Here in the Windy City, with highs in the 80s today, it feels as if we are celebrating the first day of summer instead of the first day of spring.  In celebration of the first official day of spring, warmer weather and blooming flowers, I thought I would post several flower cupcakes.

The Pompom Flower Extravaganza Cupcake from Wilton:

Pink Petal Cupcakes, also from Wilton:

Hello Flower Cupcakes from McCormick:

Here in the Midwest we are having unusually warm weather for March, so my mind is already thinking about summer.  These banana cream pie cupcakes would make a delicious treat to usher in the coming spring and summer.  I love the fact that there is not only a Nilla Wafer on top, but on bottom, too.

Got a little man in your life who wants to have some cupcakes for his special day (or just because)?  Cupcakes don’t have to be limited to girls! You should check out the selection of cupcake decorating kits at Williams-Sonoma.  They have a wide selection, from Star Wars to Spider-Man to soccer to Peter Rabbit.  Each kit comes with an assortment of liners and toppers.

Magnolia Bakery’s cupcake of the month is currently the pistachio cupcake.  These little green nuts make the perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat.  Take a look at these lovely cupcakes, topped with pistachio meringue buttercream, and if you live close by, try one out for yourself!

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, here are some yummy looking green tea cupcakes.  I think they look quite festive.  The green tea powder, used in both the cupcake and the frosting, gives them a nice cool green color.

Did you know that the Oreo cookie turns 100 years old this month?  What better way to celebrate than with Oreo cupcakes??

My favorite way to eat an oreo has always been icing first, cookie last.  However, after seeing this cupcake, I think my favorite way to eat an oreo would be in cupcake form!  Be sure to check out the Oreo Birthday Cupcake recipe, which of course features lots of those delightful treats called Oreos.

Just in time for spring, here is a very cute idea for ladybug cupcakes!

Have all you folks out in Southern California heard the news?  Sprinkles in Beverly Hills will soon be opening a 24-hour cupcake vending machine.  This means never-ending access to their delicious freshly-baked cupcakes, mixes, and apparel.  Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me!  Check out their facebook page for more info!

Today the black bean cupcake with guava frosting was supposed to make its debut at the Food Network’s South Beach Food & Wine Festival.  Who in the world thought up such a combination, you might be asking yourself?  Goya Foods, a well-known Hispanic foods company, and pastry chef Hedy Goldsmith came up with this recipe in response to the challenge to make a dessert using the company’s product line. Go here for a recipe and see what you think!

Even though Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday) has already come and gone, I thought I would share this recipe anyway.  It’s never too late to begin planning for next year’s Mardi Gras feast, right?

Maybe next year you can give your party a little twist by serving up some of these King Cake Cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese filling.  Don’t forget to hide the plastic baby (or whatever object you choose to use) inside one of them!

Now that March is just around the corner, I find myself daydreaming about sunshine, blue skies and days spent outdoors.  For those of you who are eagerly awaiting spring’s arrival (or for those of you who live in a warmer climate than I do), here are some cupcakes to help usher in the spring season.

These “potted” cupcakes are topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting and green candy leaves, with oreo crumbs around the edges.

The carrot cupcake in the foreground is topped with crushed lemon poppyseed cookie and a smidge of orange cream cheese frosting.

These would make a lovely display at a spring luncheon or shower.  I’m not much of a gardener, but I think I could get into this!

Got a birthday coming up?  Having trouble deciding whether to do a cake or cupcakes?  (Of course, if you ask any of us at ATC, we will tell you to go with the cupcakes)!

You can truly have your cake and eat it, too, with this tiered birthday cake made from chocolate cupcakes from the Duncan Hines website.

Each tower is made of one standard-sized cupcake, a mini cupcake, and a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup (for the top tier).  Sounds delicious, and it looks beautiful, too!

These simple (and gluten-free) cupcakes from the Betty Crocker website would be perfect to make with your kids for an after-school treat this Valentine’s Day (as if they didn’t already get enough sweets at school, right?).

You will need a few special materials in addition to the cake mix and frosting: a pair or two of decorative scissors, a heart-shaped paper punch, and a box of ‘Fruit by the Foot’ strawberry fruit snacks.  Let your kids use the scissors and the paper punch to make fun shapes out of the fruit snack to decorate their cupcakes.

One of our readers recently spotted this gigantic cupcake in Honolulu.  If you live in Hawaii or are planning to visit anytime soon, go take a look at this deceptively real-looking cupcake at Ala Moana, a large shopping complex on the island of Oahu.  It is part of a Louis Vitton display.  I have to say that the frosting really makes me hungry for a cupcake!

