I spent way too much time this morning on a colossal cupcake fail. I was trying to do the Wilton Rose, but all I got were wilted dandelions. Finally, I gave up and went to youtube for some help. Probably should have done that before I frosted two dozen cupcakes. Sigh. Anyway, I found this great video, though I had to watch it in slow motion. One of my problems was the consistency of my frosting. Too stiff won’t work. Neither will too soft. Of course, if you’re smart enough to use premade decorating frosting, then you don’t need to worry about that! So, here’s your professional tutorial!

If you didn’t see something you liked in earlier this week’s Halloween themed cupcake toppers maybe one of these other fun, free printable toppers will be more your style.  I Heart Naptime’s toppers feature simple patterns and the phrase “trick or treat.”  Paper Squid’s freebies also include cake pop decorations.

Image via Paper Crave

Looking for some free printable cupcake toppers?  We Love to Illustrate has put together a collection of printable Halloween themed cupcake toppers, free for personal use!  I came across this blog post via Paper Crave’s Free Printable Halloween Goodies, 2011 Edition post.  There are a total of seven designs to choose from, my favorites are by Bee and Tamara Henderson!

 Cupcakes in the bathroom? Why not! 

This week’s giveaway sponsor is I’m With Cupcake and I am in love with their shop.  It is devoted to party items and all things cupcake.   They describe their shop as, “A place where the word cupcake is redefined to mean more than a small cake.  Here, cupcake means anything cute, fun, kitsch, and clever.”   I am really trying hard not to be jealous about this week’s prize!  How adorable is this cupcake soap dispenser?

 I’m With Cupcake is filled with sweet items that make great gifts for a loved one, or yourself.  Here are a few of my favs:

To enter this week’s giveaway, click on the comment area below and tell us what you think a cupcake is.  You can give us a literal meaning or just what it means in your life.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, October 24.  Make sure to sign up for I’m With Cupcake emails on their homepage to receive coupon codes and sale notices.

Also follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook.

Thank you I’m With Cupcake!

A big thanks to Zombie Wagon for letting us share these eerily awesome cupcake photos with our ATC readers! Yummy and deadly!

Check out these skull and crossbones cupcake wrappers from My Little Love, Sweet Party Supplies.  I like the skulls inside the paisley’s which makes for a pretty yet spooky wrapper that will look great on any Halloween dessert table.  Twelve wrappers come in a package for $10.00.  My Little Love has lots of other wrappers and fun Halloween party supplies like the 36” jack-o-lantern balloon!

Thank you to all who entered this great giveaway!  Here is our winner:
Whitney McMillin
I will decorate my cupcakes with fat strips of white frosting, cris crossing over the cake with eyes peeking out from under! Mummy cupcakes are the best!

Hopefully you will send us a photo of your completed mummy-cakes! Please email your mailing address to [email protected]. Thanks also to Peter Pauper Press for sponsoring this giveaway!

These creepy cupcake delights are from Ninas Kleiner Food Blog. The blog is in German, but the pictures tell the story!

For all of you candle lovers out there or for those that just enjoy their homes smelling fragrant and wonderful Scentsy provides warmers in a vast array of colors, styles, and designs. These warmers contain a light bulb inside that heats pieces of fragrance bars and disperses amazing scents (of your choice of course, Scentsy warmers are similar to tart burners just without the candle and the mess). Last month Scentsy introduced this new mid-size warmer…a cupcake!

Thanks to a good friend of mine, I am a proud owner of this adorable Scentsy warmer! If you have never tried Scentsy I recommend that you do, it is wonderful! You can learn more about Scentsy or find a consultant in your area to purchase this cupcake warmer from by visiting www.scentsy.net.

**Please note that when clicking to visit www.scentsy.net you may be directed to a page to choose your language, if this occurs click your preferred language and then from there you will be taken to their homepage.**

Over the years Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays.  I love the cooler weather, the colors and decorations, and most importantly the desserts.  If I was going to a Halloween party this year I would without a doubt be making these buried skeleton cupcakes!  I can just see little boys loving and little girls being grossed out by these cupcakes with decapitated skeletal parts!  These cupcakes are actually pretty easy to make once you find the little skeletons.  Add crushed chocolate wafers to your chocolate frosted cupcakes and you have the dirt.  For detailed directions visit Holidash!

Happy Fall cupcake fans!  Here in the East we have seen the temperature dropped quickly and it really does seem Fall-like outside!  Here on ATC we are showing our love of Fall by bringing you a perfect little Autumn giveaway.  One lucky fan will receive this Halloween Cupcake kit from Peter Pauper Press.   Each kit includes: 24 colorful cupcake liners, 24 Halloween cupcake toppers (4 designs of 6 each), 6 different pastry tips, connector, pastry bag, and 32-page mini-book packed with simple decorating instructions for each design, as well as cake and frosting recipes.  I have the spider cupcake kit shown below and I love how the little recipe book tells you exactly how to make the cupcakes.  No shopping around for the perfect liners or picks, they came in the box!  I can choose to make them creepy or cute- I have all the supplies I need!

To enter this giveaway, click on the comment area below and tell us how you like to decorate Fall cupcakes.  Spiders or skulls?  Candy corn or cats?  Tell us what your cuppies will look like!  One winner (US residents only please) will be chosen on Monday, October 10th.  Thanks again to Peter Pauper Press for sponsoring this spook-tacular giveaway!

