The recent movie Despicable Me was all the rage here in the last school holidays and it was hard for anyone in our family not to absolutely adore it.  I totally loved the little girls Margo, Edith and Agnes, and Gru was fantastic in his evil lovable way!  But for the kids, the best thing of all was of course the clumsy, funny and always hard working Minions that won their hearts!

So what to create for a kids birthday party?  Well why not a super cool birthday cake of one of the girls, and surround it with many many Minion cupcakes!

Cococake Cupcakes did just that recently for one of their customers, and I adored how they came out!

This cupcake stand from Talking Tables looks perfect for a tea party! Made out of card stock, this three tired cupcake stand costs £9.65. If only I lived in Europe, I would have already ordered this! They also have cake cups (liners), toppers, and other items that help to make any display look complete!

Check out our three chocolate winners!

Emma
I love chocolate for several reasons; I love the richness of good, dark chocolate-you can be satisfied with just a bite. I love the play of it with other flavors-ginger, sea salt, wasabi, fruit, almost anything. And I love how much people enjoy it when I bake with chocolate-sending cookies to my brother away at college or bringing them to a friend struggling with midterms.

Tiffani O

Chocolate is the most amazing thing. It can be sweet or savory. Simply sweet cupcakes or a heavenly cocoa crusted pork tenderloin. There is really nothing you can’t do with chocolate! Take a moment to enjoy some today and make your day simply sweet!

Shawn Allen

I dream of a chocolate river flowing silky smooth. Chocolate truffle bushes lining the powdery cocoa banks. With chocolate chunks and chips giving the chocolate pecan turtles a cozy place to rest. Fluffy chocolate peeps soaring through the sky while little chocolate butterflies flutter softly by. The sweet aroma of chocolate bliss fills the air. In my chocolate dreamworld I drift without a care. I see my chocolate paradise as am wide awake, when just a piece of chocolate is placed upon my plate.

Congratulations!  Please email your mailing address to [email protected].  Thanks to all who entered and to Scharffen Berger and their  Cupcake Adventure Contest.

I haven’t tried these new products out yet, but I certainly love the name!

And who can resist this “cupcake-inspired” packaging?

Inside one will find luxurious skin creams made from all natural ingredients. These products are the first from this brand new company, started up by a trained natural food chef, April Westley, and her three children.

You can learn more about, and shop for, Cupcake Organic Divine Skincare here!

This Cupcake Girl print which, features an astronaut baker serving cupcakes, is by Elsie Flannigan.  It is approximately 8X10 inches and is available from Red Velvet Art’s shop for $18.00.

Today I am privileged to be able to share with you two awesome cupcake tattoos from our readers!  The first is not so much an angel looking tattoo but one that symbolizes a wonderful girlfriend who passed away.  Amanda was devestated by the loss of her best friend, but wanted to find someway to remember the fun and special connection they had shared.  So she chose something girly and delicate in the form of a cupcake, sprinkled with color.

Amanda’s cupcake tattoo is located on her arm and is something she gets much joy out of.

The second tattoo is more angelic in its design, given it has angel’s wings!  This tattoo on Jana was done about five years ago by Jennifer Knox from Hold Fast Tattoo, in Seaside, OR.  Jana wanted a tattoo to celebrate self acceptance of who she is and selected on the angel cupcake given it was fun and daring.  Jana describes herself as “a big curvy girl with an appetite for life” and wanted to show that in her tattoo choice!

Thank you to both Amanda and Jana for sharing their cupcake tattoos with us!  Remember if you are planning on getting a cupcake tattoo All Things Cupcake has a huge gallery of cupcake tattoos!

Everyone loves piñatas and what’s better then a cupcake piñata?  MommyDo offers a variety of made to order piñatas including cupcakes! Most of the piñatas range in price from $30.00 to $50.00.  Since the piñatas are made to order you get to decide if you want a traditional piñatas or pull string.  If you decide order a piñata, remember to allow enough time for it to be made!

If you haven’t already done so it’s definitely time to start that holiday wish list.  The Betty Crocker Store has a giant pink cupcake carrier for $24.95.  What better way to tote your cupcakes around then in a giant cupcake container? This cupcake carrier holds 24 cupcakes and can be pre-ordered from now until 12/8/10.

Over at Bake and Destroy you will find a lot of action at the moment as the cupcake apron competition draws to a close.  The competition set was to design what you would like to see in an apron.  The images are a collection of ideas and other pictures to create a story board of inspiration for the apron itself.

There are now six finalists, nautical, peacock, bad spice, bones, cherry rockabilly and lucha libra.  Here we feature the Peacock design by Lisa Chen, but you can see all the designs here.  To vote simply leave a comment and given there are prizes for voters too, why not!?

For me, I can’t decide!!!  I love the Nautical design and the Cherry Rockabilly!

Voting closes on the 12th November.

