Cannoili Cupcakes with Recipe

Images courtesy Shannalee | FoodLovesWriting, and you can read up about these special cupcakes and nab the recipe here.

Cigarettes and lip gloss cupcakes

The Clever Little Cupcake Company in Bury, Greater Manchester, made some hen night (aka bachelorette party) cupcakes that include cigarettes and lip gloss, along with high heels, a dress, Pinot Noir and other fun toppers. Via their Facebook page. Contact them at Amanda at cleverlittlecupcake.co.uk or 0161 797 6899 or 07805 176471 or ind out more at cleverlittlecupcake.co.uk.

Adorable bunny and flower cupcakes

These very cute cupcakes are by Cupcake Sisters, via their Facebook page (h/t Bella Cupcake Couture).

Live jazz cupcake brunch tomorrow features Maple Bacon, Chicken & Waffles, French Toast 'N Ham and Merlot Mimosa cupcakes

Brown Sugar Bakeshop in Little Rock, Arkansas is ready to celebrate tomorrow at their bakery at 419 East 3rd Street from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm with its second annual live jazz cupcake brunch today. Here's the official description, via Facebook:

Famous Trumpeter Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers Band will be bringing the house down with amazing, fun tunes and BSB will be bringing the eats! Maple Bacon, Chicken & Waffles, French Toast 'N Ham and the all-new MERLOT MIMOSA Cupcakes will be available for purchase!

See more of their cupcake photos on Facebook and visit brownsugarbakeshop.com for more information. They can be reached at info at brownsugarbakeshop.com or 501-372-4009.

How to make Easter bunny ear cupcakes

Kate McAuley over at The Huffington Post has step by step instructions on making these Easter bunny ear cupcakes!

Nerdy Nummies: My Little Pony Cupcakes

Here's how to make My Little Pony Cupcakes presented to you by the ever creative and entertaining Rosanna Pansino as part of her "Nerdy Nummies" series!

Cupcake Tower Lantern

I guess cupcake stands are just for cupcakes anymore!  Tony Albanese (aka The Pastryarch from "Cupcake Wars" & "Cake Boss") has come up with a new way to use them - as lanterns!  How cute is would these be hanging outside at a garden party or as the centerpiece at your large dining room table for a fancy dinner!

For more from Tony visit him on Facebook!

Cadbury Creme Egg and Easter egg crate cupcakes

I was sad that I didn't get to visit Cupcrazed Cupcake Bar in Fort Mill, South Carolina last week during my trip to Charlotte (it's not that far distance-wise, but would've been a pricey cab ride); next time I plan to make it happen! Check out their Cadbury Creme Egg cupcakes with creme egg filling! And through Friday, you can order their cute Easter egg cupcakes for $15 plus tax. "1 dozen in a vintage egg crate or 9 minis in a re-usable pink crate. 1 flavor per dozen, chocolate/vanilla/carrot/or red velvet." Via their Facebook page, where they also inform us they are celebrating Epilepsy Awareness Day today ("For every purple frosted cupcake we sell, we will donate $1") and "Today we must be craving ice cream- we have moosetracks (chocolate, vanilla, fudge and Reese cup frosting, espresso chip (filled with espresso fudge), blueberry lemon filled with blueberry compote, strawberry, nutty buddy, neapolitan, caramel truffle, dreamcheese, and it's $2 Tuesday for our EVERYDAY flavors only- chocolate, carrot, red velvet, and carrot." Visit cupcrazed.com for more information.

Bright Peeps cupcakes in colors I didn't even know existed

I'm behind in my Peeps knowledge, clearly, because I didn't know these colors of Peeps existed! These cupcakes, made using Duncan Hines Confetti Cake Mix and Martha Stewart's Whipped Frosting (click through for recipe links) are by Save the Date for Cupcakes, via their Facebook page.

DIY Carrot Cupcake Toppers

I wanted to share with you my latest creation!  DIY Carrot Cupcake Toppers!  The original idea came from the No Biggie blog... but I used what I had on hand at home and think they turned out just as cute!

