Katie Holmes last week made cupcake headlines when she contacted Isabelle’s Curly Cakes in New York and ordered a batch to be delivered to her in Toronto.

Katie is currently acting in a documentary about the Kennedys for the History Channel and it appears she just couldn’t do with out them.

It appears also that cupcake adoration runs in the family, Suri shown here also being a big fan (photo by James Devaney sourced from The Star).

So what cupcakes would you order from New York?  Katie ordered Red Velvet and Grasshopper flavor.

When your teeth are crying out for some down time from the sugar intake, and the button on your pants is straining to be catapulted across the room, perhaps take a day off from the cupcakey goodness and reach instead for a cupcake fake.

Fake cupcakes are starting to appear everywhere, and what is so good about them, is they can sit on your desk forever looking pretty without ever going bad!  But just don’t drool on them, urgh, it is too hard to clean!

Cakery Fakery is one such Etsy retailer who does just that, making and selling her cupcake fakes.  Here are some of my favorite ones from her range.  These are in order Sherbet Blossom, Sherbet Swirl, Baby Girl (below) and Pistachio (above).

There is a frenzy that is unsettling cupcake businesses around America, causing bakers to reach for the video camera instead of the whisk.  What, may you ask is upsetting the frosting on these cupcakes?

Well, a little over a week ago, the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars got busy on the phone encouraging selected bakers to consider submitting a video audition for the next round of Cupcake Wars. Lily and Erin from A Cupcake Wonderland were one such recipient and they decided to share their highly entertaining and funny video on You Tube, and of course with you!  Good luck Cupcake Wonderland.  Check it out by clicking here.

If selected, they will compete against three other bakers / bakeries in a chance for cupcake glory!

It was Cupcake Designer’s birthday the other week and she decided on a green theme. So I got these fantastic wrappers from Green Party Goods, aren’t they adorable.

When using wrappers, I have learnt that it is usually best to go with a white chocolate or vanilla cupcake mixture to ensure the color remains true, and I couldn’t be happier with how these turned out.

Have you thought of making fondant birds for your cupcakes?  they are really easy if you follow the instructions on Wilton’s website and they were very popular.  Next time though I think that I might make the nests brown with a chocolate ganache!

Bill Rancic frosts cupcakes for 11 year old Eric Hernandez (right)

Cupcakes will brighten the day of any child, but in hospital, even more so!  The South Town Star reported that “Rancic, the original winner on the reality TV Show ‘The Apprentice’ and his wife Giuliana, host of E! News passed out 150 cupcakes to children on Monday at Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn.”

“The couple partnered with Candace and Charles Nelson, owners of Sprinkles Cupcakes to donate $15,000 to the children’s hospital and its Ronald McDonald House”.

On the weekend my good friend came back from an Indian wedding and on her hands she had the most gorgeous henna tattoos.  Immediately I thought of cupcakes, as you do whenever there is a celebration at hand, and I had this brilliant unique idea, why not make henna inspired cupcakes?

So I jumped onto the internet, but of course I am not the first with this idea, so instead of make them myself I thought I would share with you my findings!

I might still make them at some point, perhaps when I am feeling a tad less intimidated :)

These images are top left by The Little Cakery, directly above by Small Things Iced and to the left by Cupcakes N Things.

They all look beautiful!

I found these amazing cupcakes on Flickr the other day and had to share them with you.  These princesses including Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty were made by Solange a Brazilian Cupcake Designer.

They are so perfect, but as you know, what is a princess without her accessories, so Solange made accessory cupcakes too!  I like this princess cupcake style – I just need my designer bag and sun glasses!

I think it is high time the phrase “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” is reworked. Unfortunately diamonds can be a ‘tad’ expensive, so in the place of the diamond (while we work on our boy to buy them for us) we need a substitute!  Hello little adorable cupcake!

My proposal is that from now on it should be “cupcakes and diamonds are a girl’s best friend”.  So given that, I couldn’t believe my eyes when Kiwi sent in a picture of her recent tattoo!  On top of this cupcake is a diamond for which any girl would be proud, though I do recommend removing any real diamonds or rings (what a fantastic way to propose) before consuming!

Kiwi’s tat is on her foot and was designed by Reno of High Class Tattoo in Fresno, Ca. So too Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve heard of some strange collections on my journeys, such as Graham Barker’s Navel Fluff Collection, or the Air Sickness Bag collection, both of which I would rather not have in my own home!  But what about cupcake pans?

Naturally I say I have a collection, from your standard cupcake pan to your mini, your loaf style and the mini Bundt style which is my latest addition, but they hardly feature on my walls.  The only time these are visible is stacked beside the sink covered in baked batter.  So I was surprised when I stumbled upon a question in the Sun News which asked, “when were the earliest muffin or cupcake pans made in the United States?”

The answer is that the origin of most pans date back to the 19th century and if you have a rare one it could be worth up to $500.

So it got me thinking and I wondered exactly how old the first cupcake is?  The answer, according to Crazy About Cupcakes, is that they were first mentioned in 1828 in E. Leslie’s ‘Receipts’.  Apparently according ‘The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America’ the ‘cup’ part of the “name had a double meaning because of the practice of baking in small containers – including tea cups”.

I’m now feeling educated, but I don’t think cupcake pan collecting is for me.  The image above comes from Go Antiques where you can pick up this cupcake pan for $85USD.

For more  strange collections check out Neatorama.

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?

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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:

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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!

Every bakery has a story, about the people and the passion that over time, combined with lots of hard work has formed part of its success.  In this particular case, Joanne (now 62) proved that there is no barrier, not even age there to stop you from living your dream.

