Frog cupcake for The Princess and the Frog party

This frog cupcake was made by Linette at The Kids Birthday Fun Review. She writes:

First up I made these really easy frog cupcakes this morning. I just used a regular cupcake, some green frosting, 2 white chocolate melts, and a little black decorator icing. The frog cupcakes were super simple to make. I iced the cupcake with the green icing, then used the white chocolate candy melts for the eyes and dots of black icing for the center of the eyes and the frogs nose.

Sour Patch Kid mini cupcakes and mini Oreo cupcakes

These Sour Patch Kid (those always take me back to high school - I'm more of a gummy bear type but I had a friend who ate these nonstop) mini cupcakes and the Oreo mini cupcakes below are both by blogger Save the Date for Cupcakes.

Recipe for chocolate coconut almond cupcakes

Alison Ladman at The Associated Press has posted a recipe for chocolate coconut almond cupcakes and writes:

If you sometimes feel like a nut, this may be the cupcake for you. Inspired by the Almond Joy candy bar, these cupcakes feature a rich chocolate cake filled with sticky coconut topped with a luscious milk chocolate ganache and almonds.

Not feeling nutty? Go for a Mounds-inspired version. Leave off the almonds and use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Decrease the amount to 16 ounces of chips for the same consistency.

Chocolate cupcakes and more from Georgetown Cupcake

The chocolate cupcakes are from Washington, DC bakery Georgetown Cupcake, which also does mail order cupcakes (for other bakeries, and now there are many, doing mail order cupcakes, see that section on our right-hand side - scroll down); photo by tasteofparis on Flickr.



I posted this and now have to add on this photo of their caramel apple and red velvet cupcakes, also by tasteofparis on Flickr:

Cupcake kebabs live on in Rexburg, Idaho

I started a post New Year's Eve about how 2009 was the "Year of the Cupcake Kebab," with photograhic evidence. One of my goals for 2010 is to be a much better cupcake blogger and get all the posts I want to actually posted, so that one is coming later this week.

In the meantime, I discovered Skinny Mini's Cupcakes, a custom cupcake company in Rexburg, Idaho, who'd posted these chocolate, peanut butter and strawberry cupcake kebabs:



Here's how they describe themselves (copied verbatim from their site):

Skinny Mini's Cupcakes are homemade from the freshest local ingredients. They are the perfect addition to any event including Weddings, Baby or Bridal Showers, Birthday parties, Work functions or to just indudge in a sweet treat!

Skinny Mini's specializes in miniture cupcakes, but also does regular size cucpakes and cakes upon request.

I got the name for Skinny Mini's from a nickname my mother-in-law calls me .... and it's my belief that if you eat a couple mini's you'll still stay skinny! Plus they are so petite, cute and delicious!

Skinny Mini's Cupcakes
Rexburg, Idaho (custom cupcakes)
440-655-0245

'Nother cupcake tat

This one is on a friend of mine who never even knew I was co-editor on a cupcake blog! Of course, I never knew she had a cupcake tat either. Meet Li'l Miss Lixx's cupcake tat:







It's on the back of her leg, just above the knee. I am not quite sure why the cupcake is smoking a cigarette (?) or why it kinda looks like a truncated ice cream cone, but I have learned that sometimes it's best not to ask too many questions.


More cupcake tattoos!

More cupcake tats: Ink on, my friends!

I do so love the cupcake as an iconic image. I also love tattoos, mostly on other people, although I am lightly inked myself (no cupcakes, though!).

Here are two reader-submitted tats. The first you'll have to click through to view as its not downloadable. (Thanks to Michelle of House of Sweets Bakery in Delray Beach, Florida for sending that in.)

The second is from Brandy in Urbandale, Iowa, who was inked by Michelle of Skin Kitchen, with Brandy's own design.








Not sure if Blogger shows animated gifs, but Brandy made an adorable one (you can also see it on her blog):






Keep sending in your cupcake tats, I love seeing them!!

Owl coconut cupcakes

These adorable owl coconut cupcakes are by custom company Amy Bakes Cupcakes in San Luis Obispo County, California, via Flickr.

Wedding cupcakes by La Crème Cupcake in the UK

These wedding cupcakes are all by La Crème Cupcake in Littlehampton, UK, via their Flickr account. They're also @LaCremeCupcake on Twitter and are on Facebook.









La Crème Cupcake
Telephone: 07983 458 635
info at lacremecupcake.com

We're #8 in the Shorty Awards for food - have you nominated us yet?

Another plea to vote for us for The Shorty Awards for food...we've got 41 votes and Tyler Florence is currently in the lead with 335 votes, so please please take a minute to Tweet: "I nominate @cupcakeblog for a Shorty Award in #food because..." and fill in the blank!



