Are cupcakes a fad? Duncan Bloor recently posted some illuminating visuals on his Search Insights blog that show the cupcake trend sweeping the globe.  The deep blue represents strong cupcake interest, see how the deep blue is spreading across nations.

As Mark Twain has declared when confronted with news of his own death in newspapers, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”   By the looks of it, the cupcake trend continues to strengthen.

More visuals and data on the cupcake trend at the David’s Search Insights blog.

Today in remembrance of September 11, 2001 the Los Angeles location of Canter’s Deli is offering free cupcakes for servicemen.  This is Canter’s Deli’s way of saying “thank you,” so if policemen, firemen, or military personnel show up in uniform or provide some form of ID they will be presented with a free cupcake!

Friends ~

Saddened by the news yesterday from Oslo, I thought that our community could pay some tribute.  Around the Web I went, and did locate three blogs by Norwegian women with special cupcake recipes.

From “My Little Norway” comes the recipe for “Norwegian Vanilla Cupcakes.”  The site is rich with beautiful images of the Norway to which I traveled when I was about 12.

“The Transplanted Baker” offers the recipe for “Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes” with a funny narrative and many winter scenes from Norway.

And Umami Girl gives us “Norwegian Gold Cake with Sour Cream Ganache” with snapshots of her life and family in Norway.

Submitted with prayers for love and peace for children in Norway and all over the world. ~ The Cupcake Faerie

You don’t have to be a lawyer (but I am) to enjoy this news flash:  Sprinkles Cupcakes has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in CT against Pink Sprinkles Cupcakes.  The claim?  Trademark infringement.  Here is the 10-page “Complaint,” the document that starts it all.

Copyright Me Cupcake Photo!

What is there to gab as part of the exclusive All Things Cupcake blog not found anywhere else?  Well, as to what matters to us, Sprinkles claims in paragraph 8 that it “plans on opening stores throughout the United States and around the world, including Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, London, and Paris.”  Magnifique!

My curiosity spun me around the US Patent & Trademark Office website.  “Sprinkles” produced 192 results, including “Magic Sprinkles,” “Serenity Sprinkles,” “Twisted Sprinkles,” “Garden Sprinkles,” and “Pet -,” “Kitty -,” and “Doggie Sprinkes.”  In fact, in 2002, before there was “Sprinkles” of Beverly Hills, there was “Sprinkles of Palm Beach”  – that is, until Sprinkles bought the assignment for that trademark.  (Don’t tell Sprinkles, but there is currently a “Sprinkles Ice Cream” in Palm Beach…)

Stay tuned as we track the Answer to the Complaint, due in from Pink Sprinkles within just a few days.

Oh, and just to be on the safe side…I’m not publishing photographs of cupcakes from either Sprinkles or Pink Sprinkles – here is one of my own!

With the release of Mozilla’s Firefox 5 web browser, Microsoft sent its competitor Mozilla a cupcake to congratulate them, and perhaps spark some friendly competition.  This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has sent Mozilla a sweet treat to congratulate them on a new software release.  They sent them an entire cake back in 2008 with the release of Firefox 3, and a smaller cake back in March when they released Firefox 4.  A cupcake seems pretty appropriate, though, given their popularity these days.  I just want to know how the Mozilla team went about sharing the one cupcake?  Sounds kind of cruel to me…

This past week a huge crowd of cancer survivors and supporters came together for Barrington’s Relay for Life in Barrington, Illinois to honor those who have lost their lives battling cancer and to raise funds for cancer research.  Cupcakes took center stage at this event.  A tower of 16, 478 cupcakes stood at the center of the Barrington High School Community Stadium, setting a world record for the most cupcakes on a display tower.

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The Cupcake Collection, a bakery in Tennessee, is helping four of their high school graduates pay for college.  This summer the bakery owners will be lending their “cupcake bus” to these employees so that they can take a road trip to four major east coast cities, beginning in Atlanta and ending in New York City.  They will sell cupcakes along the way and put the profits toward their college education.  Be sure and track their trip on the bakery’s Facebook page.  Who knows–they just might be visiting your city!

The Cupcake Bus