For my full tutorial and for the recipe for these carrot cupcakes... CLICK HERE!!!

Happy Easter!

Betsy

Chocolate Easter Egg Mini Cakes

  

Growing up, my favorite Easter candy was the chocolate eggs.

I mean really, we are talking about CHOCOLATE here.

And the egg shapes made it extra cute and fun. :)

Today I am sharing Chocolate Easter Egg Mini Cakes.

Individual egg shaped chocolate cakes, covered with chocolate ganache.

You can decorate them any way you like, there are so many possibilities!

You could even let your kids decorate their own with candy & sprinkles.

 

You Will Need:

Chocolate Cake

Egg shaped cookie cutter

Chocolate buttercream frosting

Chocolate Ganache (you want it to be runny)

Frosting or candy for decorating

You can find my favorite chocolate cake, buttercream & ganache recipes here.

Using the cookie cutter, cut your cake into an even number of egg mini cakes.

(Save the scraps for making trifle! Or eat them now...your call.)

Transfer the egg cakes to a wire rack, with wax paper underneath.

Don't forget the wax paper or you will have a mess!

Spread chocolate buttercream on the top of each egg cake.

Top each one with another layer of cake.

Pour the ganache on top of the cakes, letting it run down and cover the sides.

Let the ganache set up.

If you are in a hurry, you can put the cakes in the freezer.

(Note: The ganache will not completely harden.)

Time to decorate!

This could be a fun activity for the kids on Easter Sunday.

Enjoy!

I link up at these fun link parties.

Kids + Cupcakes: Olivia!

"Will anyone notice if I grab another cupcake, wonders Olivia," courtesy avlxyz.

Walking Dead cupcakes

Flour & Sun Bakery in Pleasantville, New York has cupcakes for Walking Dead fans. Via their Flickr account. Visit flourandsunbakery.com for their daily flavors and more information.

Swiss cheese cupcakes from Charlotte grilled cheese truck Papi Queso Truck

I'm still in awe of the delicious grilled cheese sandwich I had in Charlotte from Papi Queso Truck, so was thrilled to see these "Swiss cheese" (at least I think it's fake Swiss?) on their Faceboko page!

Win with a Simpsons Reference

Not a lot of info about these "men's cupcakes" but how adorable is the Duff beer?

Also, the remote control!

Image courtesy Eldriva.

Make Your Kids Workout for Their Cupcakes?

Supercute male and female boot camp cupcakes! Part of a kids birthday party theme:

Images courtesy Treasures and Tiaras Kids Parties from Pretoria, South Africa. Phone number is + 27 82 565 5076.

Zipcar, mudslide and colorful spring cupcakes

You can get custom anything cupcakes, as proven by Zipcar Chicago, via @ZipcarChicago on Twitter, showing off their custom cupcakes from Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique, who celebrated the first day of spring with these festive pastel cupcakes and has a mudslide cupcake (dark chocolate cake with Kahlua buttercream) for sale through end of day tomorrow! Keep up with their special flavors, which change every few weeks, via their Facebook page where these other photos are from, @SugarBlissCakes on Twitter and via their newsletter, which you can sign up for at sugarblisscakes.com.

Brains cupcakes in March plus hearts, Lille Prins and a bowtie at Cupcake STHLM in Stockholm

I love when a bakery has a cupcake design that stands out, so I can tell pretty much by looking who made it. Cupcake STHLM in Stockholm, Sweden is one of those, and a bakery I hope to visit someday! All these photos are via their Facebook page. A shoutout to whoever ordered the brains cupcakes! Contact them at info at cupcakesthlm.se or +46 8 83 80 83 and visit cupcakesthlm.se for more information.