Thanks from all of us! And, of course, if you don't already, follow @cupcakeblog for our posts, updates, bakery Retweets, Twitpics and more!

Cupcakes this very second via Google search

I was just showing the very nice guy at the Apple Store who was talking to me about external hard drives that we are easy to find, since we still come up #1 in a Google search on cupcakes, and discovered that Google has integrated Google news searches and Twitter searches, so this is what came up for Twitter:



You can always search Twitter yourself to find out who's talking about cupcakes this very second.

113 cupcake recipe online cupcake adventure

Blogger Abbi Z. Meadows over at Z as in Zebra is taking a page from Julie Powell's Julie & Julia blogging project and making all 113 recipes in the cupcake cookbook Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman.

She writes:

There are 113 recipes in the entire book. Even the author admits some of the recipes do not fit the classic definition of a ‘cupcake’ (i.e. the gelatin/fruit cups that use cupcake tins as a mold), but nevertheless my goal is to complete each and every recipe in the book. Rather than give myself a time limit, I am setting my sights on 1 to 2 batches a week. At that rate, it will take me about a year or two to get through everything.

As I work my way through the book, I will be posting my creations here on the blog. I will also be tweeting on my baking days, looking for people to take my creations off my hands (I do NOT want to eat 113 batches of cupcakes and end up weighing 400 pounds!) To help offset expenses and buy ingredients for the next recipe, I will be charging a small fee for the cupcakes and dividing them based on need (you want 4? 8? 10?), rather than on ‘typical bakery’ numbers.

Here's a sampling of what she's made so far (click on cupcake name for the post, all photos from Z as in Zebra):

Banana split cupcakes





Cookies 'n cream cupcakes



After Eight cupcakes

Contenders for cutest wedding cupcakes ever

Aren't they?



These wedding cupcakes are by Look Cupcake in Seattle; photo by Joysha Fajardo, via Flickr.

Another shot of these wedding cupcakes, also by Joysha Fajardo:



See more of their wedding cupcakes in this Flickr set.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Eiffel Tower cupcakes

Custom Eiffel Tower cupcakes by Philadelphia-based custom cupcake company Whipped Bakeshop (via Flickr) for a Paris-themed birthday party at the Please Touch Museum.

Some closeups:





And while these cupcakes below were not part of the Eiffel Tower cupcake order, I couldn't resist including them when I saw them in the Whipped Bakeshop Flickr stream...I'm sure you can tell why!


Chocolate fudge cake iced with pink-hued Italian meringue bttercream, drizzled with bittersweet ganache and sprinkled with non pareils.

Whipped Bakeshop and Whipped Bakeshop Etsy store
215-598-5449
zoe at whippedbakeshop.com

Via the Voice

Aunt Butchie's brings "a little bit of Brooklyn" cupcakes to Manhattan. The Village Voice reports:

"[Partner, Aunt Butchie's Cupcakes, Sean] Rich says he's hoping to open the store, located in a former Yolato outpost, by February 1. "We're trying to bring a little bit of Brooklyn to Manhattan," he says. As to how one makes cupcakes more Brooklyn, Rich says that flavors like cannoli, zeppole, and cheesecake will "focus in on the Brooklyn lifestyle."

After more than 15 years in the cake business, why venture into the increasingly crowded cupcake field?

"We've always been known for our cakes, but we're really focusing on what the people want," says Rich. "We've seen over the last year or so that more and more customers were requesting that we do some cupcakes; less people were taking pieces of cake. It's the next best thing, really." When they introduced their cupcake line eight months ago, he continues, they started with three flavors, and expanded to 15. Last week, one of the bakery's locations turned out 90 dozen; over Christmas, they did 5,000. "You put some cupcakes out and people go crazy," Rich says.

So crazy, that the company is planning to open a couple more cupcake shops in Manhattan over the next 18 months or so; Rich says that while they haven't yet picked locations, Midtown seems a likely destination."

I am eager to try them! More to come, I'm sure.

SNAFU with the deep-fried cupcakes (updated!)

I do not know what happened with the deep-friend Robicellei's cupcakes at ChipShop. This is a distressing newsbreak for me (well, sounds like quite a few people were upset). I'm investigating. Anyone know?


Edit/Update: From Allison of Robicelli's:

"I really don't know what to say -- I don't know what's going on on their end, so I can't comment for ChipShop. I made a ton of these cupcakes that are sitting in my fridge now (which I scrambled to make when I found it went viral), so I'm out some good money too.

