Today is a good day to be a Texan!  Starting today through October 29th, Luby’s gourmet Halloween cupcakes will be available for preorder at Luby’s locations throughout Texas and at Luby’s website.  (Sorry, cupcakes will not be shipped and must be picked up!) 

A half-dozen homemade cupcakes costs $3.99.  The cupcakes are available in double chocolate and yellow cake with vanilla cream frosting.  Luby’s promises “spooky accents.” Orders need to be placed 48 hours in advance.

“Luby’s gourmet cupcakes are the best in Texas,” said Chris Pappas, CEO of Luby’s, Inc.

You can also visit Luby’s on Facebook.

Pizzazzerie recently had a Cupcake Skewer Contest, the deadline for which has since past, but designs are still relevant to the Halloween season. The winning cupcake skewers were Black Magic Cupcakes, created by Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats.

While she did not win the contest, The Decorated Cookie still created bright, festive Halloween cupcakes that impressed me!  Below are The Decorated Cookie’s instructions for creating Halloween cupcake skewers but for

additional directions, Pizzazzerie has a How to Make Cupcake Skewers post.

Read the rest of this entry »

Be the hit of any Halloween party with these cupcake sleeves from Roundabout Sleeves!  Transform your cupcakes into (possibly scary) works of art in about 2 seconds!  One dozen sleeves costs $8.99.  Your cupcakes will be almost too cool to eat!

I find the images of Belle and Boo to be absolutely adorable.  One of my favorites is the Happy Halloween print where Boo is inside a Jack-O-Lantern and Belle is dressed up like a cat.  I was excited when I came across these Halloween Parade Cupcake Wrappers available on their Etsy site. Ten decorative wrappers, which are not meant to be baked in, come in a pack for $9.50.  Belle and Boo also sells matching invitations.

Decapitated Head Cupcake by PepsiNZ

I think I need to explain myself!

Well I was cruising Flickr today when I stumbled upon this rather gross cupcake by PepsiNZ.  Actually it is a very funny mix of really awful and really cute, the face is adorable!  But it would make the most awesome Halloween cupcake, especially that is if you have older boys!

She is quite talented with her cupcake creations, but before you race off and check out her photostream, be warned it is not all G rated!

Organize.com offers a selection of cupcake baking items for Halloween they have sprinkles, stencils, liners and more.  One item that I like is the set of 12 silicone cupcake molds with halloween designs.  With cute spiderwebs, bats, witches, ghosts, cats, and caldrons, the $20.99 set is a nice alternative to paper liners.

*Tip: if you buy these, bake in them once or twice before Halloween.  This will ensure the cupcakes come out of the molds easily.  When I bought my molds I didn’t realize how important this was!

Our Halloween cupfake set winner is Erin!  Check out her sweet comments: 

 Erin
Cakery Fakery is my favorite Etsy shop! I’m surprised my laptop still works after all the drool I get on it when looking at the cupfakes. lol! 

It’s a tough choice but I think my favorite has to be the Christmas Candyland cupfake. I’d love to see a cupfake with cute little bunnies on it. Oh~ or maybe for Halloween one with evil bunnies. :D Or peeps candy! lol, sorry I’m getting too many ideas. 

Congratulations! Please send your mailing address to [email protected].   Special thanks to The Cakery Fakery for sponsoring this week’s giveaway.

Layer Cake Shop has two fun cupcake kits for halloween.  The zombie cupcake kit includes 24 black and green cupcake liners, white bone sprinkles, royal icing eyes, and assorted zombie cupcake toppers.  Similarly the Halloween cupcake kit has cupcake liners, assorted cupcake toppers, orange sprinkles, royal icing pumpkins, and pumpkin bakery labels.

Be sure to look around the site, they have lots of other cupcake decorating products for Halloween and other occasions!

Have you entered this week’s cupfake giveaway from the Cakery Fakery?
If not, click here!

