Is it too early to be thinking about the holiday cards you will be sending out this year?  It seems as though the second you finish your Thanksgiving leftovers someone is sending out their holiday cards.  I know in my family my mom waits until the last minute to send out her cards but why not get ahead and order these beautiful cupcake letterpress cards by Parrot Design Studio.  A set of six cards that reads “Peace Love Cupcakes” costs $15.00 or you can purchase an individual card for $4.00. And remember you need time for the cards to be shipped to you and then to your recipients.

I can’t believe how quickly the holiday season is approaching!  All the stores are stocked with their holiday merchandise which means its time to start hunting for fun cupcake finds.  This year is one of my friends first years having her own tree and she has already expressed a desire to have a themed Christmas tree.  Have you heard of anyone doing these?  Basically my friend wants to have a “sweet tree,” where all the ornaments, garland, and even the star on top is a dessert or candy.  I think these Martha Stewart Collection Christmas mini cupcake ornaments which come in a box of three would be perfect for her tree.  They are available from Macy’s for $17.00.

Over the past few years we here at ATC have shared several candy corn cupcake ideas.  We started with the idea of dying the cupcake batter yellow and orange and layering them to look like a candy corn.  The next year we showed you that you could take any cupcake and frost it to look like a candy corn by piping white, yellow, and orange frosting on top. This year we take it one step further, dark chocolate cupcakes with a candy corn inside!  The Sugar Turntable came up with the fun and festive idea, as she says in her description, the dark chocolate cupcake combined with the candy corn colors just screams fall and Halloween!

The directions for how to make these awesome cupcakes are included in her original post but while at the website check out her other Halloween tutorials.  The tutorials include  instructions for the fun boneyard cupcakes shown to the right, would you believe marshmallows and pretzels are used to make them?

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!

Do you have a little princess in your life that loves to dress like a girly girl? 

Are bows, flowers, sequins and jewels a part of your day to day life? 

Well, then this week’s giveaway is for you!  Posh Little Tutus makes the cutest tutus and girly accessories I have ever seen.  My little cupcake has this tutu (with a matching bow!) and it is the envy of all her playdates!  It is so well made and the colors are amazing. 

Posh Little Tutus also sells unique headbands, shoes, clips and dresses.  Your little one will be posh from head to toe! Check out a few adorable cupcake items for their shop. 

This week Posh Little Tutus are giving away a $25 gift certificate to their shop.  To enter this giveaway, visit their site then come back to ATC and tell us your favorite Posh item.  One winner will be chosen on Monday September 5.  Thanks Posh Little Tutus!

Follow them on Facebook too!

It happens every year, most people have just barely finished their back to school shopping and stores already have their Halloween merchandise out.  That is how I found out about these $10.00 Halloween decorative cupcakes that my mom spotted at her local TJMaxx/Homegoods and shared with me via text .  While it seems early to be buying Halloween decorations (it’s not even fall yet), I will admit that I am ready for some pumpkin cupcakes!

Did you know today, Thursday August 25th, is National Banana Split Day?  Join in the celebration and make one of these Banana Split Cupcake recipes from Tastespotting!

It’s hard to believe that fall, and Labor Day, are almost here again, but you can soften the blow with a cupcake. Georgetown Cupcake will be offering the Labor Day cupcake in several flavors, including red velvet. (Need I say more?) It might be the best investment you’ll make this year!

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!

Happy Father’s Day to all the cupcake loving dads!  Do you need a last minute Father’s Day cupcake idea? How about these lawnmower coconut cupcakes that Kiss My Spatula tweeked from Martha Stewart.  Made from died coconut and a variety of candy you’ll be able to easily find the ingredients at your local grocery store.

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Mother’s Day is next weekend which means you need to hurry and buy this cupcake card for your mom!  Mr. Boddington’s Studio has designed this lovely Mother’s Day card that’s available on their website.  Why not make mom’s day and bake her cupcakes to match the card?

With Easter just passed, I have to share one fantastic reader contribution.  These are simply amazing.

This is a cupcake tree created by Trish from Sweetology.  She says “Are you like me and look at everything and say….how can I use that object with/for/on my cupcake??”

Well this tree seemed to just appeal to her and the results are amazing!

Looking for an Easter gift for the cupcake lover you know?  How about these gourmet chocolate Easter eggs from Norman Love.  The chocolate eggs come in a variety of flavors including vanilla cupcake which is sweet cream and vanilla frosting ganache mixed with tiny cake pieces in a white chocolate shell.  The chocolates come in special egg shapes as part of their Easter Collection and are available in several package sizes including 5, 9, 10, 15, 25, and 50 piece boxes, ranging in price from $13.00 to $95.00.

What else this Easter would you rather be than a bunny??  And with these colorful easter themed easter cupcakes from Keira’s Cakes how can you argue?!  I love the purple carrot cupcakes, and personally I don’t think there would be a sweeter or nicer way to eat a whole raw carrot, than these lovely icing ones on top of a fantastic moist and delightful cupcake!

Easter is upon us and we are all trying to figure out how to incorporate all things Easter with our cupcake making. Well, if you haven’t figured out how you are going to do it then look no further. I have found exactly what you need.

I found these great Easter Cupcake items at Chef Tools. They are all items from the amazing stationary company Meri Meri.

Easter Bunny Cupcake Kit

Easter Bunny Cupcake Holders

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Is Easter late or early??

Well it can be both!

