Cubs must widen lead before stretch run
By Paul Sullivan | Chicago Tribune reporter
10:42 PM CDT, August 16, 2008

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“One of my favorite New York City mottoes is: Life is short, eat dessert first. New York City is famous for its cupcakes. With a friend of mine, I made a summer pilgrimage to find the best cupcake in New York City.

We went to Magnolia Bakery, Buttercup Bake Shop, Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery, and Crumbs Bakery. After a whole day of eating cupcakes, we decided that Magnolia’s icing was melt-in-your-mouth sweet, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine takes the cake on “best cupcake overall.”

– By NANCY HAWTHORNE
LEDGER CORRESPONDENT

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BUST MAGAZINE’S 15-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY:

In honor of BUST Magazine’s 15-Years of independent publishing in celebrating grrrl culture on the cutting edge, on Tuesday, August 12th, we will be mixing the best in female nouveau cirque variety acts with a stellar concert performed by some of the best female artists around! Dr. Martens is a proud sponsor of BUST Magazine’s 15-Year Anniversary Celebration Concert at the Salon Perdu at Spiegleworld in New York.

The 1920’s Belgian, Spiegeltent is the most dynamically beautiful, opulent and unique performance venue in all of Manhattan, and will be sure to transport BUST’s audience members to another time and place. It is the very essence of a ‘cabaret salon’ and intimate concert hall with near-perfect acoustics at every point in the venue. Like every old theatre, her ghosts travel with her, woven into ballooning velvet canopies, a circular teak dance floor, and stained, cut-glass windows. Her intimate booths, ornate bar, and bevelled mirror columns hold a million secrets while her glorious Art Nouveau chandelier swings overhead. This is the BUST event not to be missed! So be sure to doll up and come on out to help BUST blow out the birthday candles!

BUST’s Master of Ceremonies is one of our all time favorite cover girls, the forever enchanting, funny, and crafty Amy Sedaris! Live musical performances will be provided by Morningwood, Free Blood, and Leslie Hall. JD Samson (Le Tigre, Men) will be rockin’ the decks to get all our booties shaking. And Mr. Murray Hill will kill us with laughter from his hilarious antics, while the sultry World Famous *BOB*, NYC’s bravest and bawdiest burlesque performer and The Pontani Sisters, will dazzle us with their best birthday burlesque act. Also, NYC’s Lady Circus will be on hand to amaze the audience with aerial acrobatics, stilt walking, and fire-breathing! Every ticket holder will not only have the most memorable evening ever, but all ticket holders to BUST’s 15-Year Celebration Concert will have a special invite to BUST’s exclusive pre-party area from 8pm-9:45pm to be hosted in the DJ Tent, East Wing of the Garden and surrounding booth areas, directly opposite of the NY Waterfalls, and will receive a free subscription to BUST Magazine. Plus, the first 500 guests to arrive will score a BUST goodie bag packed with goodies and treats to take home. Remember, we can not spell BUST without U, so this is our way to THANK YOU!!

Date: Tuesday August 12th, 2008
Time: 8pm – 1am (5 hours)
NEW YORK LOCATION
Pier 17, South Street Seaport (South Street & Beekman Street)

Exclusive pre-party area from 8pm – 9:45pm to be hosted in the DJ Tent, East Wing of the Garden and surrounding booth areas. (NY Waterfalls directly opposite!!) The Salon Perdu, is the facility/spiegeltent where the main performance will take place from 10pm-1am.

The Cupcakes Club Open House!

This delicious event is to introduce The Cupcakes Club – a book series and interactive website for tweens(ages 7-12). Created and written by a mother/daughter team, this series emphasizes wholesome values, delicious fun, and sweet life lessons for todays 7-12 year old girls. What perfect timing for parents looking for a kid’s summer reading activity!

Please join us at Barcliff and Bair 1112 State St. Thursday, July 24th from 2:30 to 4:30 to celebrate its Santa Barbara premier – we will have Aurora Painted Faces there doing face painting and, of course, cupcakes by Sweet Buttercup!!

We look forward to seeing you there – until then, have a cupcake-a-licious day!!

On the heels of our cupcake giveaway for a free cupcake from bangarang bakeshop, I wanted to include an excerpt that Nicole (of bangarang bakeshop) has on her shops homepage:

**PLEASE BEWARE OF UNLICENSED AND UNINSURED ONLINE BAKERIES. If you or your loved ones falls ill from one of their products, you will have no recourse. Please be careful of where you purchase food on the internet. It is against the law to sell baked goods from a unlicensed facility in the US. Our CUPCAKES IN A JAR(TM) have been formulated and extensively tested and researched to stay fresh in the jar. Please be careful when purchasing from unlicensed shops that ship cakes in various containers whom are not certified, this is not safe using unresearched and non-professionally tested cake and frosting recipes. Our recipes have been formulated and researched to withstand a extended shelf life within our jars. Besides being a licensed bakery, I hold a Food Protection Manager Certification, which is mandatory in the US to sell food. This is very important for Bangerang Bake Shop to have to ensure the safest, most sanitary and satisfactory online bakery experience. We care about our customers, and being educated and licensed in the food industry isn’t only the law, it’s imperative to our commitment to our customers.

Here are a few online shops that All Things Cupcake recommends if you are going to be purchasing cupcakes on the internet:

Bangarang Bake Shop
Mrs. Beasleys Cupcakes
Teacake Bakeshop
Babycakes NYC
Crumbs
Chicago Cupcakes

If you know of a delicious bakery that ships their cupcakes, please list them in a comment.
 