Montrose Cakes by Grace are known to come up with some pretty fantastic cupcake design ideas, and when I saw their Halloween collection I was delighted!  These cupcakes all work so well individually or together. Death looks stunning as always!  By clicking on either image you can see all the cupcakes close up on Flickr.

I am sooooo looking forward to Halloween this year, so many cool ideas and cupcakes to experiment with!

Check out these amazingly decorated cupcakes from Land O’Lakes!

Follow this link for recipe – Halloween Hoot Owl Cupcakes

These are so cute and inventive. Perfect for Halloween or any owl lovers, I know a few.

Maybe you can make these and pass them out for Halloween dressed up as a owl?

Cayenne Chocolate Cupcake by Carpe Cupcakes!

National Cupcake Day was way back in March, so it’s about time for another cupcake holiday, right?  I’m pretty sure that National Chocolate Cupcake Day wasn’t created by an act of Congress, but if Cupcakes Take the Cake and National Food Holidays say it’s a holiday, that’s good enough for me.

In case chocolate isn’t your thing, National Angel Food Cake Day is October 10th, National Dessert Day is October 14th, National Candy Corn Day is October 30th, the third Saturday in October is Sweetest Day, and of course there’s Halloween. October has plenty of good reasons to bake and enjoy delicious cupcakes!

Every year, we here at ATC try to provide you with the latest and cutest cupcake costumes.  This year in my search for great new cupcake costumes I have come across a few cupcake costumes that are definitely more grown up.  I know not everyone will be interested in these cupcake related costumes, especially since they are not actual cupcakes, but there might be a reader out there who was looking for just this type of costume.

Cupcake Cutie Costume $56.95

Last Halloween we shared with you two options of Martha Stewart cupcake liners available at Michael’s Craft Stores.  This year, the Martha Stewart website offers 4 different designs for standard size liners and two additional options for mini cupcakes!  The prices vary depending on the design with some images, for example the vampire icon or blood spatter wrappers, costing as little as $2.47 for a package of 48 wrappers. Or the most expensive designs include the Happy Halloween mini wrappers which cost $9.40 for 96 wrappers in two designs.

Skull & Crossbones, Spider, Bat & More Stencil Kit

Martha Stewart also offers two options for stencil kits to decorate your cupcakes.  One version is the Vampire Cupcake Stencils which is only $3.93.  Or for $27.99 there is the Skull & Crossbones, Spider, Bat & More Stencil Set. Happy Halloween cupcake decorating!

Looking for a fun idea for Halloween cupcakes, but don’t want to sacrifice flavor?  Then hop on over to The Swell Life to see how it’s done!  Alexa Westerfield, the creator of The Swell Life is a graphic designer by day and a craft addict by night, and obviously, an expert cupcaker. 

You will need: 
– 1/2 cup butter, softened
– 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
– 2 eggs
– About 1 teaspoon orange powdered food coloring
– 1 cup buttermilk
– 2 1/2 cups White Lily all-purpose flour (sifted 3 times)
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 1 teaspoon orange extract
– 1 tablespoon vinegar
– 1 teaspoon soda Read the rest of this entry »

My sister has always loved candy corns; so much so that my mom even made her a candy corn costume one year for Halloween.  When I saw these cupcakes I immediately thought of my sister and I think I’ll have to make them for her this year! The Curvy Carrot created these candy corn frosted cupcakes which are great because they are so simple yet festive!

Read the rest of this entry »

Mini and regular cupcake liners $3.95-4.95 per set

Thursday the latest Crate & Barrel catalog came in the mail and after looking through it I had to stop buy my local store.  I could not resist buying some of their Halloween items, especially since I know I will be baking cupcakes for Halloween! Don’t wait to long if you’re interested in buying these items, the sale’s associate told me the spider cupcake holders are going fast!

Spider Cupcake Holder, $1.95 each or 6 for $8.95

My great friend Anne just shared this awesome cake she ordered from her Target bakery for her son’s seventh birthday.  The party had a mad science theme and the beaker pull-apart cupcake cake was a perfect fit.  This would be a great cake to make for a Halloween party too.   I wish my local Target had a bakery!