One of our loyal readers has come up with a variety of creative cupcake art recently.  Maybe these will give you ideas as you decide how to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.  I am especially impressed by the flower made from gumpaste–what an intricate design!

Strawberry Cupcake

Pink Flower Cupcake Topper Made from Gumpaste

3D Valentine's Cupcake Greeting on Etsy

We all know that chocolate is a staple for Valentine’s Day.  Are you ready to try a new twist on the chocolate cupcake this year?  Try these chocolate malt cupcakes.  They look pretty sweet and simple!

These cupcakes are simply amazing!  I actually don’t know if I could bring myself to eat one.

Find the book Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh My! by Alan Richardson and Karen Tack and you can get to work on some fashionably cute cupcakes.  Maybe these would make a good addition to your next girls’ night.  The decorating possibilities are endless.

Looking for some interesting cupcakes to take to a Superbowl party?  I’m not sure how I feel about Buffalo Chicken Wing cupcakes, but if there’s ever a good time for trying out something like this, then Superbowl Sunday would be the time.

Blue cheese and hot sauce make this cupcake unique among other cupcakes.  And, of course, the chicken wing that tops it all off.

All day I have felt like I am trapped in a giant snow globe.  Snow has finally arrived in Chicago and it has fallen continuously all day long.  So, in light of all this, I decided to Google snow globe cupcakes.  Here’s what I found.

These are really cute and would be especially fun for a detail-oriented person.  Find detailed directions on this blog.

These look a little more challenging (in my opinion).  This person bought a clear plastic ornament, cut off the end with a saw (that’s why I say challenging), sprayed the inside with water, and then swirled in some white decorating flakes to give it a snowy appearance.  The figures are made of fondant.

Either way, your cupcakes are sure to impress!

I have been looking for some healthy and creative ways to incorporate veggies into my picky baby’s diet.  After visiting the Whole Foods website, I think I have found the thing, and it just so happens to be in the form of a cupcake (though I will probably confiscate the frosting and eat it myself).  These carrot zucchini cupcakes incorporate both a green veggie and an orange veggie into a cupcake.  This recipe also adds additional nutrition by using whole wheat flour and replacing some of the oil with unsweetened applesauce.  I can’t wait to give these a try!

My son turned a year old this week, so of course I have been busy making cupcakes.  We chose to use the popular children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? as his party’s theme.  For example, we made “Red Bird’s Tomato Salsa”, “Blue Horse’s Blue Corn Chips”, “Black Sheep’s Black Bean Salsa”, “Brown Bear’s Party Mix”, “Goldfish’s Golden Cheese Dip” and my most favorite, “Yellow Duck’s Banana Quack-Cakes”.

Since my baby’s favorite food is bananas, I thought it was appropriate to make banana cupcakes.  I found this incredibly yummy recipe online.  The cupcakes were extremely moist and they were also super easy to make because you can just dump everything into one big bowl.  The cream cheese frosting was also very simple and delicious.  Most importantly, they were a winner with my son, who is oftentimes a very picky eater.  He loved these and ate up most of the cake!  I would describe these as a more sugary version of banana bread, and I would definitely make them again!

I love eating food off of a stick…shish kebabs, fruit kebabs, caramel apples, cake pops and the list goes on. For some reason it’s just more fun that way.  I’m sure that these snowmen cupcake skewers are no exception…they look very tasty and cute, the perfect treat to bring some cheer on a gloomy winter’s day.

Here in Chicago we still haven’t gotten much more than a dusting of snow this winter.  So, since I haven’t gotten the chance to go out and play in the white, fluffy stuff, I figured at the very least I could build some snowmen cupcakes.  These are super cute, and the really nice thing is that you can stay warm while building these snowmen!

Looking for the perfect treat to make with your kids on a snow day (or before they go back to school if they haven’t already)? These penguins sure are cute!

They are also very simple to make, which is a must for short attention spans.  Simply ice a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, place three chocolate cookie halves on top, add three small triangles of dried apricot for the beaks and feet, and stick on some mini m&ms for eyes. Adorable!

Yes, I realize that most of you have probably already unwrapped all those presents under the tree, but I couldn’t resist sharing this cute idea, sent to us by one of our readers.

Maybe this could work for some of you who are gathering together with extended family to celebrate Christmas a little late (like on New Year’s). Or, I suppose you could just ditch the Christmas theme and make it work for a birthday celebration.

Be sure to check out the video tutorial for help with making the bows.  It might take a little effort, but with just a little work you get a very impressive-looking cupcake!  Watching the video convinced me that even I could pull this off!