Friends ~

Saddened by the news yesterday from Oslo, I thought that our community could pay some tribute.  Around the Web I went, and did locate three blogs by Norwegian women with special cupcake recipes.

From “My Little Norway” comes the recipe for “Norwegian Vanilla Cupcakes.”  The site is rich with beautiful images of the Norway to which I traveled when I was about 12.

“The Transplanted Baker” offers the recipe for “Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes” with a funny narrative and many winter scenes from Norway.

And Umami Girl gives us “Norwegian Gold Cake with Sour Cream Ganache” with snapshots of her life and family in Norway.

Submitted with prayers for love and peace for children in Norway and all over the world. ~ The Cupcake Faerie

Love fudge?  Been eating hot fudge sundaes?  How about cooling down while heating up some “Lava Fudge Cupcakes” in your kitchen?

Lava Fudge Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake’s Sophie has a 2-minute video, courtesy of The Learning Channel, claiming to “reveal the secrets behind their famous Lava Fudge cupcake.”

While she doesn’t provide the recipe, Sophie does provide several excellent tips, from using apple corers to hollow out cupcakes before pouring in the fudge, to easy-pour tops for filling and decorating.

So I dug around the Internet at bit…and found the Georgetown Cupcakes recipe for their chocolate cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frostings with variations!  Add your own fudge and, “By George!  I think we’ve got it!”

You don’t have to be a lawyer (but I am) to enjoy this news flash:  Sprinkles Cupcakes has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in CT against Pink Sprinkles Cupcakes.  The claim?  Trademark infringement.  Here is the 10-page “Complaint,” the document that starts it all.

Copyright Me Cupcake Photo!

What is there to gab as part of the exclusive All Things Cupcake blog not found anywhere else?  Well, as to what matters to us, Sprinkles claims in paragraph 8 that it “plans on opening stores throughout the United States and around the world, including Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, London, and Paris.”  Magnifique!

My curiosity spun me around the US Patent & Trademark Office website.  “Sprinkles” produced 192 results, including “Magic Sprinkles,” “Serenity Sprinkles,” “Twisted Sprinkles,” “Garden Sprinkles,” and “Pet -,” “Kitty -,” and “Doggie Sprinkes.”  In fact, in 2002, before there was “Sprinkles” of Beverly Hills, there was “Sprinkles of Palm Beach”  – that is, until Sprinkles bought the assignment for that trademark.  (Don’t tell Sprinkles, but there is currently a “Sprinkles Ice Cream” in Palm Beach…)

Stay tuned as we track the Answer to the Complaint, due in from Pink Sprinkles within just a few days.

Oh, and just to be on the safe side…I’m not publishing photographs of cupcakes from either Sprinkles or Pink Sprinkles – here is one of my own!

Bonjour!  Aujourd’hui, nous sommes a Paris!  Good morning ~ today, we go to Paris.  On our week-long trip abroad for cupcakes, we’ve been to Spain and Holland, and now on to la belle France.

“Elo les Cupcakes” is the name of the blog and the recipes range from “cupcakes a la clementine et mousse au chocolat” – we all know “mousse au chocolat” – to “les croquants gingembre et caramel.”

Avec mousse au chocolat!

Just a moment on the “croquants gingembre et caramel” (croquants ginger and caramel).  The flavor ingredients are the crystalized ginger, caramels, and “golden syrup.”  In England, “golden syrup” means the brand Lyle’s.  It is sweeter, thicker, and smoother flowing than natural honey.  It is a processed sugar product.  You can use honey as a direct substitute.

A demain mes amis du cupcake!  Until tomorrow!

More in my week-long series, using foreign blogs for summer cupcake ideas.  Yesterday, we were speaking Spanish for super cute, beach umbrella cupcakes.  Today, we’re working in Dutch to figure out baking cupcakes in sea shells!

Sea Shell Cupcakes

Even if you’re land-locked in South Dakota, you can find sea shells for this recipe at cooking shops.  Primarily used for dishes like Coquilles Saint-Jacques, leave it to Carola Damen in Boskoop, Netherlands to think to use sea shells in lieu of cupcake wrappers!

And, take note that Carola starts the cupcake by placing an edible “pearl” under the cupcake batter and ends with chocolate sea shell decorations on top.  Carola makes use of edible body paint to achieve her silvers and golds.

If anyone speaks Dutch and would care to help us understand even more about the recipe, please let us know.

From these fleetingly hot days of summer in Upstate New York, I thought I’d take you on a getaway this week to go baking cupcakes in kitchens in foreign countries.  I’ve scouted out the bloggs for the best-looking cupcakes with photo instructions and recipes.

Summer Cupcakes

We start our tour with the cutest summer cupcakes on the planet!  How creative are these?  La Despensa Del Gnomo blog uses the universal image of the drink umbrella with fondants to create beach scenes, from towels to starfish to shovels.  The cupcakes are bottomed-off with palm tree wrappers.