I agree with Carrie from Half Baked, I’m not a fan of rushing the holiday season but since Halloween products have been out since August I am ready for fall and Halloween!  I love these cupcake liner witch hats that Carrie came up with.  I usually choose decorations that are simple, easy, timesaving and impressive.  These witch hats are just that, there is no labor intensive decorating involved.  The complete instructions are on Half Baked and by complete I mean 5 steps!

With cupcakes growing in popularity over the past few years, many people have been substituting cupcakes for cakes at large functions.  Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries- all with cupcakes as the main dessert and centerpiece.  And that is where cupcake towers have blossomed in popularity as well.   They display your cuppies without taking up a lot of space. 

Our giveaway this week is from Penguin Cupcake Towers.  One winner will get to choose either the Humboldt or the Emperor Cupcake stand.  The true beauty of these stands is that they are made to be decorated to match your event theme.  Spray paint it, cover it with ribbon, flowers, fabric, glitter- whatever you want! 

To enter this giveaway, click on the comment area below and tell us how you would decorate your cupcake tower if you won.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, September 19th.  Thank you Penguin Cupcake Towers!

My daughter has discovered, much to my dismay, a new interest in Spiderman. So, on a quest to make this as painless as possible for me, I decided to turn her new hobby into a cupcake. While trying to figure out how to do this, I found this uber-neat idea from Crave Bakery.

Since I saw this Wilton decorating bag holder on Oh Hello Friend, You Are Loved I have been thinking about buying it, especially because its under $12.00.  It would not only be helpful in the kitchen while decorating cupcakes but it’s also great for using at parties.  I love that Danni painted hers (pictured left)with chalkboard paint and wrote the frosting flavors directly on the stand.  At the same even Danni used a cupcake pan to display the sprinkles.  These are great creative ideas for taking the baking supplies out of the kitchen and into the party!

Do you have a sweet tooth? I know I do!  I think it’s almost a requirement for cupcake fans to have a pretty big sweet tooth. I love these creative Sweet Tooth Cupcakes by who other than Erica from Sweet Tooth! How fitting! She also made these Mickey Mouse Cupcakes we blogged about in March.  She comes up with some very creative ideas! I think these tooth cupcakes are super cute and really look like teeth except they look good enough to eat! In her post she shares her recipe for marshmallow fondant and the directions for how to make these cupcakes.

If it weren’t for Betty Crocker, my family would starve, so I was pretty excited to discover The Big Book of Cupcakes! This soon-to-be-classic cookbook offers 175 cupcakes, most of which are simple reciples using common ingredients. Many of the recipes can be done using cake mixes and store-bought frosting, and of course, they can all be made from scratch for all you ambitious bakers out there! There’s also a chapter dedicated to kids’ parties. Here’s a sample tease for you, the Chocolate Moose Cupcake:

I went to a gorgeous wedding the other day and was treated to gorgeous homemade cupcakes. Check them out!

This is such a cute idea, and Wilton.com gives you the instructions you need to make it doable. So gear up for one more round of summertime cupcakes!

I love these trendy cupcake toppers by Fiskars.  The bright colors make them really fun and after reading the directions they seem easy to make if you have the right tools.  My favorite are the pinwheels although I know the mustache toppers are really popular right now.

Is it possible to cupcake topping your way to happiness?

Let’s start with the basics:  a white cupcake with a white frosting.  Vanilla-on-vanilla, and I’m going to add a little vanilla ice cream.  Vanilla signals simple, uncomplicated, neat, cool enjoyment.

Put mini M&Ms on that same vanilla-on-vanilla cupcake, and it’s a game changer!  It’s not just adding the chocolate of the candies.  It’s adding everything associated with rainbow-colored M&Ms, like childhood, blue skies, remembering the brown ones, and even reminiscing about UK Smarties.

Likewise, take the Crumbs Bake Shop cupcake “Good Guy.”  How do I know, just by looking at it that it will be good?  It’s vanilla cupcake, vanilla frosting, rainbow sprinkles, and white drizzle.  Think Glinda, the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz.

Or, how about tye die and peace sign cupcakes at Cupcakes by Carousel?  Now there’s a sure-fire way to make me smile.  I don’t even think that there’s a flavor associated with this visual, but it signals to my whole being:  “Don’t worry – be happy!”

Cupcake with a smiley face, anyone?

Pop Tarts were always a last minute, rushed breakfast option when I was growing up.  Even though they lack nutritional value they were always delicious!  Continuing with the breakfast cupcake posts, these Pop Tart Cupcakes by Cookies and Cups look amazing!  According to the directions you simply hollow out a vanilla cupcake, fill with strawberry preserves and top with buttercream frosting.  Garnish the frosted cupcakes with a swirl of strawberry preserves and sprinkles and you have your strawberry pop tart cupcakes.  I wonder what other pop tart flavors could be transformed into cupcakes.

Last week we brought you a great giveaway from ATC sponsor The Smart Baker and this week they are giving something to every one of our sweet fans!  Not only are they having a special summer sale in their shop, but they are giving an extra 15% off your total purchase.  Just type “ATC15” at checkout between now and August 5th.  Thanks Smart Baker! 
 

I recently took my kids to the zoo, and I wish I’d found this Flickr photo first, as it inspired me to create the perfect take-along treat. It also inspired me as an easy decorating idea that I can do in a jiffy.

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.