photo courtesy of Clever Cupcakes

Clever Cupcakes yet again prove they are veritable demigods of fondant with this cupcake set for a two-year old’s birthday party. The tire cupcake is my personal favorite – I think it really shows the care they put into their decoration. The theme of the birthday party was the Disney movie Cars. Since Clever Cupcakes doesn’t make a practice of copying the likenesses of trademarked characters, even in fondant, they use opportunities to be more creatively true to their assigned theme.

Fifteen cupcakes in a live mans mouth— Yo-ho-ho, and a bowl of frosting! (I tried hah!)

Ahoy Matey! Check out these pirate inspired cupcakes from I Heart Cuppycakes.

Strawberries, chocolate and pirates – what more could you ask for!

Enjoy!

IMG_0075, originally uploaded by verdantmedians.

This is the yummiest caterpillar I’ve ever seen! 

Gosh, gotta love Flickr!  It’s an endless supply of cupcake ideas!

I’m off to buy some extra food coloring — going to give this one a try!

Etsy just seems to love cupcakes this summer!   Tonight they will be hosting a get together at their labs in Brooklyn, NY.  Crafters will learn how to make cute needle felted pinback buttons, embroidered cards and enjoy cupcakes from 4-8pm.  If you don’t live in the New York area, you can join them at 5pm ET in their virtual lab.   I am planning on joining in online so please look for my avatar (shop icon) and say hello!

Click here for all the sweet details.

Seems to be the question that Jeff Houck from The Tampa Tribune is asking after TLC’s airing of DC Cupcakes on Friday night.  DC Cupcakes is an inside look at the world of Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis of Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, D.C. Both ladies gave away their corporate jobs in venture capital and fashion respectively to open the store, which now attracts hour-long queues for their cupcakes.

Houck takes a light poke at both the show and TLC, who he states “used to be called The Learning Channel until it realized viewers were averse to mixing education and television”.  With other shows such as ‘Ace of Cakes‘, ‘Cake Boss‘, ‘Ultimate Cake Off‘ and ‘Cupcake Wars‘ he thinks we have gone too far and longs for the days where there were more episodes of Law & Order than cake shows.

What do you think?  Have we reached cake saturation with our shows?  In Australia we have no dedicated cake shows, and our educational stations are still giving on the whole educational content.  So I am in favor of MORE cupcake shows. What about for you? And with five more episodes to go of DC Cupcakes, will you be tuning in or out?

I was just watching my daily does of weekend foodie shows and came across a new show called Kid In a Candy Store on the Food Network. The first thing the host, Adam Gertler showed us was this lovely cupcake confection, Deep Fried Cupcakes!( no need to explain these, the name says it all!)

These hail from Kick*ss Cupcakes in Somerville, Ma!

Oh My .. next time I head back to New Hampshire this will most definitly be on the top of my list to stop at!

Like most foods, there are many ways to eat a cupcake.  In my family everyone’s always had a different style but my mom’s was the one stood out the most.  When I saw the image above from Twin B,  I immediately thought of my mom and how she eats cupcakes.  My mom will take the cupcake and separate it into a top and bottom half, then she will place the bottom half on to of the frosting to make a “sandwich.” This way each bite contains equal parts cake and frosting!  How do you eat a cupcake?

According to ShowbizSpy, Jennifer Aniston is one of us!  According to their sources (who I am certain are quite reliable), Jennifer is addicted to the Good Guy Cupcake from Crumbs Bake Shop in West Hollywood. 

The “Good Guy” is a vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles baked in, filled with vanilla cream cheese frosting, and topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, covered with rainbow sprinkles and white chocolate drizzle. A portion of proceeds from the Good Guy is donated to the SFK organization. 

But Ms. Aniston knows about moderation — apparently, she limits herself to one Good Guy Cupcake per week.

We are amassing a great collection of spectacular tattoos in the tattoo gallery, and today we have two new ones to share with you.  The first here on the right is from Dana in New Jersey.  She has just got this tattoo on the inside of her forearm.

Dana is a lover of cupcakes and the word cupcake, indeed it is the nickname she gives to her family, friends and dog.  Dana didn’t state the flavor of her cupcake, but I am sure that is a mountain of blueberry frosting on top.

Dana got her tattoo done by artist Lou Morgue from Artisanal Tattoo in Somerville.

The second tattoo is from Andrea who go her cupcake done a while ago on her shoulder.  It is a pretty impressive tattoo complete with banner and stars.

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Jacob Goldstein of NPR posed the question today:  Are We in a Cupcake Bubble?

The article is hilarious, though any reader of All Things Cupcake would certainly find his logic flawed.  No, we are not in a cupcake bubble — cupcakes have always been the superior dessert!  Duh!

