I found this great article about canned frosting vs. homemade.
Canned Vs. Homemade – is there a difference?
I personally prefer homemade. Canned is too sweet.
What is your preference?
It would be nice to do the same with homemade cake or boxed cake mix! Can you tell the difference?
St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes can be really easy, all you have to do is add green food coloring to the batter or frosting and you have a festive cupcake. Even just the addition of green sprinkles makes for cupcakes that look fit for the holiday. Here’s a few additional ideas for fun cupcakes.
Green Velvet Cupcakes
Lucky Green Velvet Cupcakes and Fluffy Buttercream Frosting
Thin Mint Cupcakes
Beer Cupcakes
Guinness and Bailey Irish Cupcakes
I have a long list of cookbooks that I want to add to my collection, one on the top of my list is The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. I came across this blog which made the chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I think they look delicious and the author notes that eaters commented that these were the best cupcakes they had ever eaten. If you’ve tried The Hummingbird Bakery’s Cupcakes and attempt to make these at home, let us know how they compare!
Here is one more thing I can check off the list of “Things I’ve Never Seen Before”: Cupcake Ear Plugs. These particular pieces are Collector’s Edition Cupcakes from Omerica Organic, and all 100 pairs have already sold out (sorry, cupcake hipsters). [Thanks to The Dainty Squid and her fantastic Photostream for the original pic.]
In my opinion, chocolate and caramel make a great pair. That is why I think these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes by 6 Bittersweets sound delicious.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water (or 1/2 cup black coffee)
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar plus milk to equal 1/2 cup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 – 1 1/2 cups dulce de leche (I make mine in the pressure cooker)
milk or cream, if needed to thin out dulce de leche
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line standard muffin pans with paper liners.
In large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg, milk, coffee (or reconstituted coffee mixture), oil, and vanilla extract. Beat by hand or with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.
Pour the batter, which will be thin, to fill the paper liners about 2/3 full. Tap the pan firmly against the counter one time to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely there.
While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the dulce de leche topping by stirring to ensure smoothness and adding milk or cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed to thin the dulce de leche to the desired spreading consistency.
Once cupcakes are completely cool, spread the topping on with a spoon or knife, ending by smoothing the stop in a spiral pattern if you like the look.
This past week we had some great cupcake finds from our wonderful
Amy found these three items at Homegoods:
Christine found these luggage tags at her local Target for only $3 each and this bib at Babies R Us.
Thanks girls! Keep those photos comin’.
Join in the fun on our Facebook Fan Page!
A C&C Pazo Pairing: Sweet Corn Cupcake paired with White Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Martini (picture via the Baltimore Sun by Kenneth K. Lam)
Seeing as I just wrote about cupcake and wine pairings, it should come as no surprise that an enterprising restauranteer has continued to expand on the copacetic relationship between cupcakes and adult beverages: Pazo, an upscale Baltimore lounge, just started featuring a Thursday evening Cupcakes and Cocktails menu.
According to the review of the new menu in the Baltimore Sun, the cupcakes are amazing and positively cheap at $2, while the cocktails are good and on the expensive side at $9-$14. The cupcakes come in mature flavors like rum baba and and sweet corn and are matched with sophisticated cocktails like the elderflower Mondello Mojito and the espresso martini (with real espresso!).
I could be wrong, but I feel like with this manifestation, cupcakes have transcended to the level of classy late night snacks. Will they be the next tapas? Well, only time (and perhaps further cupcake and cocktail menus) will tell.
Have you ever wanted to make one of the giant cupcakes but didn’t want to spend the money on the pan? Well, you could always be as creative as The Cake Mistress and make a giant 3D cupcake without the pan.
This cupcake measured 10cmX15cm and I think it came out really well for not using the mold. The website has detailed instructions for how to create the 5 layer cupcake cake with ganache frosting.
Okay maybe spring hasn’t sprung just yet but it sure feels like it. I found these adorable spring cupcakes in honor of the lovely weather today.
How Sweet It Is! Bakery out of Texas makes this bright and fun spring cupcakes!
Their other cupcakes and cakes are amazingly decorated. I love the colors that they use.
Has anyone out there ever been to How Sweet It Is! Bakery?
This week’s sweet giveaway comes to you from Etsy crafter Zinicolas. She specializes in high-quality handcrafted clay and fine silver jewelry. These creations are all wearable works of art and each is uniquely designed. I own one of these little pieces of heaven:
I think I was most impressed with the size of this piece and it’s detail. Many pendants I have seen are very small and lack realistic characteristics. Her cake slice is larger than most and looks so much like a real (miniature) cake slice! I enjoy the bigger size because I get more comments and compliments from cake admirers!
This week you, our loyal cupcake readers, will get the chance to win one item from Zinicholas. Here’s the best part: the winner will get to choose what item they want to receive! Just go to Zinicholas and look at her sweet polymer clay items. Then come back to ATC and click on the comment area below. Please tell us what item you would pick to win AND what item you think she should create next. Contest ends this Sunday so enter now!
Special thanks to Zinicholas for sponsoring this superb giveaway!
Ever since th
e cupcake boom took off, cupcakes have moved into progressively more sophisticated and grown-up realms; flavors like mojito and rum and coke are becoming common as cupcakeries aim at the adult market. With the cupcake’s increasing cultural cachet and association with light but sophisticated fun, it comes as no surprise that a winery has decided to take up the name Cupcake. Cupcake Vineyards is a California label that features wines from their Monterrey County vineyard as well as vintages from wine regions around the world.