Can any of our Spanish-speaking readers act as our translator tour guide?  One of the ingredients is that yum word “Nutella.”  But just how it fits into the cupcake is the question.

Do take a moment to click on her “cupcakes” category in the blog.  One of her recipes is for Papaya cupcakes – another great summer cupcake idea.  How fun to wander through foreign kitchens to bring their local flavors to our own!

It’s summer.  It’s hot.  The kids want a soda.  You want them to drink water, organic fruit juice, and local milk.

Orangina cupcakes

How about a compromise?

Coca Cola Cupcakes.  What if you win on the beverage and the kids win on taste?  Here’s a recipe for Coca Cola cupcakes that spreads 1C of soda through a dozen or more cupcakes.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes. Here is a super recipe for root beer float cupcakes with step-by-step photo instructions, including scooping off a section for a little scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Orangina Cupcakes. On this one, I have to confess, I’m an Orangina nut.  I’m going to be drinking any excess product while these Orangina cupcakes are baking.

And while you’re at it?  Use range free chicken eggs from the local farmer’s market.  They’ll thank you for it when they start baking for their kids!

Cupcake in a Cone!

Wow!  Here’s a novel idea:  it’s a cupcake in an ice cream cone!

Variations?

How about bubble gum cupcake, instead of bubble gum ice cream?  Turns out you can make bubble gum cupcakes using either bubble gum extract or bubble gum flavored soda.

Or, how about Oreo cookie cupcake, instead of Oreo cookie ice cream?  Bake it using the cookie, the cream, or both!

What’s your ice cream flavor and how can you turn into a cupcake in a cone?

Today, my friend Beth and I tried a little market research on cupcakes, going to Dollop, a local cupcakery.  A novel concept:  at Dollop, you pick your cupcake, your filling, your frosting, and your topping, and the cupcake is put together before your eyes.

Ice Cream & Cupcakes!

Beth asked for a chocolate cupcake with mint frosting and York Peppermint Patty topping.

I asked for a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting with dark chocolate bits as topping.

On the side?  That’s mint chocolate chip ice cream and mocha chip ice cream from our favorite local, Pittsford Dairy Farms.  All organic, Pittsford Farms Dairy uses milk and cream from their cows to make their ice cream.  The perfect accompaniment!

Do you have cupcake shops like this near you and what do you choose when you go there?

After the brilliant fireworks display provided last night at Sodus Point, NY, I thought I’d search out some fireworks cupcakes for your Fourth of July.

Here’s a nifty 3 minute video from Kitchen Daily, if you’re looking for a last minute idea this morning.  The start can be boxed cake mix and purchased frosting.  The ingredients suggested to decorate the tops are ones that you are likely to have around your kitchen, if you have kids in the house.  Easy!

Wilton's 4th of July cupcake tree

Here’s another quick tip from Wilton decorating supplies.  Vanilla cupcakes, iced in white, with little red, white, and blue toppers, stacked on a cupcake tree.  Festive!

One more quick tip?  How about using your thin push frosting in a drapped fashion?  This Food Snots blog photo is a third, super-quick, company’s-coming, and what-am-I-serving tip for the Fourth.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Fourth of July batter

Red, white, and blue profusion!  If the cupcake isn’t the ultimate Fourth of July treat for everyone in the family.

It took me a little while this evening to find a new twist to bring to the blog.  How about red, white, and blue batter from Baking Bites?  The complete recipe is included and looks Y-U-4thofJuly-MMY!  Did you know that you could layer cupcake batters to put this splash into the presentation?

And, just in case you’re buying, you’ll find Fourth of July specialty cupcakes going on at Sprinkles Cupcakes or try them at Magnolia’s Bakery or, well, just about every bakery in America!

On Thursday, June 30 from 4 pm – 6 pm, all Washington, D.C. military and their families are invited to “Cupcakes for Courage” at Hello Cupcake at their new location on Barracks Row (705 8th Street, S.E., WDC).  An R.S.V.P. is requested.

Hello Cupcake Goes Patriotic

According to the e-vite:  “Families will decorate patriotic themed cupcakes, meet with friends and celebrate Independence Day early.  Light fare from Matchbox Restaurant and Zest Bistro will be provided.”

Hello Cupcake is also serving charitable cupcakes from June 30 to July 4, when a portion of the proceeds from the sale of patriotic-themed cupcakes will be donated to Camp Desert Kids, a program under Military Families United that helps service members’ children.  This 2 minute YouTube video about this special camp will more than inspire you to participate in this fundraiser.

I recently discovered Fantasy Cupcakes on line, a lovely UK bakery that won a gold heart prize in the North West Fine Foods Awards, beating out 400 entries in the general foods competition.

