The Cupcake Cram took place this weekend in Boulder Colorado.  Two contestants tied with 34 cupcakes eaten in 10 minutes.  A 3 cupcake overtime was declared, and professional eater Dale Boone emerged the winner.

This event seems to be an official event conducted by the World League of Competitive Eating.  I would love to see world hotdog eating champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who ate 66 hotdogs and bun in 13 minutes, attack the cupcake record.

It seems that cupcake shops are popping up all over the US at an alarming right.  Another cupcake trend seems to be following on its heels.  Cupcake Trucks.  Those mobile trucks used to serve tacos, breakfast, sandwiches, etc… have been repurposed to serve cupcakes.  A couple sighting have been reported.  Are there others that our dear readers have found?

The Cupcake Stop in New York City

The Cupcake Truck in New Haven, CT

Perfect Cupcakes in Baltimore, MD

Long touted as one of America’s healthiest and fittest cities, Boulder on Saturday will instead play host to a World League of Competitive Eating-sanctioned face-stuffing extravaganza: the inaugural Cupcake Cram at Tee & Cakes, 1932 14th St.

Four local eaters will face off against 24-time world champ Dale “Mouth of the South” Boone to see who can inhale the most cupcakes in 10 minutes.

The funny Colorado Daily article states that the cupcake shop will be preparing 200 cupcakes for the event.  By my calculations, that means 40 cupcakes per contestant.  Since this is a 10 minute event, this comes out to cupcake every 15 seconds.  Impressive and scary at the same time.

Now if they had a cupcake Enjoyment championship, I could have a chance to compete.  I have no problem enjoying a cupcake slowly.

What if you could spend a day touring cupcake shops across New Jersey  in a hotdog shaped van?  I found the journals of these intrepid food explorers describing their Cupcake World Tour.   Hopefully they all  made it back alive and in good health.

You know when cupcakes have reached another level of popularity when there exists cupcake tape.  Used as a decorative accent for gifts and packages, seems like this cupcake tape is mainly found in overseas stores.  Here it is at Peachypan.com.  Next stop.  Cupcake toilet paper!

Well… almost.  This cupcake toilet paper cozy is available at stayhomecupcake’s Etsy store.

Many of our readers are already pros at whipping up batches of cupcakes for any occasion; however, I would bet that some of you out there may still be learning all the tips and tricks.  If you find this post helpful, please comment, and I will continue to share tips.

Cupcake Tip #1: Keeping Cupcakes Fresh

If you want to keep your cupcakes fresh and soft DO NOT put them in the refrigerator, it will dry them out. You may put the unfrosted cupcakes in a container and wrap container in saran wrap to freeze them.

Then if you need to whip up a quick snack,  take out the frozen cupcakes, and immediately start frosting and decorating.  When done, place on a plate in room temperature for an hour or two to thaw.  Tastes just like fresh cupcakes.

This week, I truly envy our NY readers.  There are so many cupcake events to attend;  the latest being this Brooklyn Kitchen Blog cupcake contest.

Brooklyn NY Cupcake Cook-off? Wha?

Exactly. We are hosting the Third Annual Cupcake Cook-off at Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue, Monday May 11 from 7-9 PM. The cupcakes will be judged by our panel of cupcake judges, and winners will be announced.

Do I bake on-site?

No. All cupcakes must arrive baked, frosted, staged and assembled.

How many cupcakes?

Truly a question for the ages. We recommend that you bring as many cupcakes as you can possibly carry. We will require 6 cupcakes for judging, and the rest you will distribute to the ravenous crowd to win favor in the Popular Vote.

More details about prizes and how to enter the contest can be found at The Brooklyn Kitchen Blog.  If any of our readers attends, please take some photos to share with ATC.  Thanks!

With Mother’s day around the corner, here is an excellent DIY suggestion from Theresa Wong at thestar.com.my.  As delectable as these cupcake boxes may seem, they are in fact not edible.  They are merely paper mache containers for little treasures hidden inside of them!

All of the materials (ingredients) needed can be found at your local crafts store.  Click here for step by step DIY instructions.