Spicy Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting paired with Cupcake Vineyards Chardonnay
Cupcake Vineyards delivers on more than just cute: they’ve received good reviews for their Chardonnay, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc, and recently had a good overall write up in the South Coast Today in Heather Strober Fleming’s “Grape Expectations” column. From what I’ve read, if you’re looking for good wine at a decent price ($12-13 a bottle) with a really adorable name, Cupcake Vineyards is the way to go. And really, what says fun like a cupcake and wine tasting party? Cupcake Vineyards’ is there to get your started with their cupcake recipes and wine pairing page. Hmmm…the Spicy Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and a glass of Chardonnay sounds nice….
As a kid I loved watching the cartoon, Smurfs. Mr. P, from Delicious, Delicious, Delicious made Smurf Cupcakes; Using Smurf Marshmallows, blue sugar crystals and peppermint cream cheese icing he made these cupcakes are as cute as the little blue cartoons. Here’s the frosting recipe:
Peppermint Cream Cheese Icing
150g cream cheese, at room temperature
350g sifted icing sugar
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
This picture cracked me up. I grew up eating Teddy Grahams so I know exactly how much fun it must have been to set this up. These cupcakes get extra points from me because, as you’ll note, this was done without any fondant whatsoever.
Also: this picture is posted in celebration of the gorgeous 60 degree weather we’ve been having in Seattle the past few days. I know what you might be saying, “Sixty is hardly bikini weather!” But if that’s what you’re thinking, you’ve never been in Seattle when the sun comes out. And I’m telling you, the minute it hits sixty in the Pacific Northwest, it’s bathing suit time.
(Thanks to Bakerella for her excellent cupcake decorating skills and for the great picture!)
I was wandering by the friendly neighborhood Cupcake Royale a few days ago when I noticed their signboard announcing the newly minted cupcake of the month for March: the Irish Whiskey Maple. I love maple syrup and was curious to see what a cupcake would taste like with whiskey in the frosting, so I decided to try one out.
First off, the frosting is amazing. Maple syrup + buttercream is a great idea and pancake houses across the country should be alerted of this delicious combination. The little kick of alcohol from the whiskey is a nice touch. If I were a whiskey connoisseur, I suspect I would have a better appreciation for it – it is Jameson we’re talking about, after all.
The cupcake itself was a little disappointing. I admit, some of this is because of my bias against vanilla cake (I’m a chocolate cake girl, myself). But the fact of the matter is, “moist” is not a word that I would use to describe this particular cupcake. Luckily for me, Cupcake Royale is never one to stint on frosting :)
Via Twirlit.com
It appears there’s some confusion as to exactly when we have a holiday to celebrate our favorite frosted treat. According to All Things Cupcake and the National Food Holidays calendar, National Cupcake Day is on December 15th. But according to the Baltimore Sun, Buzzy Bloggers, the Showbiz Gossips Blog and Twirlit, National Cupcake Day was on March 3rd. It looks like the March 3rd movement started on Twirlit when writer Amanda Pendolino declares March 3rd National Cupcake Day “according to…well, my stomach”.
But who’s to gainsay Amanda Pendolino’s stomach? Isn’t that (and your tastebuds, of course!) the ultimate judge when it comes to all things cupcake? Also, 365 days is a long time. I think there’s room enough in a year for two National Cupcake Days. Don’t you?
The Great A'Tuin
Fans of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld will recognize the giant space turtle that carries the fictional flat realm and it’s supporting quadruplet of elephants through space. What we didn’t know was that underneath the turtle was a delicious cosmic cupcake. Thanks to Kelly’s Cakes and the Space Cupcake Throwdown for this incredible piece of dessert sculpture.
Need a little brushing up on your cupcake knowledge. Here are a few articles that will just do that … now don’t worry there won’t be a test after wards.
What is your favorite Cupcake Fact?
Mine is that they are called Fairy Cakes in the UK! love it.
And the winner is… Monica!
Congratulations! Please email us at [email protected] or go to Dazzle and Chunk’s site and email them directly. Thanks to all who entered and commented on her wonderful items. Special thanks to Dazzle and Chunk for sponsoring this giveaway!
This Friday, March 5, the newest Alice in Wonderland comes to theaters. In honor of the movie, Disney offers ideas for Cheshire Cat Cupcakes and fun cupcake toppers. Candy and creativity turns a basic chocolate cupcake into the wacky cat Alice encounters. For simple decorations the cupcake toppers only require a printer, glue and toothpicks.
Ah it is birthday season for my friends and family I have at least 15 people with Birthdays in the next few months, guess Ill be making a lot of cupcakes in honor of all of em! I found this wicked cute cupcake idea for Birthdays; Balloon Cupcakes!
I love the colors on these and they look super easy to make!
Ah, The Luck of the Irish with their lovely holiday St. Patrick’s Day and it lovely green theme makes for very fun cupcakes! Here are two ideas that you may want to try for this holiday. The first one is Shamrock Cupcake Pops. These look interesting and fun to make, yummy too!
And here are some cupcakes that arr decorated with one of my favorite candies! Shamrock Cupcakes
Enjoy!
Looking for a clever (and yummy) way to teach the little ones in your life their ABC’s? How about ABC cupcakes? Family Fun magazine shows you how to create cupcakes for each letter of the alphabet. Here are a few of my favorites: 
Check out all of Family Fun’s themed cupcakes.
Hi cupcake fans! This is just a reminder to enter our cupcake earrings giveaway sponsored by Dazzle and Chunk by this Sunday night. One winner will be announced on Monday morning.
Please click here to enter the giveaway!
Ohh the Olympics ! Everyone is glued to the TV watching the Winter Olympics . But I found someone who managed to pull themselves away from the TV for a bit and make some cupcakes in honor of the Olympics and in honor of the fascinating event Curling. Making Olympic Curling Cupcakes
This cute little guy comes to you courtesy of Clever Cupcakes (via Cupcake Takes the Cake). They weren’t exaggerating about the clever when they named this bakery. The things they can do with fondant are ridiculous.