Joanne gave away her career in nursing and with her husband opened a home based cupcake bakery in Naples after recognizing that although there was a cupcake craze sweeping the nation, it hadn’t yet reached them.  Every Saturday she would be up early to sell her cupcakes at the Farmer’s Market, and every week she would sell out.  Joanne, without the money to invest in a physical store, decided instead to build an online cupcakery.  They established the website and are now the successful owners of  Simply Cupcakes of Naples.

Joanne and her husband Ken, learned a lot from the numerous trials and errors they faced over the past years of building their cupcake business from Farmers Market to retail store and now have extended their business model to include Cupcake Training.  This isn’t ‘how to bake a cupcake’ but a concise series of training sessions on how to establish your own cupcake business.  In fact if you are interested, the 2010 session is due to be held on July 30 to Aug 2 and more information can be found on their website.

Is it pink and pretty or evil and foreboding?  It surprises me how much variation we see in the different styles and takes we receive on the cupcake when it becomes art.  This collection is no different.

Melissa (right) had her Tattoo sleeve designed by Dana Tyrell in Santa Rosa at Inky Cells Tattoo Co. and says that her inspiration was her sweet and loving daughter Denae.

Read the rest of this entry »

It appears according to a story in the Christian Science Monitor that in Jordan, what is Western, is cool. This is particularly so, with what is American and to be honest, what is better than an American style cupcake?

The Sugar Daddy is one of a number of businesses that have set up in Amman over the past decade inspired by successful American businesses.  It is a small market, at a little over $2 a cupcake, only the top 5 percent of Jordanian’s can afford them, but this hasn’t stopped business from booming.  Most customers speak English, and Mr Jaber the owner felt that in this way, kids that had studied abroad could remember their time overseas, with this little piece of America in their city.

Mr Jaber’s Sugar Daddy Bakery stores have also opened in Dubai and in Beirut.

The World Cup is now almost all but over, and is over for the majority of readers, with the USA going down to Ghana, England being defeated by Germany and Australia, well I’m not going to dwell on Australia as we didn’t even make it through our rounds :(

But before I leave this subject alone for another four years!  I just want to bring you one more fantastic giant football cupcake.  This one comes from Parklife Cakery in England, which they made to support England through the World Cup.   I think it is just fantastic, and I love the little players down the bottom! Too cute!

Here at All Things Cupcake we receive quite a few cupcake tattoos, then all of a sudden we receive something slightly different, like this one from Becky in Ohio, who instead of going with the finished product, went instead for a whisk.  This piece was done by Iggy Sweeney at Bodystain Tattoo in Columbus, Ohio and looks fantastic.

But when you whisk… Read the rest of this entry »

The Cake Boss (image from TLC)

Do you fill your spare time baking cakes, cooking up pastries or elaborately decorating cupcakes?  If so, you could be just what the Producers of ‘Cake Boss’ are looking for.

They want up-and-coming bakers who want to kick it into the big time.  The media release says:

“TLC and Buddy Valastro (The Cake Boss) are looking to launch the career of a promising cake decorator and baker on a new baking competition series.”

“This new baking competition series, hosted by Buddy and team will feature weekly lessons, challenges,and eliminations. 10 hopeful contenders will vie for cash and prizes. No culinary experience required!”

So if you believe you may have what it takes to out bake the competition apply now! Email [email protected] with your story and recent photos.

PS:  If you do get chosen, don’t forget to let us know so that we can all cheer you on!

Edited to say: Mia, they are looking for you, so you need to send them your story about why and how you bake, and photos of your cake creations.  If chosen you will then compete against others for cake design supremacy! :)  And thanks for your comments! Good luck!

Last Sunday was Fathers day and we have had the joy of seeing a number of great fathers day cupcakes.  Yesterday one of our readers Catherine from Sweet Surrender sent us this great cupcake!

Even though the big day for Dads in the U.S. has passed for another year we wanted to share it with you as it would be great for birthdays as well!

64 Colors is an amazing collaboration of talented individuals who make art out of the unusual, and this is their latest creation, a commissioned 8 inch Dunny (a vinyl art toy produced by Kidrobot).  Their customer who is a collector asked them to produce the ‘Cupcake’ Dunny in their own vision, and they did a beautiful job.   As their website is under construction, if you like this, check out their flickr page for all their other creations.

The more I look at her adorable little face and sad stunning eyes, the more I want to rugby style tackle its owner and run off screaming “she’s mine, she’s mine!”

Read the rest of this entry »

Before I start talking up the cupcakes.  I just want to say that I hate horns.

I am starting to dream that we are suffering a plague of mosquitos (millions of them) and am slapping myself awake at a very unfriendly hour!

If you do not know what I am talking about, then you obviously haven’t got a fever! :) World Cup Fever that is!  But some amazing bakers around the world have and they have been cooking up their support since the opening game on the 11th June!  And speaking of that game, Grace who bakes at Cupcakes by Design in South Africa created these for a client’s Friday Football celebration.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reading about the new release of 4.3.2.1, an new gritty thriller-action style movie in which the main characters, four women, encounter diamond thieves I came across a cupcake loving actress. Jo, is one of the four leading women in the movie and is acted by up and coming American Emma Roberts, star of Hotel for Dogs and Nancy Drew.  Apparently she loved her time in London, especially visiting the Hummingbird Bakery.

Of course I was intrigued and had to check out their site, and it is mouthwateringly good. The red velvet cupcake is reputed to be heavenly, and it seems Emma Roberts agrees.  In a story on Music Rooms, she explains her lack of love for vegetables, and admits that in fact the cupcake diet was her favorite!  Who could disagree with that!

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.