As with any other english speaking country, the english language may be the same, but the terminology may be different.  Below are some terms that I had to scratch my head a little to figure out:

Foam fruit net = foam net that protects fruit

Paper cake cases = paper cupcake liners

Patty tin = muffin tin

It looks like the cupcake concept has gone to Malaysia.  We found this report of a massive 20,000 cupcake Malaysian flag being created.  According to the original news story, 150 members started working in shifts on thursday morning until staurday noon to complete this monumental task.

Unfortunately, no pictures of the final 23 feet by 15 foot cupcake flag was provided.  We do know that the malaysian flag looks like this.

This would be a stretch, but do we have any Malaysian readers who might have witnessed the event?

One of our ATC readers wrote us recently.  She has renewed my faith in attractive cupcakes found in supermarkets.  Meghan writes:

I love your website, very cute, but you must hear that a lot! anywho, I work at Publix Bakery (its like floridas biggest super market) anyways, I’m starting to become a decorator there and I thought you might like these cupcakes that I made for the website.

We love your cupcake designs Meghan.  Keep on improving!

Not much until Google arrived on the scene by making an operating system (think Windows Vista) for mobile phones.  They have named their operating system “Android” and the latest release of the software “Cupcake”.

Here is a snapshot of “Cupcake” in action.  Where is the frosting?

This is ATC’s version of the Google Android “Cupcake”.

What a way to open a new cupcake store with a bang!

Crumbs Bake Shop is due to open this week at 4th and Washington in Hoboken, New Jersey. To celebrate their new store opening, Crumbs will give away 1,000 complimentary cupcakes (1 per person) beginning at 8:00 a.m. this Saturday, May 2 at the Hoboken shop.

The Crumbs Bake Shop online store also allows custom 6-pack of cupcakes to be created and shipped to anywhere in the country.  With so many interesting flavors to choose from, it would be a hit at any special occasion.

Just got word of a recent contest up in our northerly neighbor Canada.  Cupcake Camp Ottawa is a cupcake contest that involved 3400 cupcakes, almost 100 bakers, 30 volunteers, and nearly 500 tasters we reached our goal of $2000 for Woman Alive!!

Some amazing photos of the event captured by Anna Hakim Photography.

Contest results below:

Best in Show ~ “Red Velvet Purse” by Michelle Morrison!!

Best Chocolate ~ “Before 9 Minipops” by L’Oven!!

Best Decorated ~ The “Oreo Sunrise” by Kristen LaFrance!!

Most Unique ~ “Irish Car Bomb” by Anne Patenaude!!

Honourable Mention for tastiness ~ “Lemony Lemon” by Colleen Forer!!

Here is a sweet tip for our NYC readers.  Billy’s Bakery confections are sweet enough to eat, so when we heard that she is teaming up with Rebecca Taylor to create scrumptious cupcakes inspired by her spring/summer fashion line, we thought this makes perfect (and mouth-watering!) sense. Her yummy treats come in two flavors: Vanilla Twinkle and Meow Mocha.You may not be able to wear these cupcake creations, but they will certainly taste quite delightful. What is better than a fun, flirty party dress or a sweet treat? Indulging in a cupcake that looks like your favorite frock. Delectable genius. The cupcakes are available May 1st for $2.75/piece at Billy’s Bakery in NYC, just in time for Mother’s Day.

In a flurry of chocolate cream and crumby debris, the yoga teacher crammed her last cupcake – No. 17 – winning the contest, and defeating her closest competitor by just one of the sweet treats.

Ivy Bakery held its first cupcake-eating contest outside of the shop on 87th St. in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The five competitors were given five minutes to inhale as many chocolate cupcakes as possible. The winner took home $75 and dubious bragging rights.

More about this event at the NY Daily News.

For those of you in the Northern California Bay Area, there will be the 1st Annual Rock Paper Scissors Cupcake Bake-Off! Judging will be done by you the public.  This event is sponsored by the Rock Paper Scissors Collective.

Upon entry to the event for a measly sum of $4, you will be transformed into an official judge and be given a score card, a plate, and a napkin. Judges will sample all the cupcakes and vote for their favorite. The top three winners will get a super fancy prize, including the Cupcake Bake-Off Cookbook.

See you there!