Goldstein, writing as part of NPR’s Planet Money series, expresses his befuddlement about the cupcake craze, the fact that cupcakeries are springing up all around him, and the fact that employment in the restaurant and bar industry is picking up in New York City — with particular strength in the cupcake business, according to the WSJ’s Metropolis Blog.

He too, gives Sex and the City all the credit.

But you and I know … cupcakes have earned their place at the top.  Goldstein, obviously, just hasn’t had a good one lately.  Maybe we should send him some.

One of my favorite places to find cupcake items has done it again. Check out these cute finds at Kohl’s!

For Baby Girls                              For Young Girls

For Ladies

For All Women!

Click here to see even more Kohl’s cupcake finds.

We have seen lots of different things done with Cupcake liners here on All Things Cupcake! But this is still always by far my favorite idea for Cupcake Liners.

Cupcake Lights Are Sweet by Family Chic

<3 This Blog!

What funky things have you done with Cupcake Liners?

A match made in heaven!

Jennifer Weiner, #1 New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner is soon to embark on a tour to celebrate the release on July 13 of her latest novel Fly Away Home.  But this tour, is no ordinary tour, it is the ‘Cupcakes Across America Book Tour‘.  Jen has selected her favorite bakers across the country, and will visit each one and encourages her fans to come and meet her over a cupcake.

Fly Away Home has so far received great reviews from Elle Magazine and USA Today to name just a few.

The tour has already started, but you can still catch it in the following locations:

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The new issue of People Magazine will hit the stands this Friday and it will feature 5 pages of photos from Carrie Underwood‘s July 10th wedding, where she tied the knot with professional hockey player Mike Fisher.  

The wedding cake was a cupcake tower made by bridesmaid Ivey Childers, who runs the IveyCake Bakery in Franklin, Tennesse.

Underwood describes her cupcakes as “as the most amazing cupcakes in the universe.”

IveyCake features cupcakes with names like:  Two-Faced, The Apology, Big Dreams, Crazy Ex, Gold Digger, Goody Two Shoes, and my favorite:  Lucky in Love.  

As part of their Sugar Coated collection, Orly Nail Polish has created a color named after the cupcake.  What could be better then a nail polish color that is “guaranteed to make you feel as sweet as candy.”  The Orly Cupcake #40670 is available from Orly’s website or additional websites such as amazon.com where you can save $3.00 on a bottle!

Having sold more than 98,000 cupcakes in 14 months since opening, Daisy Cafe & Cupcakery in Madison, Wisconsin  is poised to sell its 100,000th cupcake.

Seriously, that’s a lot of cupcakes.

The person who purchases the lucky cupcake will be presented with a prize package that includes: dinner at the Daisy Café & Cupcakery, a night’s stay at any one of seven North Central hotels in the Madison area, a bottle of Champagne, and two Strawberry-Champagne cupcakes. In addition, the Daisy Café & Cupcakery will donate $1,000.00 in the name of the winner to Porchlight Inc, the Madison non-profit organization committed to reducing homelessness in the city.

Would it be silly of me to fly to Madison just to buy a cupcake?  I’m thinking about it.  I really love Wisconsin this time of year.  

Further, the Daisy Café & Cupcakery will donate $100.00 to Porchlight Inc in the name of each of the next five customers who buy cupcakes. So, I should probably bring five friends.

Daisy’s co-owner, Daryl Sisson, says, “We were the first to bring premium cupcakes to Wisconsin and, although we hadn’t thought 100,000 cupcakes would come so soon, we’re thrilled to be here. And we are not standing still–we’re rolling out new cupcake flavors every month.” Co-owner Kathy Brooks adds, “We are especially happy to continue our support of Porchlight with donations in the names of our loyal customers.”

Here is a video about the 4 C’s of Daisy Cafe & Cupcakery!  Gosh, I don’t know when I’ve been so impressed!  Gotta go now, I’ve got plane tickets to buy.

these ones will be soon if we all don’t start eating them!

Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream Cupcakes

If you need some cupcake relief in the sweltering weather without firing up the oven Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream Cupcakes are the way to go!

The cupcake craze, which has resulted in new cupcakeries springing up in each major city of America, has not quite yet invaded Australia. However we are not to be excluded entirely, as our love of cupcakes is equally as strong, so much so that we have declared August 16th as the national day of cupcakes!

National Cupcake Day is a fundraiser for the RSPCA, and encourages the involvement of companies and individuals around Australia to raise money by throwing a cupcake party.

These funds go to support the important work of the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  The RSPCA provide an ongoing service to step in and defend mistreated animals, find new homes for abandoned animals and generally be the voice for our furry, feathered and scaly friends.

