My cousin attends High Point University in North Carolina and for her birthday we decided to send her cupcakes.  Knowing Magnolia Bakery’s cupcakes are her favorite we wanted to send her a half dozen but quickly realized the shipping from New York to North Carolina was crazy and cost more than the cupcakes!  Instead we decided to try to find something more local and affordable.  In our search we came across Little Bit O’Spice and we were incredibly happy to purchase the cupcakes from them.  Little Bit O’Spice, located in High Point, North Carolina, makes custom cakes, cupcakes, and pies.  After calling to inquire about placing an order we found out how easy Little Bit O’Spice made the process, she was even willing to deliver the cupcakes to the dorm at the University!

We needed to order a minimum of a dozen cupcakes so we chose six vanilla and six Oreo.  Little Bit O’Spice offered to include a card and was willing to work with us on the delivery date.  She took PayPal for payment and for a $3.00 fee was able to deliver the cupcakes to the dorm as long as she had the dorm name and the recipients phone number.  I talked to my cousin on Saturday after she received her birthday cupcakes and she loved them.  She said that it was a great surprise and the cupcakes were great.

You can place orders by calling 336-905-4353 or through Little Bit O’Spice’s website where you’ll find other items like cupcakes on pretzel sticks!

Just the other day I blogged about how we spoil our dog and how you can find some fun cupcake treats at Petco.  Today our dog got a special surprise, dog cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes!  Upon returning home from a business trip in Dallas, Texas my dad presented me with half a dozen cupcakes for me and a small bag.  The bag had two mini cupcakes with fondant bones on top for our dog! The doggie cupcakes cost $2.50 each and are sugar free cupcakes topped with yogurt “frosting.” Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Flare is ready for Valentine’s Day with a section of the website already dedicated to Valentine’s Day items perfect for the one you love!  I really like the fortune cookie cupcakes!  The $15.95 kit comes with 75 cupcake liners, 30 wrappers with fortunes, and a recipe book! The kit is actually versatile, it could be used for the chinese new year, or any occasion really!  The cupcake shower cap that costs $10 just makes me laugh! I wouldn’t actually wear the shower cap but it would be fun to give or receive as a joke.

Before Christmas my family and I attended Durham North Carolina’s Rock and Shop Market.  It’s a really fun event that combines craft vendors, food trucks, and local musicians.  One booth that I made a purchase from was Magic Bean Buyer who specializes in collectible keepsake clay figurines and illustrations.  For $8.00 I bought one of Magic Bean Buyer’s gray kitty cupcake toppers to give as a Christmas gift.  The cupcake toppers come in three additional colors including brown, black tuxedo, and siamese.

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Do you spoil your dog with special treats and toys?  Here at my house we definitely spoil our one year old dog.  He loves treats and I’m sure he would love these Gourmet Tails Cupcakes with Sprinkles.  The dog treats are available in vanilla and carob flavors for $4.79.  There are also 6 packs of cupcakes for dogs available in three flavors, carob mint, vanilla oat flake, and peanut butter.  If you’re unsure about feeding your dog cupcake treats there is a Valentine’s Squeaky Cupcake toy for $3.99.  All of these fun dog treats and toys are available on the Petco website.

http://youtu.be/pEO2gmdqExI

On an episode of the Nickelodeon show Victorious the characters build a giant cupcake float for the “parade parade”.  The group runs into trouble when the cupcake float they are riding inside gets a flat tire on their way to the parade.  To make matters worse, they are stuck in a bad neighborhood wearing candy pajamas.  You can watch the episode titled Terror on Cupcake Street on YouTube.

Like Stayhomecupcake, I too went to Target this week and spotted some great, cheap cupcake finds.  For only $1.00 you can get the extra large cupcake valentine’s day card! I also love the cupcake straws that include four different colors in a pack.  The straws can be purchased online for only $2.00!

Growing up in Connecticut I remember it was always fun to visit the Stamford Connecticut mall.  The mall had crazy escalators that seemed to float in mid air as they transversed from one level to another across the center of the mall.  The mall had an A&W All American Food which as kids seemed like a special treat.  Most importantly, located inside the mall was an FAO Schwarz toy store.   As a kid, it was hard to beat a toy store, especially one as great as FAO Schwarz, which is now one of the oldest operating stores in the US.