What I can say is that once we deliver the cupcakes, what these shops do with them is out of our hands. We put our heart and soul into these things, so we hope that our retailers will give the cupcakes the respect they deserve. I am sure that whatever went down this weekend at ChipShop was not done in any sort of malicious manner, but was either the result of a technical malfunction that could not be remedied or by simply selling out. It is possible that the weekend staff was unaware of the special because the entire stock had been sold out Friday night. The people at ChipShop are fantastic individuals and consummate professionals, so I'm sure that any confusion was probably the result of good, old-fashioned misunderstanding.

In the interim, I have spoken to the writers of the blog "Fucked In Park Slope," who also went down this weekend only to have their cupcake request denied, and will be arranging an Elvis cupcake giveaway with them over the weekend. If ChipShop isn't hooking the people up with their cupcakes, then I'm giving them away for free!"




Rock on, Allison. Hope this makes FiPS feel better, I know I'd be mollified.

Saint Cupcake in DailyCandy

It's frustrating when there's Blogger issues. Grr! Anyway, I wrote a whole post about this and it was eaten unceremoniously by blogger so I am just going to cut and paste the original source. (Sorry.)

This came in today from DailyCandy:

January 8, 2010

Give Saints
Saint Cupcake Delivers Nationwide

Sorry to break the news: You’re not God.

But people will sing your praises when you serve them Saint Cupcakes. The Portland-based bakery’s goodies are now taking flight.

Just head to the site and specify the amount (in multiples of three), flavors, and toppings. Soon you’ll receive a kit that includes the moist baked plain cuppies, frosting, and sprinkles, along with an icing wand and decorating tips. So it wouldn’t really be a sin to claim them as your own.

Favorite combos include carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut, vanilla chocolate chip with hot fudge icing and rainbow quinns, and chocolate with mint buttercream and white jimmies. For the vegans: chocolate or vanilla cake and frosting.

Of course, such heavenly treats are chockful of calories.

But even you only live once.

Available online at saintcupcake.com. To see the goods up close, check out our gallery.

I had to look up quinns (M-W came up empty), I can't lie.

Chocolate peanut butter banana Elvis cupcakes

These Elvis cupcakes, with fresh banana on top, are by Little Sweeties Cupcakes on Flickr

Blue suede Elvis cupcake at The Sweet Tooth Fairy

This is the blue suede cupcake we told you about, from The Sweet Tooth Fairy of Provo, Utah, via Flickr:


Our rich and velvety vanilla cake (dyed blue) topped with our Cream Cheese frosting

Chocolate raspberry wine cupcakes

Dark chocolate cupcake with raspberry infused wine buttercream and a raspberry drizzle are available by internet order only from A Cupcake Bar in Cary, North Carolina (photo via Flickr).

Towering cupcakes

This cupcake tower was posted on the Facebook page of Mini's Cupcakes of Salt Lake City, Utah. Will it fall?

Trix cereal cupcake + mail order Twilight cupcakes from Sweet Avenue

I'm loving this Twitpic by The Urban Housewife of cupcakes from Rutherford, New Jersey's Sweet Avenue Bake Shop. They just look so fun!

The cereal one is their new January special, via Facebook:

For the month of January, our Magical Mystery cupcakes will feature the same theme - Cereal Surprise! We wanted to create something fun & childlike. No matter how grown up you are, everyone loves a colorful bowl of cereal. Today's Magical Mystery flavor is TRIX.

This one is a Trix-filled vanilla cake with cotton candy frosting, topped with more Trix.

Sweet Avenue is now offering national shipping on their cupcakes, which includes their famed Twilight cupcakes and a DIY cupcake kit to create your own. The cupcakes are $45 for 6 cupcakes for the Twilight ones or "The Decorate It Yourself Cupcake kit includes your choice of three cupcakes, three frostings, and your choice of 3 sprinkles."

Here's a fan photo from Facebook of what someone made with the DIY kit:



They've been doing printed cupcakes; you can see lots of examples in this Facebook album - a few are below.






Lost cupcakes


Twilight cupcakes

Sweet Avenue Bake Shop
153 Park Ave.
Rutherford, NJ 07070
201-935-2253
info at sweetavenuebakeshop.com

Tasting lemon, vanilla and mocha cupcakes at Dessert Club ChikaLicious

Last night I tasted cupcakes from two places, one of them being Dessert Club ChikaLicious in the East Village. I've tried most of the cupcakes at most New York City bakeries and while I have my favorites, am always on the lookout for something new.

I found it at ChikaLicious (will just call it that for shorthand). Firstly, their cupcakes are so cute - small, but not mini cupcakes (though apparently those are in the works. Just right...especially if you're going to try a few. I got a lemon and a vanilla to start ($1.75 each).



The lemon is on the left. The frosting is very rich and thick, almost like a lemon custard except it's not quite that thick and isn't overpoweringly lemon-y. The lemon taste is light, and the cake was very moist, I think a basic vanilla cake. The vanilla/vanilla cupcake was much the same, save for the frosting was vanilla-flavored rather than lemon. I think I liked the lemon better, but both were good.