Lille Prins cupcake: "orange cake with raspberry and chocolate ganache"


This cupcake is named Polly! Red velvet cake/blueberry/vanilla


Mr. Poppy cupcake: "Orange/daim/vanilla/popping candy"


Hunky Berry cupcake: "Brownie/blueberry/licorice/hazelnut"

I almost didn't get the strawberry cheesecake cupcake from Southern Cake Queen, which would have been a mistake

I feel I must credit the chain that led me to Southern Cake Queen, since they weren't on my short list of cupcake places I'd wanted to try during my brief visit to Charlotte, North Carolina. But I found an article in Charlotte magazine about grilled cheese which mentioned Papi Queso Truck. Turns out they were part of a Friday night food truck gathering and so after my delicious grilled cheese, for dessert (and after a walk back to my hotel) I sampled the 4 cupcakes I bought for $10.

I'd been planning to only get 3, Choco Delight, True Love (lemon) and banana split, but decided to take a chance on strawberries cheesecake. That one turned out to be my favorite! The cake was like angel food cake, perfectly light and sweet and every aspect of this cupcake had the strawberries and cream combination down. I was scared away by the "cheesecake" in the name but as a non-fan of cheesecake, I can say that this didn't taste cheesecakey to me. I totally forgot the frosting was cream cheese because it mixed so well with the strawberry flavor. The lemon cake was similar but lemon flavored, with a good mix of tart and sweet in the frosting and gooey lemon part on top. I liked all the cupcakes, with high praise for the cake and the way the flavors worked together. The banana split cupcake was artfully done and the extras made it a delicious cupcake. I also like their fun cupcake wrappers. I'd definitely try Southern Cake Queen again; they're a dessert truck, so find out where they'll be next via @southerncake on Twitter and their Facebook page or their website. Contact them at Southerncakequeen at hotmail.com or 704-287-8314.

3 cute kids' cupcake cakes: Thomas the Thank Engine, karate and dinosaur

I'm hoping to have time to visit Polkdaot Cupcake Shop during my very brief vacation to Charlotte, North Carolina (if not, I'll definitely be back!). These are 3 custom cupcake cakes they've made that I find totally adorable. All via their Facebook page. Contact them at cupcake at polkadotbakeshop.com or 704-523-5001 and visit polkadotbakeshop.com for more information.

Recap: Inland Empire Cupcake Fair

On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the 1st Annual Inland Empire Cupcake Fair hosted by IEShineOn. The fair was held in Riverside and drew quite a crowd! 

Doors opened at 11AM for VIPs and media but when I got there at about 11:30AM the place was already pretty full. There were about thirteen bakers who entered the cupcake contest but only about eight bakers were present at the event handing out samples. We were given six tasting tickets to use so it made choosing what flavors to try a little difficult. If you used all your tasting tickets you were allowed to purchase an additional six for $5. Because the cupcakes were so popular, visitors were buying additional tasting tickets, however this coupled with the crowds the event drew caused a bit of an early cupcake shortage. 

My Cupcake Tasting Plate

I ended up picking cupcakes from Casey's Cupcakes, [desi]gn cakes & cupcakes, Mia's Mini's, Lavish Cupcakery, Kelly's Cupcakes, and The Last Drop Cafe.

Now let's get to the cupcakes! (In order from Top Left to Right)

Mia's Minis - Jalapeño Popper Cupcake: 

These cupcakes smelled spicy! They were a jalapeño cornbread cake topped with cream cheese frosting with some cornbread crumbs and a fresh jalapeño sliver on top. I always love trying savory cupcakes and this was one I'd never seen before! The cornbread cake was delicious! Perfectly crumbly with a bit of heat from the chopped jalapeño bits. The cream cheese frosting wasn't sweet at all, it paired really well with the cake and cooled the heat of the cake. Definitely one of my favorites of the day!

Casey's Cupcakes - Strawberry Cupcake:

This definitely tasted like strawberry, the frosting had the majority of the fresh strawberry taste and I was able to taste a few seeds in it. The cake wasn't as strawberry as I thought it would be, it had more of an aroma than a taste. I wish this would have had more strawberry in it, event just adding some fresh strawberries inside. The cake was fluffy and moist as was the frosting. I wasn't a fan of the pink bits on the top, I'm not sure if it was pink dyed white chocolate or something else but they were a bit waxy and didn't taste great paired with the cupcake.

