Just in the nick of time, Magnolia Bakery now offers a monthly cupcake club with nationwide shipping.  Pre-orders are being taken and shipping begins on January 2 with caramel cupcakes, followed by a different cupcake each month.

So if you find yourself in a line that’s too long for someone who is too hard to please, how about putting at least yourself in the spirit?  And while you’re placing your order, why not order Magnolia Bakery’s “Truffled Chocolate Cupcake.”

I know what I’m going to click on as soon as I click on “publish!”

Good Morning ATC Community! and welcome to the official start of crunch time.  These are the days that we second-guess whether we did enough of everything and end up doing too much!

If you’re like me, you’ve baked a fair amount of holiday treasures.

But holiday week is a bit like a marathon and, in the home stretch, who isn’t looking for fresh ideas to keep inspired?  The challenge I set to myself is whether I can come up with a week of images, recipes, and instructions to keep us all – myself included – at 350F from now through next Saturday.

These Baked Ideas images are cookies, but so fresh and original they will inspire your cupcake decorating ideas. Here’s a smorgasbord of cookie decorating ideas from “Baked Ideas” by Patti Paige, along with the Baked Ideas’ Facebook page  and the video on the Baked Ideas mini gingerbread houses.  3,000 each season!

If you’re still looking for last minute gifts, Baked Ideas even sells yoga cookie cutters.  How did she do that?  Here’s her video on piping royal icing onto each one of the yoga posed gingerbread men and here’s the Baked Ideas gingerbread recipe.

Ah-ha!  My Muse gripped that one!

Today, I’m going to springboard those Baked Ideas into spice cupcakes with yoga shapes drawn on the top, including some Sandskrit symbols, such as “Namaste.”  And I know just who is on my list for these yoga cupcakes…

Now that’s what I mean about taking inspiration and giving yourself permission to be creative at the holidays!  What’s your idea?

Countdown:  6 days.

Christmas stollen is such a favorite food at the holidays, who can resist the notion of converting it into a cupcake?

Here’s one recipe for Christmas stollen cupakes from The Cupcake Project.

Raisins, dried cranberries, dried currents, dried cherries…we’ll let that negate the bit of pleasure we’ll take from a bit of cherry liqueur and brandy.  And, of course, we’ll only pour those into the recipe, won’t we?

Just in case you have some cherry liqueur left over, here’s a companion recipe for Black Forest Cupcakes.  Well, if I’m on that theme, let’s be sure to have on hand a recipe for White Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.

Now there’s a cupcake trio that deserves a Ho-Ho-Ho!

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.

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!

Move over cakepops, mince pies want a piece of the stick!

Ha!  I love these, actually when trying to come up with a heading for the post I originally typed Mince Poppies, but thought it gave the wrong message and transposed it!

I have excellent news, one of my fave bloggers is back doing that which she does best, baking and blogging!  The Lone Baker is back and whipping up a Christmas flurry of flour and fruit!  There is so many good things on her website and interesting techniques, that it is often hard to choose what to feature, but today I had no doubt, it had to be these!

So not really a cake, but who doesn’t love a mini mince pie at Christmas?  And when cooked on a stick in the shape of a star?

Want to find out how to make them?  Full recipe and photo instructions are available on her website!

Sometimes it is just down right unfair that I live in Australia and most of you live in America!  Otherwise I would have this little baby hanging on my Christmas tree for sure!

Apparently Hallmark started off creating miniatures in 1974 and many of those are now highly sort after collectors items.

This mixing bowl is the latest release for 2010 and will no doubt also become a collectors item some day.  You can pick these up from many stores (in America) and online by doing a search for Hallmark Merry Miniatures Mixer.

The bowl moves and says “Mixing up some holiday fun”.