Vegan Mudpie Cupcake

So I e-mailed Fantasy Cupcakes to ask for their secrets at taking a vegan cupcake into the mainstream.  The owner, Melinda, thought that the bitterness of the chocolate was the primary flavor of the cake and that it lingered on the palate.

Here’s a list of Melinda’s tips for vegan mud pie cupcakes:

• Use a little apple cider vinegar in the sponge batter instead of soya milk curdled with vinegar;
• Mix the wet ingredients together and fold in the dry ones; and,
• For the frosting, melt rich, dark chocolate mixed with soya cream, leave it to set, beat in a little powdered sugar until a firm(ish) spreading consistency is reached, spread onto the cupcake in a dome shape with a small palate knife, and dust with a good quality cocoa.

Melinda said the frosting recipe was an adaptation from a recipe for a vegan chocolate torte which was a family favorite for years.

For my two pence, I’d recommend using Cadbury’s cocoa powder.  It’s make in the UK and has more bite to it than its US Hershey counterpart.

LGM cupcakes

I remain an enthusiastic fan of Disney’s Toy Story series and its LGMs (the “Little Green Men”).  Here is the classic out-take of LGMs with “the claw.”

Needless to say, this recipe for LGM cupcakes is a keeper in my book.

In fact, this Disney family website has an entire section of recipes with several terrific cupcake recipes such as Lightning McQueen from “Cars,” Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Owl from “Winnie-the-Pooh,” panda bears from “Mulan,” and more.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake

Let’s chat on the subject of peanut butter cupcakes, like this lovely one from the Baker Street Bakery.

Smooth or chunky?

I have never met a peanut butter cupcake made with chunky peanut butter.  Have you?

Here’s a sampling of what I could find.  Some recipes create a peanut butter cupcake base and go so far as to say “smooth.”  Other recipes put the peanut butter in the frosting and indicate “creamy.”  Going over the top is a recipe that not only uses peanut butter, it also uses Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

And I did manage to find one recipe that specified “creamy or chunky.”

With a Rose, Mother

I’m glad that there are such places as La-Tea-Da Tea Room, where women and girls can get together, put on hats and frilly bits, and sit down to tea in proper teacups.

I have such fond memories of my mother serving various desserts on pretty, china plates, sitting with her lady friends at the diningroom table, and sharing light laughter.

This particular post is one to say thank you to my mom for those memories.  I selected this cupcake with a red rose on top as a way of sending a flower.  And, for the photograph, I paired it with the sugar and creamer from one of her dear friends, Dora, who has since passed.  Thanks, Mom. xx

"Strawberry Lime Daiquiri"

Ooooh!  About three weeks into blogging for this site, I finally have my Facebook and Twitter sufficiently loaded with cupcakeries that I’ve scored these yummy photographs from the Little Cake Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia.  These were just uploaded into Facebook in a new album titled “Test Kitchen.”

Who wants to report live on location to our cupcake community whether these cupcakes taste as good as they look and sound?

"Chocolate Curry with Coconut"

"Chocolate Ginger Toffee"

Little Baking Cup Dress

Kara Miller is taking cupcake art to the world of fashion.

For her Senior Art Gallery Show at Ramapo College (NJ), Miller created a dress called the “Little Baking Cup Dress,” made of hundreds of pink and white cupcake wrappers with Sarovski crystals sewn along the bust line.  Miller also made a tiara with royal icing and Swarovski crystals.

Crumbs' Apple Cobbler Cupcake

This just off the cupcake Tweet wire:  today only, Crumbs Bake Shop is asking you to help a family in need through the purchase of two cupcakes for $8 using NY Daily Deals.  I called their main office and you can also walk in to their Brooklyn Heights location to make an in store purchase, too – just let them know that you’re buying for the Bond family charity.

Elisa, 36, was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer on 2/23/2011 and – only 9-days earlier –  her husband Nathan, 38, was diagnosed with Stage III cancer.  Parents of an 18-month old little girl, Sadie, this family is now facing all things medical.

Here’s the blogspot, including a YouTube video put together by their friends.  Have a tissue ready, and then get on that Daily Deal or to the Brooklyn Heights Crumbs and let’s share the love of our cupcake community.

Crumbs Bake Shop – Brooklyn Heights location
109 Montague Street, Brooklyn
(718) 935-9600

What’s in a label?  We all know the answer to that question:  jobs.

So I started to wonder if the cupcake industry should be declared the gold star of American business for creating local jobs.  Cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe Bakery in Raleigh to the Little Cake Bakery in Atlanta are baked fresh daily in our local bakeries.  This part of the argument seemed easy enough.

But are supplies made in the USA also easy to find?

