I could eat that.”  She decided to turn that desire into a reality and put the proceeds towards a worthy charity.

Some of the things that bakers create are amazing!  Quite often I can find myself a little put off by the amazing work that the magazines and books display.  How is a humble baker like me supposed to create that?

Noelle however showed me that it is possible!  As her company’s ‘unofficial’ official baker, she was given the challenge of creating something for her mother who works in the same office.  But this was no ordinary birthday, it was her mother’s 50th,so she wanted to create something ultra special

Inspiration struck in the form of the May 2010 Food Network Magazine, and she took the idea and made it her own with these amazing topiaries!  The magazine used a 6 inch ball, but Noelle used upscaled to an 8 inch ball and covered it with red velvet cream cheese cupcakes along with a large cone shaped topiary base which she covered with Oreo cupcakes.  The combined topiaries had just under 200 cupcakes in total!

Apparently Noelle advises that the construction is not for the faint of heart, but that the end result was well worth it!

Birthdays and cupcakes go hand -in-hand, which is why this Birthday Calendar from Linda & Harriett is perfect.  The calendar which features only months and numerical dates but no week day names or calendar years so it is great for keeping track of what day individuals were born on.  If you were lucky enough to be born in August, your birthday month features the image of cupcake  liners!

I’m really not sure what to make of this:

Or this:

 but these creative cupcakes were entries in Washington D.C.’s Hello Cupcake‘s “Design Your D.C.” cupcake challenge.

 The top one was titled “Foggy Bottom,” while the bottom one was called, “Bo and Michelle Obama’s Organic Garden Cupcake.”

Hmm… that’s some food for thought.  If you dare to eat it.

But it was all in good fun, as a panel of judges chose winners for:  most creative use of fondant; most likely to be eaten; best use of theme; and best-designed political statement.

The winner of the “best overall cupcake design” was awarded a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, while the other winners were awarded Kitchen Aid Hand Mixers.

Want to see the grand prize winner? 

Here she is:

 This one was simply called “Chinatown Cupcake” and it was also awarded the most likely to be eaten ribbon.

A while back I had seen the picture, shown above, of garland by Petunia that was made using cupcake liners.  Sadly directions were not included and I, unfortunately, am the type that needs to follow instructions when it comes to crafts.  Then today I came across a new (new for me) website, 100 Layer Cake.  The site has the cute tag line, “crafting your wedding layer by layer” which means they have lots of great DIY tutorials.  One of these tutorials is for cupcake liner garland which of course you can use for any occasion, not just weddings!

So this is a bit of a different post for me.  I was cruising some news items and happened across a headline in the Huffington Post ‘How a Cupcake Ruined My Day (and No, I’m Not On A Diet)‘ and I was intrigued.  The crux is that she was served her cupcake in an “excessively large plastic container,” and when she asked the man serving where the recycling bin was when she was finished, she was told “we don’t recycle”.

I understand her angst, doing what we can is important, everyone helping could make a difference. I understand commercial reality too, but supplying recycling bins shouldn’t be that hard.

Anyway instead of dwelling on the poor, I wanted to give a thumbs up to another bakery which is the opposite and while it may not be possible for every bakery to go to this extreme, there are certainly ideas a plenty on the Birdbath / Build a Green Bakery website!

Their cups are made of biodegradable corn, the countertop and shelves, from recycled paper, they are wind powered, their paper bags are not wax lined, the floor is reclaimed timber. They use organic flour, sugar and butter, deliver by bicycle-driven cargo rickshaw and compost their coffee grounds daily.  Also they offer a 25% discount to customers arriving on a bicycle or skateboard. Sounds very GREEN to me!

We recently shared with you a few fun cupcake salt and pepper shakers.  Today, my sister who is in Europe just showed me this great cupcake salt and pepper shaker from Urban Outfitters Europe.  I am jealous of anyone who lives in Europe and can order themselves this cute set for only £7.00!

Oh My Cupcakes! of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sponsored a cupcake eating contest on June 5th.  Oh My Cupcakes! is Sioux Falls’ first and only gourmet cupcakery.

Contestants were challenged to eat as many cupcakes as they could in 30 seconds.  The five winners each received a sugar buzz and a pair of tickets to see Sugarland in an upcoming concert.