Last year 350,000 cupcakes were baked around the country and over $1.1 million Australian dollars was raised. This year they have set the target at $2.5 million and need your help in reaching it.

If you are in Australia, get involved by registering a team or as an individual and scheduling your party. Let us know about your entry so that we can support you. If you are not in Australia you can still get involved by making a donation or voting for your favorite cupcake.

Cupcake bakers interested in a new monthly challenge can try Sweetest Kitchen’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge.  Think of Iron Chef only you’re always making cupcakes.  Each month a new ingredient will be chosen and cupcake bakers (you!) submit your cupcake creation using the ingredient.  This month is the first ever challenge and the ingredient is TEA! And there are great prizes including an electric gift card from one of my favorite sites, Bake It Pretty! Any cupcake bakers interested can enter by visiting the competition information page.

Lingerie Cupcakes by Look Cupcake (photo courtesy of Look Cupcake)

Wow, these lingerie cupcakes are lookin’ good.  I’ll be sure to keep Look Cupcake in mind next time I hear someone needs treats for their bachelorette party! They’re stuff isn’t cheap, but it’s conveniently located next door to me in Seattle (on Queen Anne Hill) and you cannot beat their presentation. Too bad they only do events – if they had a storefront, I’d stop by to see if these taste as good as they look!

photo courtesy of Taekwonweirdo

photo courtesy of Taekwonweirdo

photo courtesy of Taekwonweirdo

I thought these little guys were just charming as all get out. They were made up by Bittersweet Bakery for a little boy’s first birthday party.  Bittersweet is an outfit out in Chicago that has a full menu and does cakes and cupcakes for events like weddings and wee little birthday parties.

(see Taekwonweirdo’s photostream here)

Cupcake Dress Display by Alice in Cakeland

This lovely dress, which is possibly the best cupcake stand ever, was created by Alice in Cakeland for the kickoff of Amsterdam International Fashion Week at Maison de Bonneterie.  Alice in Cakeland was founded by American transplant Rebecca Treherne, who decided to start up her own bespoke, American-style cupcakery because she “was disappointed to not find an American cupcake that tasted as good as it looked” in the fine city of Amsterdam.  These are some fine looking cupcakes, so I hope that Rebecca has succeeded in her mission to make them taste as good as they look.

That is what springs to mind when reading and watching the news clip on NewsNet5 about Ohio based American Greeting Cards‘ new range of cards called Tasties.

So ‘yesterday’, are cards which stimulate the other four major senses, visual cards, textured cards, cards which play music or that smell.  We now have cards that we can lick and apparently ‘eat’.

Each ‘Tasty’ will be themed and come with a deliciously dissolvable flavor-strip, safely sealed inside the card which matches the theme.  One such card will feature a mouth-watering image of a cupcake and reads “If nothing else, birthdays are a great excuse to eat cake”.  Of course you want to know the flavor, this one is vanilla cupcake!

Though this isn’t the limit of the new ‘Tasty’ cards, you can get everything from donuts to margaritas, though I am not sure if they meet the newsreaders requirement from the above article and have a bacon card just yet.  No doubt the bacon, burger and hot dog cards are not too far away!

Are cupcakes in danger of losing their popularity to other desserts? Back in March we shared with you an NPR article which claimed macaroons to be the new cupcake.  Now two other desserts are threatening to take the cupcake’s spot.  The August issue of Food and Wine Magazine had an article about the increasingly trendy pie which asked “Are pies the new cupcakes? They’re becoming just as ubiquitous at online stores and new restaurants with pie counters.”

And now that the hot summer here, the popsicle is another proposed successor to cupcakes.  On July 7, 2010, a blog post from Allegations of Deliciousness titled “Popsicles are the New Cupcakes” claimed unique popsicles are all the rage. Last summer, Hooks for Cooks might have prediected the future with their post titled “Popsicles will rival cupcakes”  She even quoted a friend saying ” I predict they will take over from cup cakes as the hottest new craze this Summer.” I know here in North Carolina, we have Locopops, a hand-crafted, gourmet popsicle company that began in Durham, NC and has expanded to have four locations and various venders in the Research Triangle Park region.  So cupcake fans, what do you think, will cupcakes lose their top spot?

You’ve got to see it to believe it! 

“Sweet Cake” as one is called, is a gift for anyone who loves a fun, yet practical design.  Or for someone who loves cupcakes, of course.  Not only are they versatile in use, but they also come in 10 different colors. 

Dutch product designer Beerd Van Stokkum says the giant cupcake liners can be used as a sandbox, baby bath, planter, or dog bed, but really, the options are probably endless.    A”Sweet Cake” measures approximately 11×28 inches and costs € 149 or $225.