It was Cupcake Designer’s birthday the other week and she decided on a green theme. So I got these fantastic wrappers from Green Party Goods, aren’t they adorable.

When using wrappers, I have learnt that it is usually best to go with a white chocolate or vanilla cupcake mixture to ensure the color remains true, and I couldn’t be happier with how these turned out.

Have you thought of making fondant birds for your cupcakes?  they are really easy if you follow the instructions on Wilton’s website and they were very popular.  Next time though I think that I might make the nests brown with a chocolate ganache!

Ok, this is just too funny.  I really want one of these.  Visit Woot if you need one too!

They are only $15 with free shipping!  They come in a range of sizes, from kids’ sizes to roomy sizes for those of us who have eaten one too many cupcakes!  I am going to go order mine now.

Looking for a cute way to package your cupcakes?  Prima Stationary has several varieties of Cupcake/Favor Boxes to choose from for your packaging needs.  You have the option of choosing printed boxes, mini size, and regular size.  Each set includes 6 boxes, 6 pieces of flowers and 6 pieces of ribbon, labels and box bases.  The mini size box is  2″ x 2″ while the slightly larger regular size box is 3″ x 3″. The printed boxes, which are the same size as the regular boxes, feature images such as flowers, rabbits, argyle, polka dots, panda bears, and robots.

And be sure to look around the site, I also noticed a kid friendly cupcake stamp, a cute miniature spiral cupcake notebook, a cupcake card set for kids, or a bird topped cupcake greeting card!

Need a cupcake stand that’s a lil’ FuNkY but also eco-friendly? If so, there is a website that has exactly what you need.

Mini Zebra Eco-Cupcake Stand from Green Party Goods

Green Party Goods is a website that specializes in green party goods, planet friendly products for any celebration and much much more!

We just love it when our readers send in cool pictures.  Thank you!  As for the crown-bearing cupcake, DeDe writes:  

I’ve wanted a tattoo for as long as I can remember, but my fear of needles and pain has prevented it for much of my life.  But my BFF finally just made me do it…and I’m so excited that I did.  I have a strange obsession with crowns and a deep love of cupcakes, so what better way to show them off than together?  Thanks to your site for the inspiration!

And thank you to Melanie for sharing her cool socks with us!  And what a great picture too! 

And Amy from Detroit writes of her tattoo:  I wanted to share my cupcake tattoo with you guys… and I only discovered your site after searching “cupcake tattoos” a while back when coming up with my idea.  I drew the tattoo, however the amazing artist really made it so much better.  It’s on my back.  I absolutely love Halloween and colorful innocent sweet things… if you couldn’t tell !!

Found via Oh Joy! Eats,  the retro cupcake trailer, Enjoy Cupcakes made her lust list.  They have two locations, the first is in Los Olives, the newer location is a vintage cupcake trailer, parked in Solvang, California.  Enjoy Cupcakes features unique cupcake flavors inspired by local produce, flavors, and wines.  The menu changes weekly based on what is grown in the owners garden or the produce local farmers have to offer.  Store hours are Thursday to Sunday 11am-6pm and this week’s flavors include Chocolate Blackberry Syrah, 5 Spice Curry Chardonnay, Peanut Butter Cup, Triple Vanilla, German Chocolate and Lemon Honey.

Bill Rancic frosts cupcakes for 11 year old Eric Hernandez (right)

Cupcakes will brighten the day of any child, but in hospital, even more so!  The South Town Star reported that “Rancic, the original winner on the reality TV Show ‘The Apprentice’ and his wife Giuliana, host of E! News passed out 150 cupcakes to children on Monday at Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn.”

“The couple partnered with Candace and Charles Nelson, owners of Sprinkles Cupcakes to donate $15,000 to the children’s hospital and its Ronald McDonald House”.

Real Simple Magazine is always coming up with new uses for old things.  This idea is even featured in the New Uses for Old Things Hall of Fame!  LifeSavers candy can be used to hold birthday candles. The original roll for the sized candy that ensures a snug fit. If you place the candy in the candle before putting on to the frosting, there won’t be marks left from the candles.

Mini Cupcake Factory by ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek, the purveyor of many things great and geeky, has recently gone into the business of selling geek food.  They started with canned bacon (seriously) and have now moved on to making mini cupcake factories available to geeks everywhere. The mini cupcake factory bakes seven tiny cupcakes in 5 minutes.  According to the website, any storebought or scratch-made cake mix will do and tiny paper cups are optional.

