Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

ATC Review: Cutey Bracelets

By on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

 

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 »

Gigi’s Cupcakes

By on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

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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ATC Review: KamNCo

By on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

KamNCo is a fun little Etsy shop that offers faux cupcakes.  These realistic cupcakes range in price from $3.00 to $8.00 for a single cupcake to $24.00 for a party pack of 4.  Each cupcake is approximately 4 inches tall and the cupcakes come in a variety of colors and decorations.

ATC was sent the pastel party cupcake in aqua for review.  As soon as I opened the package I was immediately amazed at how realistic these cupcakes are.  Inside the package t looked like I had a mini cupcake with vanilla butter cream frosting and topped with a chocolate drizzle and multi colored sprinkles.  As the product description reads the faux cupcake is very light weight, which means if used as a decoration on a Christmas tree, they will not weigh down the branches. Read the rest of this entry »

ATC Review: All-American Flour Sifter

By on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011


Jacob Bromwell manufactures authentic campfire, kitchen, and fireplace products.  These products include cooking and baking equipment such as sifters, cheese graters, pie plates, cooling racks, and more.  All Jacob Bromwell Products have a 100% lifetime guarantee to show how strongly they support their products.

Jacob Bromwell sent ATC one of their All-American Flour Sifters to be reviewed. The sifter was a stainless steel, five cup crank sifter that retails for $28.89.  I was impressed when the sifter arrived, it looked well crafted, high quality, and was very large.

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Pop Tart Cupcakes

By on Friday, July 29th, 2011

Pop Tarts were always a last minute, rushed breakfast option when I was growing up.  Even though they lack nutritional value they were always delicious!  Continuing with the breakfast cupcake posts, these Pop Tart Cupcakes by Cookies and Cups look amazing!  According to the directions you simply hollow out a vanilla cupcake, fill with strawberry preserves and top with buttercream frosting.  Garnish the frosted cupcakes with a swirl of strawberry preserves and sprinkles and you have your strawberry pop tart cupcakes.  I wonder what other pop tart flavors could be transformed into cupcakes.

ATC Review: Cupcake Lip Gloss

By on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Lipstik Factory creates hand made lip glosses in small batches. Larry G is the owner and creator of Lipstik Factory which has several flavor lines including a line of cupcake lip glosses.  Larry hand-blends, pours, shrink-bands, and labels each of his one-of-a kind creations.  ATC was sent the cupcake lip glosses to review which arrived in two different packaging styles.  In the five pack tin for $49.00, the flavors were orange cream, strawberry shortcake, pralines and cream, red velvet, and cupcake.  We were also sent an individual tube of angel cake lip gloss which costs $15.00.

The  Angel cake really did smell like angel food cake and because of Larry’s layering technique it actually looked like a slice of cake, with sprinkles on top, inside a tube.  When applying the lip gloss a little bit goes a long way and once it is on your lips you can smell the cake flavor more.  I especially liked that the lip gloss was glossy but not sticky, something that normally deters me from using lip gloss.  The angel cake flavor was a good neutral color on my lips.  The cupcake scented lip gloss had a fruity smell, and because of this it seemed perfect for kids or young teens. Read the rest of this entry »

Daisy Cakes: Durham, NC

By on Thursday, May 26th, 2011

There’s nothing I love more then trying a great, new-to-me cupcake shop.  The cupcake shop that I tried this past weekend is a little different since it is not an actual shop.  Instead it is a vintage 1978, 31 foot Airstream Sovereign cupcake mobile, named Sugar.  Daisy Cakes sets up shop, or rather Sugar, on Saturdays from 9am-12pm at the intersections of Foster and Geer Streets in downtown Durham, North Carolina.  Their Saturday location is about two blocks north of Durham’s farmer’s market location.

I have been wanting to try Daisy Cakes for some time now and was very pleased when I finally did.  Everything about the visit was great, especially the super friendly staff .  After having been to several cupcake shops where I have been disappointed by the unpleasant workers Daisy Cakes was an enjoyable visit. This husband and wife duo definitely know what their way around the kitchen!  Both are trained in the culinary arts as skilled chefs and more importantly for cupcake lovers, they are talented pastry chefs!   Read the rest of this entry »