The FAO Schwarz store is long since gone from the Stamford Mall but the New York City and online stores are still open.  I was looking around the online store and was excited to find some awesome cupcake items.  My top favorite is the FAO Exclusive Pinkalicious 12.5 inch cupcake backpack!  Although it’s small the $14.99 backpack is really cute and I know little girls would love the backpack shaped like a cupcake after having had a heart shaped backpack when I was little. Read the rest of this entry »

My friend’s birthday is coming up and while I have already purchased her gift I have yet to wrap it.  I have my eye out for cupcake wrapping paper and I spotted this cupcake wrapping paper on Perpetual Kid.  The faces of the cupcakes remind me of the Bad Cupcake bag I got at Cal Poly Bookstore two years ago.  It’s $3.99 for two sheets of 20X30 inch paper.

Here in North Carolina the past few nights have been very chilly, which means it’s in the 20’s at night.  Below 30 degrees is cold to those of us in the tar heel state!  After taking the dog for his evening walk my family and I come inside and are searching for something warm.  Tea and hot chocolate tend to hit the spot but I’m thinking these Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcake recipe would be a perfect post dog walk treat, for us humans of course!  The vegan cupcake recipe which is topped a coconut whipped cream frosting was originally posted to Food 52.

Has anyone seen this movie, Mayor Cupcake?  It’s about a cupcake baker that is elected mayor of a small town after one of her cupcakes accidentally kills the mayor.  The newly elected mayor faces the challenge of helping the town that is burdened with debt.  I haven’t seen it yet but I have a feeling I would watch it ifnothing else was on TV.

Gift giving with fellow cupcake lovers is always fun.  Last night my best friend and I video iChatted while we opened our christmas gifts for each other. I was so excited to open my package and see my Christmas present wrapped in cupcake Christmas wrapping paper.  My friend said she bought it from Barnes and Noble but I also found the gift wrap on Amazon for $12.00.  For my friend’s present I used the Snow & Graham Holiday Cupcake wrap that’s $6.50 for two flat sheets. Read the rest of this entry »

These felt”I heart cupcake” hair clips are perfect present toppers or stocking stuffers.  The hair clips are made by Chloe in Style and cost only $9.00.

Last weekend while doing some holiday shopping in one of my favorite gift shops, Paper Skyscraper I noticed this cute cupcake baby toy.  It’s called a cupcake crinkler and it’s by Rich Frog Industries Inc.  It’s available on their website for $7.95 along with a list of other animals and images.  The photograph was taken with my phone which is why it is yellow in color.

Usually in May and June we share ideas for how to decorate cupcakes for high school and college graduates but the December graduates get left out! I am a December graduate so this got me thinking about cupcakes and graduation.  I found this awesome picture of a graduate who decorated her cap with a cupcake! Hmm I wonder what people would think if I did this at my commencement ceremony on Thursday? I would definitely stand out but think I would rather celebrate by eating a cupcake!

I think it is well established that we here at ATC love Johnny Cupcakes!  I myself have at least four Johnny Cupcake T-shirts and am always tempted to buy another!  The Johnny Cupcakes Boston twitter is currently doing holiday carol tweets replacing lyrics in the carols with the word “cupcake.”  There are some really funny ones like “cupcakes rosting on an open fire.  Frosting dripping from your nose” or “He bakes ’em while yr sleeping & bakes while yr awake U better B hungry on Xmas day so U eat a giant cupcake .”  If you have your own ideas for some cupcake Christmas carols use the hashtag #cupcakecarols.  Or check out their twitter page to put you in the holiday spirit!

Most people I know decorate their trees with lights, candy canes, and ornaments.  As we have already mentioned, some hang cupcake ornaments but hanging actual cupcakes on trees is new to me.  Giver’slog offers instructions on how to make cupcake domes, the perfect way to present single cupcakes when giving them as gifts.  They are also a great way  to hang cupcakes one trees as unique presentation.

Right now I am really looking forward to the end of final exams when I can go home and spend time with my family baking and wrapping christmas presents! When I came across the Novice Chef’s blog I immediately wanted to bake everything and the delicious recipes only made me want to head home for the holidays sooner.  It’s hard to choose just one cupcake recipe to share with you when there are several to choose from in the Novice Chef’s recipe archive.  The first one that caught my eye was the Biscoff cupcakes with marshmallow frosting.  My sister loves Biscoff! When we were in Belgium over the summer she went crazy for the speculoos ice cream so I know she would love these cupcakes.