In May we shared Recipe Look, a site that simplifies recipes into illustration.  This weekend I came across They Draw and Cook which is a similar concept; Artists and illustrators submit illustrated versions of recipes.  I only found two cupcake recipes but came across tons other recipes with really great artwork.

As I was looking around for Christmas gifts this past weekend I cam across this great online store, Perpetual Kid . This website is all about entertaining your inner child, it’s a great site.

The best things about this website is their sections called Robots & Cupcakes, amazing!

Here are a few of my favorite items I found, Part 1 (too much fun stuff to share in one post!!)

Let it all out with the Stress Cupcake!

Keep your hands warm with these lovely Cupcake Hand Warmers!

Enjoy this no calorie, Inflatable Cupcake!

Look for Cupcakes Galore Part 2, coming to a computer near you!

I love the unique items that the MoMA store offers!  One particular product that I’m very tempted to purchase is set of Pop-Up Cupcake Note Cards.  Designed by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart the set includes 6 cards with orange envelopes and costs $16.95.

Well why not mix your cocktail and your cupcake?  And at Cocktail Cupcakes in Atlanta they do just that!!

You would be more likely to find this list of flavors in a bar than a bakery, but the cupcakes they offer are:

• Patron
• Champagne
• Mint Mojito
• Lemon Drop
• Strawberry Daiquiri
• White Russian
• Baileys Irish Cream
• Pina Colada
• Margarita
• Cosmopolitan
• Chocolate Martini
• Caramel Appletini
• Strawberry Margarita
• Amaretto
• Tequila Sunrise
• Malibu Rum
• Vanilla Martini

Sometimes, ideas are so perfect we wonder how no one has thought of them before.  For example:  Plastic cupcake vases that come in six delicious colors.  Brilliant!  They look like cupcakes, but they’re not.  Instead, the top of the “cupcake” is full of little holes, perfectly stem-sized, so you can insert the flowers into the cupcake at just the right angles. And voilà! You have yourself a perfect bouquet.  The vases are unbreakable, reusable, and only cost $10.95.  Learn more about them, or start your collection by visiting Fleur Daily online.

Lately I have been trying to be crafty and these googley eye cupcake toppers are a great next project.  I found these DIY toppers on Modern Kiddo although they were originally created by Scrumdilly-Do.  Grab your materials which include:
* toothpicks
* scrap paper, printed paper, newspaper
* paint of your choice
* paint brushes
* cup o water
* glue and/or glue stick
* various paper punches or scissors
* googly eyes
* markers (optional)

Then head over to Modern Kiddo for the tutorial!

Sugar Dolls bakery recently celebrated a Day of the Cupcake at Sacred Heart Tattoo of Atlanta, Georgia.  Visitors ate cupcakes, played cupcake games, competed in a cupcake eating contest, and got cupcake tattoos.  I believe the old adage is true, that pictures tell a thousand words, so I will leave them to it …

Is this for the kids or me? 

This “too cute to be true” cupcake maker bakes 6 cupcakes in 10 minutes!  This tiny oven is available in pastel pink or blue and can be found at Target for $49.99.  Is this the perfect gift for that cupcake lover who has everything?

Who would have thought to turn a game of chess into cupcakes!  These cupcakes come from the fantastic Sweetopia blog where they used a chess chocolate mould to make a series of white and brown chocolate chess pieces.  They then made up two batches of cupcakes one set in vanilla with white frosting and the other in chocolate with chocolate frosting.  The chess pieces were then added to the top.

The board is a vinyl one, which was the perfect size for the standard cupcakes, and I totally adore the cupcake wrappers used.

You can find the recipes and instructions for these cupcakes on the Sweetopia blog.

I know we have shared cupcakes with you from The Cupcake Project before but I could not resist sharing these apple cobbler cupcakes with pumpkin pie frosting.  Here’s the recipe for the cupcakes: Read the rest of this entry »

You may remember a post I shared a few weeks ago about Scharffen Berger’s Cupcake Adventure Contest.  Original cupcake recipes can be submitted for the chance to win great prizes.   Want to know why they call this contest an adventure?   Click here  to find out!
Well, this week we are hosting a giveaway of the wonderful chocolates!  Three winners will each win a 70% and a  62% 9.7oz baking bar along with branded Scharffen Berger cupcake liners.  Such a sweet prize!  To win, simply click on the comment area below and tell us why you love chocolate.   Three winners will be chosen on Monday, November 8th.

Follow Scharffen Berger on Twitter @ScharffenBerger.

Just last week I shared an image of a monster with a cupcake for a brain.  This week it’s an owl that is thinking about cupcakes.  My best friend shared this image with me and I love that it is titled “It’s Etsy”.  This image is by Laurel Varian and is an antlered, mustachioed owl, perched on a piece of bacon and thinking of a cupcake.  It really does combine all things Etsy!