Cupcake Couture

How about these lovely cupcake holders from House on the Hill, made in Seattle Washington, that they put on their website under “Cupcake Couture?”  Or, check out Wedding Fads for their baking supplies, like cupcake stands the size of wedding cakes – all made in the USA.  Global Sugar Art has a multi-page list of supplies, including lovely, lacey cupcake wrappers that are laser cut in the USA.

Just by adding “made in the USA” to your search strings for supplies and suppliers, you can join in the patriotic parade.

From Pinkalicious to Strawberry Shortcake, there seems to be a domination of cupcake images with pink and with girls.  On June 21, you can even tune in to season two of Canada’s “The Cupcake Girls.”

But says who?

Jackson loves cupcakes!

I have certainly never known a boy to turn up his nose at a cupcake and say, “Ew!  That’s for girls!”  See, for example, my proof of the same:  a photograph of Jackson eating one of my homemade cupcakes.

According to Jackson’s mother, when asked for his opinion on the matter, Jackson definitely had one, and it went something like this:

Nancy:  Do boys like cupcakes more than girls?

Jackson:  Boys.

Nancy:  Why?

Jackson:  I think some girls might be allergic to them.

So there you have it from the expert!

Hostess Snack Cakes.  Gotta love their cupcakes.  Golden.  Chocolate.  Orange.  Fondant-y icing.  Seven, white squiggles down the middle.  Vanilla creme frosting in the middle.  Wrapped in plastic.  Mass producted.

Hostess is big business.  Hostess Brands, which owns Hostess Snack Cakes, employs 21,000 people in 39 bakeries in 41 states across the U.S.A.  (In case you’re interested:  they’re hiring.)

Hostess is still celebrating its February 2011 launch of the strawberry cupcake, so it’s not too late for you to vote for your favorite Hostess cupcake and get a chance to win $25,000 and other, daily prizes.

According to the Hostess Director of Marketing, “Hostess sets the standard for timeless treats that are loved from generation to generation.”  So just how many Hostess cupcakes do Americans eat every year?  600,000,000.  And it’s Memphis, Tennessee that’s the Hostess cupcake eating capital of the Hostess empire.

Cake Mixes or Cupcake Mixes?

Is the only difference between a ‘cake’ and a ‘cupcake’ the wrapper?

I’ll tell you why I’m asking.  I am probably 50/50 on making cupcakes from scratch and making cupcakes from a box.  But, now that I’m blogging, I’m rethinking everything.

So, when I pulled out a Pillsbury box from my cupboard, I noticed the picture of the cake.  It took me to the baking aisle at my local Wegman’s grocery store, where I found that every box mix pictures a cake.  There wasn’t a single cupcake promo among them.  And, on the Pillsbury website, they don’t even list their cake mixes and frostings among their products.

Pursuing this further, I found a poll on Quibblo of whether a cupcake and a cake are the same thing, but only 9 people have answered (8 yes, 1 no).  WikiAnswers wasn’t much of an analysis.

And, while doing my research, I bumped into this:  the world’s record for a cupcake is 150.7 pounds!  Now how is that still a ‘cupcake’?

Mojito Cupcake

By now, you have probably all seen or read the news that two cupcake “recipes” were used in an MI6 British Secret Intelligence cyberattack of an al-Qaeda e-zine.  What I read several days ago and took as a bit of humor in The Guardian, a British newspaper, has now become worldwide news.

So I thought:  what recipes?

According to United Press International, the two recipes used were from Main Street Cupcakes (Hudson, OH).

Wrong.  The two, specific cupakes used in the cyberattack were the “mojito cupcake” and the “rocky road cupcake.”  Yes, the mojito is from Main Street Cupakes and it’s a “white rum cake with hints of mint and lime covered in vanilla buttercream with a Mojito buttercream garnish.”  But, the “rocky road cupcake” is from Cupcake (Charleston, SC), and it’s “dark chocolate cake plus chocolate icing with toasted almonds.”  This I found out by locating the original .pdf from the Ellen Degeneres show parodied by MI6.

What I did not find were “recipes.”

We may have to file this report of recipes from “The Best Cupcakes in America” entering the public domain under “false intelligence.”

Magnolia Bakery (c Sam Dow)

Let the cupcake wars begin!

Magnolia Bakery – of Sarah Jessica Parker fame – is about to face some serious competition from Georgetown Cupcake – of DC Cupcake fame.  The official announcement, made June 7, forecasts the opening of the NYC store in winter 2011.

Can anyone weigh in on who will win this war?

Will it be Magnolia with their “delicately textured lemon cupcake filled with a tart lemon cream and topped with lemon meringue buttercream,” now on its second owner, having already been sold once since its 1996 opening in Greenich Village?  Or will it be sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne with their “Valrhona chocolate cupcake with a whipped Callebaut chocolate frosting topped with a fondant flower” at the shop in SoHo?

If the yumminess of website photographs is factor to handicap this competition, my money is on Katherine & Sophie.