The one con I can think of for a mini cupcake factory is that if you’re into giant cupcakes, this really isn’t going to do it for you.  On the other hand, the pros are 7 cupcakes in 5 minutes (!) and a higher lightly crispy outer crust to inner cake ratio.  Take a look at the video and see what you think:  Mini Cupcake Factory by ThinkGeek

Visit New Times to see a slideshow of South Florida chefs, cooks, and bakers and their tattoos!  Here are a few of my favorites, which belong to Amanda Linton, the co-owner of House of Sweets Bakery in Delray Beach.

Hello cupcake fans!!  Tonight I’d like to introduce you to our newest ATC advertiser, FunFavors.   This Etsy crafter’s creative shop is dedicated to personalizing all types of events.  They create invitations, party decor and super cute cookie favors!  Check out a few of my favorites:

 Be sure to become FunFavors fan on Facebook and Twitter!

Next week, ATC will be hosting a sweet giveaway for FunFavors but I’m not going to tell you what they are giving away!  Check out theirEtsy shop to see if you can guess what it will be!

On the weekend my good friend came back from an Indian wedding and on her hands she had the most gorgeous henna tattoos.  Immediately I thought of cupcakes, as you do whenever there is a celebration at hand, and I had this brilliant unique idea, why not make henna inspired cupcakes?

So I jumped onto the internet, but of course I am not the first with this idea, so instead of make them myself I thought I would share with you my findings!

I might still make them at some point, perhaps when I am feeling a tad less intimidated :)

These images are top left by The Little Cakery, directly above by Small Things Iced and to the left by Cupcakes N Things.

They all look beautiful!

One Determined Gardener has made incredibly creative cupcake toppers.  She used Hollyhock Dolls to top cupcakes! To make the dolls, a hollyhock bud and partially opened flower along with scissors and a toothpick are needed.  Follow the three steps with pictures to create the doll and you have your cupcake decoration.  One Determined Gardener made honey cupcakes with buttercream frosting to display her hollyhock dolls.

I found these amazing cupcakes on Flickr the other day and had to share them with you.  These princesses including Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty were made by Solange a Brazilian Cupcake Designer.

They are so perfect, but as you know, what is a princess without her accessories, so Solange made accessory cupcakes too!  I like this princess cupcake style – I just need my designer bag and sun glasses!

photo courtesy of Look Cupcake

These were created for a first birthday party that was ever-so-appropriately hosted at Woodland Park Zoo.   I like the mural-like frosting art on the cake, but am particularly tickled by the detailing on the cupcakes:

Photo courtesy of Look Cupcake

Rawr! Beware the wild cupcake!  They may be sweet, but they are fierce!

We are still waiting to hear from this past cookbook winner! 

Wani
June 28th, 2010 at 1:27 pm

I just had my third kiddo less than two months ago. I love the whole process of putting together really fun and personal birthday parties for my children and that includes the cake (or cupcakes). I would love to get Hello Cupcake to learn some skills that would help me to make all of their special days even more special!! ;-)

Congratulations! Please send your mailing address to [email protected].   Special thanks to Snubbr for sponsoring this awesome giveaway.

Sprinkles, a cakery in Winter Park, Florida, is now offering CakeShooters.

Layers of cake and frosting in a plastic contraption that allows you to “shoot” the cake into your mouth.  It might remind you of the pushpops you had as a kid.  Or it might remind you of the jello shooters you had in college. 

Let me remind you that it is illegal to eat cupcakes and drive in most states, no matter how adorable the temptation.

These tantalizing little devils cost $3 each and come in six flavors:  Yellow Raspberry Swirl, Pina Colada, O.M.G., Signature, Vanilla, and Chocolate. 

For real:  What will they think of next?

We usually think of cupcakes as a treat that’s available to everyone. Their small size seems to even make them an option for those with more restricted diets. This, sadly, isn’t entirely true, especially for those with celiac disease and gluten intolerance.  When you can’t eat wheat flour, creating cupcakes becomes a much bigger undertaking.