Happy Birthday Avery!

Feeling down about another blah Monday? Well, this colorful giveaway should cheer you up!  This week we are introducing you to fabulous Etsy crafter, Red Elm Designs. They specialize in unique handmade crayons. With over 100 different designs, it was hard for me to choose my favorites, but here are a few Fall ones you have to see:

Wouldn’t these be perfect party favors for your Halloween party?  In addition to these crayons, they also have many, many cupcake crayons to choose from.  This week Red Elm Designs is giving away 6 colorful cupcake crayons to one oh-so-lucky ATC fan! 

I personally own and love these little beauties too!  To enter this giveaway, go to Red Elm Designs and have a nice look around.  Then come back here to ATC and click on the comment area below.  Tell us your favorite crayon and what type of crayon you think Red Elm should make next.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, September 27th.  Thanks Red Elm Designs for sponsoring this colorful giveaway!

Make sure to become a fan of Red Elm Designs on Facebook too!

During a recent stop in Borders I, of course, had to check out the cookbook section.  One of the books I came across was titled A Zombie ate My Cupcake: 25 Deliciously Weird Cupcake Recipes.  The graphic horror comic/illustrated cookbook is great for Halloween cupcake ideas because author Lily Vanilli is known for making gruesome yet gorgeous cakes! The book offers tips and directions for using fondant, piped icing, marzipan, gum paste, and more.

The book is available at borders locations or through their website.  Amazon offers the book for as little as $8.39 and be sure to check Vanilli’s website for book signing and demo days throughout the month of October.

If you are looking for something a little different to the gory blood covered cupcakes, spiders and worm cupcakes and witches hats that we love to create around Halloween, then why not try these Halloween Cupcake Toppers? They are a great alternative and are super simple and ultra effective, even from across the room!  Kids Parties features a step by step how to on these at DIY Ideas.

My wonderful sister-in-law, Holly, called my this week to excitedly tell me about this new adult cupcake costume she found in Costume Express.  How awesome is this at only $46.99?!  I think it’s more of a sexy cupcake costume  and you might need to wear a little something underneath or you might reveal more than you planned!

   They also had a child’s version for $34.99.  Both are brand new and aren’t available until September 22nd.   

I also found this adorable cupcake candy bag and costume from Pottery Barn.  The costume is $59 and the matching bag is only $14.  So stinkin’ cute!

So what are your sweet (or spooky!) costume plans this year?

We all have just under 2 months to start brainstorming and making costumes for Halloween for us and our loved ones, we all better get cracking!

If you have a young child who loves to bake and loves to dress up, then I have the perfect costume for you!

Kids Cupcake Chef Costume from Better Homes and Gardens

What do you plan on being for Halloween?

It is never too early to begin thinking about your Halloween costume. PBteen has a cupcake costume available in small, medium, or large for $69.00.  The costume includes the cupcake body and headpiece and currently has free shipping.

Nomskulls - Silicon Skull Cupcake Molds by Fred & Friends

If I did “Nerdcake Product of the Week”, Nomskulls would be top of the list in the category.  These cutie-skull molds come four in a box for $12 from Fred & Friends (though you’ll have to go to Amazon or Pop Deluxe to actually buy them).  F&F also includes a recipe for the squiggly brain frosting shown on the above nomskullcake:

FRED’S BRAINY FROSTING

• 1 recipe for vanilla frosting (or a store-bought tub)
• confectioners’ sugar (for stiffer frosting )
• red or black food coloring (or both)
• pastry bag and a large round tip (#12 works well)

Add confectioners’ sugar to the frosting until it‘s stiff enough to hold its form, yet still soft enough to pipe. To the frosting add food coloring(s) to reach desired color. If your cupcakes aren’t dome shaped, pile on a small mound of frosting first. Then pipe two lines down the center of the cupcake. Finally, pipe a squiggly pile of frosting onto each “hemisphere”. Mmmm…brains.