Lavish Cupcakery - Ba-nana Cupcake:

I was a little bias against this cupcake at first since I'm not a fan of glitter on cupcakes. The cake didn't have a strong banana aroma. It was a banana cake topped with what I think was a whipped cream frosting, a few chocolate sprinkles and a banana chip. The frosting was a little gritty, I wasn't sure if it was from the chocolate sprinkles or just some sugar that didn't get whipped in. The cake itself didn't taste like a traditional banana cake, it tasted more like it was flavored with banana extract instead of fresh bananas. The cake was moist but I wish their samples were as big as regular sized minis.

The Last Drop Cafe - Chicken and Waffles Cupcake:

At first smell this cupcake smelled very peppery which I'm sure was from the chicken. The base was a maple cake that definitely had a full flavor. The frosting wasn't overly sweet at all and paired well with the sweetness of the cake. My biggest gripe with this cupcake was the chicken on top. It was cold, dried out and had a texture similar to jerky. Because there wasn't anything to tie the chicken to the cupcake the flavors just wouldn't mesh. I think it would have worked better if the chicken had been fried (similar to fried chicken and waffles) or even if there had been some maple syrup on top to ease up the dryness of the chicken. 

Kelly's Cupcakery - Chocolate Salted Caramel

This cupcake was the largest of all the samples offered at the event. They had a rich caramel flavor and you could taste and feel the salt granules in the frosting. It was a little hard to eat though, I'm pretty sure the cupcakes were chilled prior to the event. The frosting was very stiff and the cake was a bit dry. I'm sure if the cake hadn't been chilled it would have been moist. Chocolate and salted caramel are a pretty popular flavor combo nowadays so the flavors worked well together.

[desi]gn cakes & cupcakes - Apple Bacon Harvest

This was my absolute favorite flavor of the day. Desi's flavors took home Professional Best Overall for her Salted Caramel and Professional Most Unique Ingredient for her Apple Bacon Harvest. The cupcake smelled like a fresh apple pie. The frosting was unique, I had never had brie frosting before! It was like a more subtle cream cheese frosting. The cake had a light maple flavor, was filled with apples and had crispy pancetta atop the brie frosting. The pancetta was crispy, salty, and not greasy. It was a little lighter than bacon. I never thought to pair bacon, apples, cheese and maple syrup but it definitely worked well together to create an incredibly delicious cupcake. The next time Desi makes regular sized Apple Bacon Harvest cupcakes I'll be first in line at her open shop to pick up a bunch to share with friends because they are THAT GOOD.

Cupcake Devastation.

Besides the cupcake tastings there were vendors downstairs. A spa sponsor was there giving mini massages, which were pretty great! There was a photo booth, a vendor who sold amazing looking cupcake bath bombs, and even an Origami Owl seller. I ended up making myself an Origami Owl locket while I was there.

See the cupcake charm inside? Isn't it adorable!

Overall, I found to be the Inland Empire Cupcake Fair to be pretty fun! The cupcakery owners were very personable and were talking to all the visitors. The vendors had some great stuff and even some cupcake themed products! I hope the event will be held again next year with even more cupcakeries competing!

We Have a Winner!

Many Top O' the Morning To Ya congrats to Lynn in Tarzana, California, for her win. She's got a copy of Rachel Allen's Irish Family Foods cookbook headed her way!

Adorable Peepcakes in your favorite colors from Sublime Cupcakes

These Peepcakes (Peeps on cupcakes, if it wasn't obvious) by Sublime Cupcakes in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania are available in chocolate or vanilla starting today! Love them. Not sure I could pick a favorite color but I am sure I would savor the Peep separately. Via their Facebook page. Contact them at sublimecupcakes at yahoo.com or 610-898-4183 and find out more at sublimecupcakes.com.