This is where Miglet’s Cupcake Shop of Danville, CA, comes in to save the day.  Miglet’s specializes in gluten-free baked goods – they started with cupcakes and soon expanded to everything from cinnamon buns to hamburger buns.  Katie Alin, Miglet’s founder, started the bakery after working at The Taylor Family Foundation’s Celiac Camp and at Whole Foods and seeing how hard it was for those with gluten-free diets to satisfy their sweet tooth. Read the rest of this entry »

This week we had some hot cupcake spottings by a few of our loyal fans and I just had to pass them on to you.

The Disney Store  just recently began selling this adorable line of Minnie Mouse cupcake items.   Thanks Christine for letting us know about them!

They also had lunchbags, pencil boxes, water bottles, pajamas, and nightgowns all with the same cupcake theme.

ATC Facebook fan, Heaven, also let us know about cupcakes at The Children’s Place.  Check out these must-haves:

She also saw school supplies, umbrellas, raincoats, hoodies, and baby shoes!

Thanks for letting us know about these sweet finds.  Keep them comin’ our way!

Is it a cupcake or ice cream?

This is very deceiving! I love ice cream and cupcakes so this is a good concoction for me (although it doesn’t have any ice cream in it, but I can pretend).

I found recipe for Soft Serve Swirl Cupcakes on Wilton.

Now this is an ice cream that will not melt in the devouring heat.

I think it is high time the phrase “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” is reworked. Unfortunately diamonds can be a ‘tad’ expensive, so in the place of the diamond (while we work on our boy to buy them for us) we need a substitute!  Hello little adorable cupcake!

My proposal is that from now on it should be “cupcakes and diamonds are a girl’s best friend”.  So given that, I couldn’t believe my eyes when Kiwi sent in a picture of her recent tattoo!  On top of this cupcake is a diamond for which any girl would be proud, though I do recommend removing any real diamonds or rings (what a fantastic way to propose) before consuming!

Kiwi’s tat is on her foot and was designed by Reno of High Class Tattoo in Fresno, Ca. So too Read the rest of this entry »

Luau cupcakes!, originally uploaded by Lairy the Cupcake Fairy’s creations.

These sultry July days just make me want to hit the beach with a cold drink and one of those fancy paper umbrellas. Then, I saw this picture on Flickr and realized I also need to bring cupcakes with me. Isn’t this a cool idea? (The decorating I mean, not necessarily my trip to the beach.)

Anyone who has checked out Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit‘s website knows there’s a standard protocol she follows.  She creates cupcake recipes then blogs about the recipe and images that correlate.  Recenly she deviated from her standard formula with a post that I thought allthingscupcake readers would find helpful. She has five steps that she suggest cupcake bakers follow when baking in bulk.  These steps include finding inspiration and coming up with a high level plan, writing out all recipes, preparing a plan and the ingredients, preparing all the recipes and storing them for final assembly, and finally assembling, packing for delivery, unpacking, and presenting.   For details on these tips be sure to visit Chockylit’s website.

Today is my (hungry runner’s) birthday and I just received an email which included Ten Images of Inspiration, Birthday themed by Design is Mine. The first two images from the set of ten, shown below, are perfect for cupcake lovers.  The first image is by Paul Barbera and is from Book out now in Holland Cup Cakes. The second, a partially eaten cupcake from Danske’s Flikr. To view the other ten images be sure to check out Design is Mine!

I’ve heard of some strange collections on my journeys, such as Graham Barker’s Navel Fluff Collection, or the Air Sickness Bag collection, both of which I would rather not have in my own home!  But what about cupcake pans?

Naturally I say I have a collection, from your standard cupcake pan to your mini, your loaf style and the mini Bundt style which is my latest addition, but they hardly feature on my walls.  The only time these are visible is stacked beside the sink covered in baked batter.  So I was surprised when I stumbled upon a question in the Sun News which asked, “when were the earliest muffin or cupcake pans made in the United States?”

The answer is that the origin of most pans date back to the 19th century and if you have a rare one it could be worth up to $500.

So it got me thinking and I wondered exactly how old the first cupcake is?  The answer, according to Crazy About Cupcakes, is that they were first mentioned in 1828 in E. Leslie’s ‘Receipts’.  Apparently according ‘The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America’ the ‘cup’ part of the “name had a double meaning because of the practice of baking in small containers – including tea cups”.

I’m now feeling educated, but I don’t think cupcake pan collecting is for me.  The image above comes from Go Antiques where you can pick up this cupcake pan for $85USD.

For more  strange collections check out Neatorama.