I personally would like to try making the Samoas cupcakes.  Samoas are my favorite Girl Scout cookie and I have attempted homemade bar verisons of the cookie but have yet to try making a cupcake version.  The cinnamon vanilla cupcakes with candied ginger also sound perfect for the holiday season but what about something a little different? Read the rest of this entry »

Cutey is a UK based company that makes charm bracelets and costume jewelry.  All Cutely products are affordable and come in a variety of styles to suit different taste preferences.  The charm bracelets come with the unique charms already attached.  Cutey ships worldwide and delivery within the UK is free.

ATC was sent the Pontus charm bracelet to review.  The silver bracelet included seven charms, three colored and four image charms and comes in two length options, 18m or 20m.  The colors were rose, black and a marbled pink and green. I really liked the little turtle charm and the heart with a boy and girl kissing inside.  There was also a heart shaped lock and a flower bead.  I have to admit I would have liked for the bracelet to include a cupcake charm.  As cute as turtles are I like cupcakes more and know cupcake fans would be interested in a cupcake charm similar to the Pandora cupcake charm we blogged about several years ago.  Especially since this style bracelet reminded me of the Pandora bracelets based off the style charms and the ability to add and remove the beads. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you tried Gigi’s Cupcakes?  Gigi’s cupcakes are a cupcake franchise and over the Halloween weekend I stopped by the Raleigh, North Carolina location.  Since it was Halloween weekend they had several cupcakes with Halloween decoration and were very crowded.  Sadly the pumpkin cupcake was sold out and most of the cupcakes were selling quickly.  I decided on the red velvet cupcake and the four year old I was with chose the scary boo Halloween decorated cupcake.  I have to admit that I almost didn’t get a cupcake and had a hard time finding a cupcake to choose. The cupcakes did not look appealing and after trying them I felt like they were lacking in flavor.

The cupcakes were topped with a huge pile of frosting.  I have realized from these cupcakes that there is an appropriate cupcake to frosting ratio that you should aim for.  In my opinion, if your cupcakes have more frosting than there is cake, that is too much frosting.  These cupcakes really had a mountain of frosting on top and we were shocked to find more frosting inside!  Also most cupcake shops have a design that they seem to trademark like the magnolia swirl, or the dollop that a lot of shops will use.  At Gigi’s there was no consistency with the frosting design, which affects the visual quality of the cupcakes.

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For the past several years The Cupcake Bar has been a custom order bakery service for the North Carolina Triangle region.  They bake and deliver cupcakes to Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and some of the surrounding areas.  I have had the opportunity to try their cupcakes at their “Singles Nights” where individual cupcakes were available for purchase, you could buy only one cupcake instead of placing a whole order.  The Cupcake Bar has decided to expand and have decided to open a shop in downtown Durham, NC.  To help them open up their retail shop they’re asking fans of their cupcakes to be “bar backers.”  There is a catch to being a bar baker but it’s a good catch.  For each donation you make you receive something in exchange; for example, a $10 donation will get you one cupcake, a $25 donation will get you four cupcakes.  As the monetary amount increases, the exchange gift gets larger and you get more than just cupcakes T-shirts, donations to charity, letterpress prints, and invites to a special party are offered for larger donations.  I like the idea of getting something in return for given and supporting a cupcake company. Watch the IndieGoGo video and check out the website for more details.

I love going to Trader Joe’s! They always have delicious samples and great food products, I highly recommend the Pastry Bites with feta cheese and caramelized onions!  My sister told me they have giant peppermint cupcakes for the holiday season, I haven’t tried them yet but the next time I’m in Trader Joe’s I plan on picking one up!

Paperless Post is offering a new line of free, informal holiday invitations and cards.  Included in the line is this fun snowman cupcake electronic card, a quick and easy way to wish your friends and family a happy holiday season.  Once you sign in to Paperless Post you can customize the text, font style, color, and more!

I don’t watch a lot of sports which might explain why I have never heard this term before.  According to Urban Dictionary‘s definition, a Cupcake Team “refers to the crappy team many Division FBS colleges use as a warm-up for their football season and to sell tickets to alumni.  Teams that fill up on cupcake teams often get fat and lazy.” Being a cupcake team seems to have a very negative connotation attached to it, have you heard any sports fans use this term?

Did anyone out there brave the mall this weekend and happen to buy any of these cute cupcake items from Gap Kids?  I have been avoiding shopping malls but there are still tons of great deals on the internet.  The cupcake clutch is marked down to $17.46 and the socks are $9.00 for a three pack.  I seriously wish the pink and green cupcake pajamas came in my size instead of little girls.  And of course every little baby wold look cute in the cupcake sleep set for $19.80.  Gap is offering free shipping on orders over $50.00 and 20% off your purchase through tonight so hurry and place those orders!