Technically Easter is really late this year, I struggle to remember when it happened so far through April!  But it can also be early, in that I am bringing you a few Easter ideas today!  Two cool ideas that you can create at home… well even if you can’t you can let them inspire you for your own holiday celebrations!

This is a super cute idea, placing a chocolate bunny inside a sugar basket atop a cupcake. This fantastic creation is by Yummy Mummy.

These little chicks are fantastic. These are from the wonderfully creative and also surprising Hoosier Homemade!

Is it too early to start thinking about summer cupcakes?  I mean Spring is only just starting to bloom, but if you are planning a wedding then you probably will be well on the way to deciding!

So today I thought I would bring a bit of a summer wedding collective!  But if you are not getting married, don’t despair, each of these also make great general summer cupcakes, so book mark them for when the weather warms up!

Love this cool summer color palette, bright blues and vivid sea green, with lots of wedding white. Simply perfect cupcakes from Bella Cupcakes. Also I love the use of the sea urchin!

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I saw these on TasteSpotting and was immediately attracted to the bright colors, which are perfect for spring!  Love From The Oven created these peep cupcake push pops after seeing CupKate’s Event Design’s version.  CupKate’s Etsy page is also where you can purchase the disposable push pop containers for $0.95 each.  With Easter just around the corner and peeps coming in every color I think these cupcakes would be great for school parties!

Do you subscribe to Hello Cupcake, What’s Newsletter? If you don’t, you might want to consider it.  The authors of two great cupcake books, Hello Cupcake! and What’s New, Cupcake? have an online newsletter where they send emails once a month; Which is nice because you are not overwhelmed with emails.  Each month’s email contains a recipe and decorating instructions for cupcakes that fit that month’s major holiday or major event (January was Superbowl cupcakes).  This month’s Blarney Stone Cupcakes recipe ties into St. Patrick’s Day.  I love that everything on the cupcakes are edible, including the Blarney stones which are breakfast treats and shamrocks which are rolled spearmint.  Below you will find the recipe for the cupcakes but for more tips on how to roll the shamrocks, you’ll have to look at the technique of the month page.

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DIY cupcake toppers seem to be everywhere!  Here’s a cute free printable Saint Patrick’s Day cupcake toppers that TomKat Studio blogged last year; of course it could be used this year! To download the toppers, which include three other images, head over to TomKat Studio’s blog.  Be sure to look around their site while you’re there, they have lots of other cupcake related freebies!

I just found these at One India Living, and couldn’t believe how fast and simple they are to make! No fondant needed, just unwrap a bite size candy bar, and “insert” it into cupcake. Then frost around the candy bar. You an also use frosting to stick facial features to the candy bar. These cupcake artists used jelly beans for eyes and nose, and m&m’s for ears and stache, but you use just about anything. A crushed Oreo serves as “dirt” from the groundhog’s hole. Too cute!

Happy Groundhog Day! Enjoy the rest of winter, ahem, I mean, spring!

Groundhog day is one of those holidays you get excited about as a kid but as an adult you seem to forget about; at least I know I do.  But since tomorrow’s Groundhog Day it’s the perfect excuse to bake cupcakes, more specifically  to make these Groundhog Day cupcakes by Lilly Jane.  I found this recipe via Hip Hip Hooray and really like how easy they are with the DIY toppers for the groundhog  and cocoa powder for the shadow.  I would only want to eat one without a shadow which means spring will come quickly! Below are the four simple steps to decorating your cupcakes for Groundhog Day.  For the groundhog cupcake topper PDF visit Lilly Jane’s original post!

1. Bake some delicious cupcakes.

2. Frost cupcakes with a white tones frosting (so it looks like snow)

3. Using tape and a little extra paper create a stencil from your cupcake topper paper trimmings. Dust cocoa powder onto cupcake.

4. Gently push groundhog cupcake topper into cupcake, just behind your new cocoa powder shadow.

This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Etsy seller Nattie Cakes Decor. She specializes in beautifully made hair clips, beanies and headbands for little girls.   And of course, she has sweet cupcake items available in her shop:

 When my package from her shop arrived, I was beyond thrilled with these lovely well-made treasures.  My daughter squealed with delight and quickly wanted to put them in her hair.   The only problem we had was deciding which one to wear first! 

This week we have a very special type of giveaway fromNattie Cakes.  You get to choose your prize!  Actually your PRIZES!  Nattie Cakes is giving away a $25 gift certificate to her shop.  You can choose clips, headbands, beanies- any mix up to $25 and you get free shipping too. 

To enter this giveaway, first go to Nattie Cakes’ Etsy shop and pick out a favorite item.  Then come back to ATC and click on the comment area below.  Tell us the item and an item you think would be a great addition to her shop.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, January 24th. 

Make sure to “Like” Nattie Cakes Decor’s Facebook page too!  It is a great way to stay up to date on her new items and sales. 

This time of year is the best cupcake hunting time. It seems that so many retailers pair Valentine’s Day and cupcakes and I love it! Here’s some of the sweet items I found yesterday in Target’s dollar section:

Cupcake socks, dry erase board, oven mitt and pot holder and cupcake erasers. They also had cupcake shirts for small dogs.

Facebook fan, Lindsey also found this cupcake bank at her Target.

I have also had Valentine cupcake sightings at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and my favorite Kohl’s.

Kohl’s cupcake placemats, wreath, table runner and vinyl tablecloth.  These photos only show half of what they have available this year.   All are so sweet and so tempting! 

Please click on the comment area below and let us know about your cupcake sightings this week.