Then I decided to try the mocha, which is one of their filled cupcakes, and costs $2.25.



I'm not really a coffee drinker, but I do like certain coffee-flavored desserts. This one is filled with some thick chocolate/mocha-like substance. It's much more intense than the first two, even though again, the frosting has that same consistency. This one was very good but the mocha flavor was stronger than the lemon or vanilla flavors were. The chocolate inside was pretty thick, and I think because by then it was my fifth cupckae of the night (I ate half of them - will post about the Public Theater cupcakes later, doing them in reverse chronological order for some reason), I couldn't really handle it. I will try the mocha again to get a better sense of it, but I think if I had to pick, s'mores is still my absolute favorite, then maybe the lemon. It's light and creamy (I know those might sound like they don't go together, but they do, the frosting is very smooth and creamy, but it doesn't feel heavy in your stomach after you've eaten it).

Hello Kitty cupcakes and more cuteness from Coco Cake Cupcakes

These are by Vancouver's Coco Cake Cupcakes, who we've featured quite often because their cupcakes are so adorable. I can never resist Hello Kitty! All photos via Coco Cake Cupcakes on Flickr

Here's an older Hello Kitty cupcake set they did:




Scottish animal cupcakes - dark chocolate with peppermint buttercream

And here are two non-character ones that are simply elegant and pretty:



Coco Cake Cupcakes
604-816-9922
lyndsay at cococake.com

10 Elvis cupcakes to celebrate the King's birthday

Today would have been Elvis Aaron Presley's 75th birthday, so we're celebrating by posting 10 Elvis cupcakes (usually a version of peanut butter and banana, sometimes with bacon), sometimes with images of Elvis (and yes, some of these are oldies but goodies). It's actually 11 but two are by the same person:


Elvis casino cupcakes by Scrumptious Buns on Flickr


by Erica Barraca (via Flickr) - banana cupcakes with some (hidden) chocolate ganache and alot of peanut buttercream frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World


Vegan Elvis Comeback Special by Bake & Destroy (click for recipe) photo via Flickr


Banana cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Choc Chips by obliviousfire on Flickr


The amazing peanut butter banana bacon cupcakes Brownie of Blondie and Brownie (click for recipe) made for my 33rd birthday!


Peanut butter bacon banana cupcakes by Milwaukee's Miel y Leche; photo by Sharyn Morrow (massdistraction) on Flickr


Latin Elvis cupcake by thecupcakeheiress on Flickr: this is a banana cake filled with rich dulce de leche topped with a peanut butter buttercream and another dulce de leche swirl on top! blogged at Chica Chocolatina

And a version by her with bananas and fried plantains!


via thecupcakeheiress on Flickr


This one's by Sandy at Iron Cupcake Milwaukee (please note the Elvis cupcake wrappers!!!). She writes:

My hunka hunka burnin' cupcake seemed to be a little much for the crowd at the CCCCCC 2009. My final entry was a banana cake with a peanut butter cup in the center, topped with spicy chocolate ganache, spicy peanut butter buttercream, marshmallow fluff and with or without bits of bacon on top and in the cake. In a community full of vegans and vegetarians, it was surprising to see that the bacon version of my cupcake was hands down more popular than the plain.


Lori Writer at Heavy Table took the above photo, and has the recipe for these banana chocolate chip and bacon mini cupcakes with peanut butter frosting! She writes:

The banana chocolate chip cupcakes are good on their own, even without the frosting, the bacon garnish, or being battered and fried. The bacon provides a surprising crunch and rescues the frosted cupcakes from being overwhelmingly sweet. Battering and deep frying is only for the truly committed. You can quit as soon as you’ve had enough, but you won’t know if you’ve gone far enough until you’ve gone too far. As my husband said as he finished off a deep-fried Elvis cupcake in two bites, then licked the honey from his fingers, “It’s not sick and disgusting if it tastes good.”

And another with Elvis's image...


Chocolate cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream and a handmade fondant Elvis Presley decoration by Montreal's Clever Cupcakes via Flickr.

Lots of bakeries are doing specials (NOT a complete list, just a random sampling). Bakery links are at right.

The Sweet Tooth Fairy (Utah):



The Petite Cafe:

We will be giving away free Elvis Cupcakes throughout the day, when we ask for the phrase of the hour!!

Buttercream Philadelphia cupcake truck:



Expect Blue Suede (red velvet with blue) and Peanut Butter Banana.

Crumbs Bakeshop cupcake of the month (via Twitter/website):


Vanilla cake filled & frosted with banana cream cheese frosting, topped with a swirl of real creamy peanut butter and edged with peanut butter chips.