Glitter, glitter, and more glitter!  I just want these holidays to shine so that I can sing “Silver & Gold” along with Burl Ives when spinning the Rudolph soundtrack.

What’s more perfect to go with those silver and gold ornaments than cupcakes decorated as ornaments?

These ornament cupcakes come from Hoosier country, Indiana!  “Hoosier Homemade” had several holiday cupcake decorating ideas from a multi-week cupcake challenge.

Find other inspiration in actual vintage Christmas ornaments.  The 1950s ornaments were the very essence of elegance in design and can still be found at antique co-ops and flea markets and also on etsy and e-bay.

Mmmm.  Here’s the cupcake for you to share with Santa by the fireplace:  mulled wine cupcakes.

Not familiar with “mulled wine?”  It’s wine, simmered with ingredients like cinnamon, allspice and cloves until the air smells as warm and inviting as the holidays.  Don’t be timid about experimenting with your wines or your spices.  Then trust your nose.  (Although sampling might be half the fun of being the chef for this one!)

“May Bakes Cakes” of Corby, England has a Facebook page and she labels herself as “Artist.”  It’s the right label.  With creations like these snowmen, santa, and penguin, it’s the title I would confer upon her, too.

Novel in her approach using FB, May’s Facebook page also has a “snowman tutorial” with step-by-step instructions for snowmen that would be perfect cupcake toppers.

May is also so kind as to provide a separate Facebook page with a “penguin tutorial,” as well.

As far as I can tell, there is only one flaw:  who could ever eat such sweet treats?

May Bakes Cakes snowman tutorial

I’m going to put this under “cupcake,” even though I’m generally a purist and a round ball wouldn’t qualify as a cupcake.

But ’tis the season, I’m on a quest for the most beautiful of holiday cupcakes, and these cupcakes were created by Cupcake Envy, a bakery of “sculpted cakelets” by owner Amy Eilert.  Cupcake Envy’s Facebook photos sport so many great shots, you’ll have no shortage of inspiration.

You may also want to notice that Cupcake Envy sells “how-to” videos.  Not a bad idea, if you think that you’ve been nice!

Let’s face it.  We start strong.  We mean well.  But in a few days, we’ll be thinking, “Smile!” as we count the remaining hours.

I’ve found the perfect inoculation to the upcoming holiday stress:  cupcakes with bling!

Have you seen a more sparkly cupcake?  These darlings were created at The Voluptuous Cup Cake Company, down under in Perth, Australia.  Just clicking on this blog spot of her cupcakes is enough to cheer a girl’s heart.

What’s your most sparkly, glittery, magical cupcake topping for the holidays?

This is it.  Your chance to enter Ghirardelli fame and Facebook feature.

Recipe for your success:

1 – “Like” the Ghirardelli page on Facebook.

2 – Fill in your basic information, upload your recipe, and upload your mouth-watering photograph.

3 – Win!

Perhaps we could do a group ATC entry?

I’d like to know of anyone’s opinion on baking with Ghirardelli and whether you find the chocolate richer, softer, and needing more cocoa powder to balance for spreading and shaping?  What about the Ghirardelli Intense Dark?  And the Ghirardelli white that I nibbled at while baking with it last week – do you do that too?  Are we shorting our batches or should we just write them as 10 oz broken into small bits with remaining 2 oz for the cook!

What do you get when you take a steak house owner and put him in a cupcakerie?

Answer:  Coke + Ruffles cupcakes!

Now I know that everyone is thinking holiday cupcakes and presents, but, after all, Santa Claus is a man, so perhaps our stockings would become a bit more plump if we left guy-inspired cupcakes beside the fireplace on Christmas Eve?

4 Rivers Sweetshop owner John Rivers has come up with several of these “sweet and savory” cupcake ideas, including Moutain Dew + Doritos cupcakes.  Rivers told The Today Show that he’s working on Nehi grape soda cupcakes, and that the secret to using sodas in frosting is to boil it down to syrup thickness.

Now that’s one Ho-Ho tip I’m headed into the kitchen to try!