Yes, All Things Cupcake went through a little bit of a face lift. Our logo changed just a tad, and the cupcake window box got a little smaller. All this means is less scrolling for you. :)

All Things Cupcake is now part of Food Buzz ! Find Flavor, Share Taste! It’s definitely a delicious site to check out.

Much love and sprinkles to you all!

Jess – Tattooed Mama

(This is by far, one of my favorite features that I’ve done on All Things Cupcake. Thanks so much to Xeni for e-mailing me her video!!!)

Boing Boing tv presents CUPCAKE CUTTHROATS, a cakesploitation epic exploring the dark side of electric art-cars shaped like baked goods. These homemade vehicles are crafted by Silicon Valley nerds (including one engineer from Tesla Motors) and Burning Man enthusiasts in a Berkeley, California, warehouse. In today’s episode, Xeni joins the marauding muffineers for a 15-mph thrillride down mean, sugar-sprinkled streets.

CBS News almost blew our cover! The muffineers say, “We would especially dedicate our efforts in memory of Keith Taft.” A full list of cupcake art car bakers designers and drivers, after the jump.

If that video doesn’t work, you can

VIEW VIDEO HERE.

So, I spent all night baking for the Jessie Steele booth at the Kitchen & Housewares Show and the payoff was a whole morning of wandering around the McCormick center checking out all the rad stuff coming out this season and next for your kitchen and home. (Oh, and I also saw Paula Deen and her super cute husband, Alton Brown, Billy Mays -that guy who yells in infomercials- and Tre from Top Chef.)

There was no photography allowed, of course, because it was a trade show and dealers don’t take kindly to anyone trying to steal their ideas. But I will say there is a TON of cupcake stuff coming out within the next few months. Almost every kitchen product maker is coming out with cupcake cookie jars, sugar and cream holders, spatulas, coffee mugs, you name it.

I finally got to check out a Cup-A-Cake in person and my official verdict is: it’s cool. Seriously, I shook a cupcake half to death and it was perfect when I opened the container. I’d love to pack one in Teno’s lunch when he goes to school, but he’s going to Chicago Public Schools and I’m pretty sure he’d get the snot kicked out of him for bringing a little cupcake container to school with him. But yes, if you were as curious as I was about whether or not those things are legit they are. I’ll pack one in my lunch, no one messes with me about what’s in my lunch bag.

Another exclusive I can share with you from the show is that Jessie Steele is branching out and making really beautiful aprons for gardening, crafting and hair salons. I also spotted some gardening supplies- gloves and a bag. Tony tried on a BBQ apron and he really liked it, so if you’ve been considering a camo apron for your man, my man gave it a big, tattooed thumbs up.

So that’s the word- LOTS of new cupcake stuff coming out this season, the trend, apparently, is not going away any time soon (thank Godzilla.)

Today on MSN there is a list of the Country’s Best Cupcakes.

Here is a quick list for you:

1. Saint Cupcake – Portland, Ore. 
2. Baked – Brooklyn, N.Y.
3. Main Street Cupcakes – Hudson, Ohio
4. Cupcakes – Chicago 
5. Cupcake Royale ­- Seattle 
6. Dozen Cupcakes – Pittsburgh 
7. Love at First Bite – Berkeley, Calif. 
8. Sugar Sweet Sunshine – New York 
9. Cake Fetish – Albuquerque, N.M.
10. Lilly Jane’s Cupcakes – Eagle, Idaho
11. Back in the Day Bakery – Savannah, Ga.

If you live anywhere near any of these “Best” cupcake stores, let us know your opinion.  We’d love to hear from you.

I think this is a really important discussion, you guys, and our voice as professional cupcakers is seriously underrepresented here.

Who would win in a fight between a cupcake and a machine gun?

What kind of fight is it? Is it a knife fight? Being that a cupcake’s home is the kitchen I think  a cupcake would be more familiar with a knife than a machine gun.

Is it a gun fight? Because well…obviously.

What about a war of words or an arm wrestling match? This is serious brain food, dudes- get on it! It’s Wednesday, we’re in a slump. This is exactly the kind of stimulating conversations we need to be having mid-week.

I look forward to your responses.

Head on over to Martha’s Circle at marthastewart.com and tell me what you see on the far left side.

How freaking cool, right? We love Martha.

Sorry, it’s been a little quiet around here. All Things Cupcake is about to launch a brand new site. The address and name will still be the same, but this is going to be HUGE. :) Just getting all the final things together and pretty soon, ATC will knock your socks off! We love you all!

Take this time to say a little hello… let us know you love cupcakes as much as we do! Comment away.

(above image by mrs cakespy, visit her etsy shop)

Is a Cupcake without frosting, still a cupcake?

40% said YES (86)
55% said NO, that’s a Muffin (118)
3% had NO CLUE. (7)

Votes so far: 211
Poll closed

Say a little hello to our newest contributors:

• Amy from Elements Design
• Rachel from Coconut & Lime
• Vanessa from Hey Pretty Cupcake.

Welcome aboard the Cupcake Train, Ladies.

First things first, by Saturday (or late this evening) you will be able to access this site by going to allthingscupcake.com! The original blogspot url that brought you here will also work as well.

ATC is now part of the Martha Stewart Network. We have been accepted into Martha’s Circle. See that lovely rotating ad on the right of this post? It is part of the new Martha Stewart ad network. Exciting, I must say. “Martha’s Circle — a collection of exceptional lifestyle sites and blogs handpicked by our editors — is the most reliable and efficient way to extend your campaign and interact with passionate, quality-minded consumers in a niche environment they trust and treasure.”

and Last but not least, ATC will be launching a new layout very soon. Keep your eyes open!

That’s all the exciting news for now.