Do you love creating you own cupcake recipes? Well, get out your mixers and muffin cups and enter the Scharffen Berger Cupcake Adventure Contest!  Cupcake recipes must include their chocolate and one or more of these selected “Adventure Ingredients”:

Stout beer
(including oatmeal, chocolate, imperial or any other stout)

Yes, some of these ingredients are a bit more unusual but who doesn’t love a good challenge?   I say go for the ricotta and fresh beet!   Contest prizes include money (woo, hoo!), books, chocolate, a trip to New York and the chance to have your recipe published on Food Networks magazine!   How amazing would it be to have one of our wonderful fans win this contest?   Click here for all the contest rules and details.  Good luck!

 You should also check out the new interactive cupcake builder on the Scharffen Berger website.  You can select a base cupcake batter and virtually build a cupcake using adventure ingredients, get tips on how to use the ingredients and more.

While combing the internets for cuteness, I found Japan LA and their adorable store. Among the Hello Kitty and the sushi scarves, there I discovered some prize cupcake accessories.

Rilakkuma Cupcake Pouch - oh no, it's brand spankie new and it's already sold out!

Yummy You! Knitted Cupcake Scarf - $65

Yummy You! Knitted Cupcake Purse - $70

   Would you like to be part of the next Cupcake Wars? 

              Here’s your chance! 

                       And here’s the official casting call …

NOW CASTING SEASON 2 OF THE FOOD NETWORK’S HIT NEW COMPETITION SHOW, “CUPCAKE WARS”!

 We are casting bakers (store owners, caterers, pastry chefs, new bakers…)

NATIONWIDE, so get in touch with us ASAP to apply for the show.

 If you think you and your cupcakes have what it takes to compete against the best bakers in the country, then we want to hear from YOU! The winner of the show will have their cupcakes featured at a HOLLYWOOD EVENT and receive WORLDWIDE PRESS!  The winner of each episode also wins $10,000!!!

 We’re looking for great bakers with AMAZING personalities in every city.

 To be considered for the show, please e-mail us your name, phone number, photo (and website if available!) to: CupcakeWarsCasting@gmail.com

Be sure to tell us what makes you the perfect candidate for “Cupcake Wars”!

Two of my guilty pleasures are joining forces:  Cupcakes and Farmville.

Farmville is the great time-sucking application on Facebook.  It is a seemingly simple game which gifts you with a virtual farm, on which you can design your avatar, buy a puppy that will follow you around, and then you can plant and harvest your own crops.  I avoid real life tasks I should be doing by planting virtual coffee, lilacs, carrots, and pumpkins.

The game is ridiculously popular.  Farmville has over 82.4 million active users.  That’s more than 1% of the entire world population.  The game started one year ago today, and in celebration of the birthday, the newest crop in Farmville’s lineup is … you guessed it!  Cupcakes!  I can now plant cupcake seeds, and 8 hours, later, I can harvest them!  Could it get any better?

Here’s my (beautiful and virtually yummy) first crop:

The Eat My Blog Bakesale will be held next Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 10am to 4pm at  Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood on.  The charity bake sale will donate all proceeds to  the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  While the bakesale will have over 1000 sweet items to choose from, daring cupcake lovers will be inticed by Kurogoma Cupcakes with Matcha Cream Cheese Frosting.  If you’re like me and have never heard of Kurogoma, it is black sesame seeds. According to a Los Angeles Times article, Cathy Danh started the bake sale because she found herself looking at food blogs thinking, “I wish I could eat that.”  She decided to turn that desire into a reality and put the proceeds towards a worthy charity.

That’s right, this month the baker’s battlefield will be set.  Icing bags will be loaded and beaters revved as the Food Network launches its new prime time series ‘Cupcake Wars’. The first episode of this premier series will be aired on June the 15th at 9pm ET/PT when four of the country’s top bakers will go head to head, but it is not until the Tuesday 27th July when our very own sponsor Stefanie Gaxiola of Red Velvet Stefanie will get to show off her amazing stuff.

Each episode will feature a different theme, from a SeaWorld Birthday Bash in Round 1 to the Film Festival Face Off, in which Stefanie will need to beat her opponents Arleen Scavore of Sweet Arleens, Zoey Devail of Bee Sweet Bakery and Johnny Mangamiotis of Mr Cupcakes to feature her cupcakes at a film festival. Stefanie’s episode will air at 10pm on Tuesday the 27th of July, so lets cheer her on! You can read more about the all upcoming shows and contestants on The Futon Critic.

All of us here at ATC will be right behind Stefanie, who could see herself into the elimination rounds if she wins.  The overall prize for the best cupcake baker is $10,000 and the opportunity to showcase their cupcakes at the winning gig!

There is only one week left to enter the 2010 Ice Cream Cupcake Challenge held by Scoopalicious and  Cupcake Project.  Daring bakers can submit their ice cream cupcake creations by May 31, 2010. Prizes for the challenge include Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker and a prize pack from OXO.

Here are the official rules:

• Dates: You can enter any time through May 31, 2010.
• How to Enter:

1. Write a post on your blog during the month of May and include a link to both this post and to the post at Scoopalicious. (If you don’t have a blog, you can still enter, but why not start one?)  Sorry, we are allowing just one entry per person this year – so make it count!  International readers are welcome to enter, but prizes can not be shipped internationally.  You will win bragging rights and you will have the opportunity to gift your prizes to any person or organization in the United States.
2. Upload a photo of your cupcake to our Flickr group.  Please upload as large a photo as possible so that we can be sure to best showcase it in the roundup.
3. Then, complete the entry form.

• Entrant Voting: All ice cream cupcake roundup entrants are required to vote for their favorite ice cream cupcake some time during the second week of June.  Entrants must pick their first, second, and third favorite ice cream cupcakes and they are not allowed to vote for their own cupcakes.  Entrants that do not vote will become ineligible to win.  (To summarize – you are being judged by your cupcake creating peers – no pressure!)  The top three cupcakes as chosen by the entrants will go on to the public vote.  All three entrant-voted winners will win OXO prize packs, but the public will determine who wins the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.  In the event of a tie, the cupcake that received the most second place votes will win.  If there is still a tie, we will look at third place votes.  If there is still a tie, we will have a quick – one day only – vote between the two tied cupcakes.
• Public Voting: Public voting will take place during the second half of June.  Anyone with a valid email address will have an opportunity to choose their favorite of the top three cupcakes.  You’ll want to vote because two voters will win the same prize pack as the semi-finalists!  In the event of a tie, we will have a quick – one day only – vote between the two tied cupcakes.