One of our readers has sent us some pictures of her own cupcake creations.  After falling in love with cupcakes several years ago, she was inspired to start her own cupcake shop in the Philippines.  Six months in, and she has created these lovely Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes.  She says that cupcakes are not as popular in the Philippines as they are in the US, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these treats give the cupcake craze a little extra attention over there!

It’s that time of year again! We are pulling out all of our thanksgiving recipes — pumpkin pie, stuffing, candied yams, the perfect gravy, pecan pie, and the list goes on.

But this year we should all put this cupcake recipe into rotation! This is one of the most inventive cupcake decorations I have seen. But, don’t take my word for it, judge for yourself.

Turkey Cupcakes from Un Muffin de Mer

How would you like your home (or office) to smell like a freshly baked cupcake? Then you might consider burning a cupcake candle! Check out this oversized wax cupcake from Dylan’s Candy Bar. The candle measures -1/2″ x 2-3/4″  and costs $8.95. And it comes in pink and purple!

I absolutely love this turkey cupcake idea.  Simply turn a chocolate cupcake on its side, place a nutter butter cookie in front for the neck and head, feather it with candy corn, and then add all the details (the white tips of candy corn for eyes, an almond for the beak, and part of a red fruit roll-up for the wattle).  This would make a cute and edible decoration for a party!

Amanda from The Clever Little Cupcake Company, a custom cake and cupcake bakery in Lanconshire county of northwest England, is responsible for these brilliant creations for her own father.

Your eyes do not deceive you. There are pills and intestines on that cupcake. Click on the picture for larger image. Please check out more of Amanda’s delicate work at her cupcake gallery. Amanda writes:

These are for my Dad as a token good luck as he is having an operation on his bowels on Monday. He won’t be able to eat things like this for a while, so I thought the bowel cupcakes might cheer him up (or he might hit me!!).

As I was flipping through the latest ad from Bed, Bath & Beyond, I came across the Surprise Cupcake Pan.  This would be the perfect way to use some of that stash of Halloween candy.  Each cavity of the cupcake pan has a post where you can stick your favorite filling, whether it be a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Mini Milky Way bar, or a maraschino cherry.  Go try this one out before all that candy disappears!

Halloween might be over, but it’s not too late to make some pumpkin cupcakes.  These would be good for celebrating Thanksgiving, or just for making a special fall treat.  These Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes from Duncan Hines look very impressive, but seem extremely simple to make.  Just roll an orange-frosted cupcake in orange sugar, press bamboo skewers into the frosting for the ribs, and add licorice for the stems and tendrils.  Super cute and super easy!

Yes, you are probably thinking that it is a little too early to be talking about snow, and for most of us it is, but since New England did experience their first snowfall recently, I thought I’d post these cute cupcakes.

Halloween is tomorrow, so you still have time to make some last minute treats.  These would be a seriously quick and easy treat to make, and you might already have all the ingredients on hand.  Just make a batch of mini chocolate cupcakes, pipe some Cool Whip on top, and add chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth.

I just found this fun spider cupcake idea this morning.  Use chocolate icing and sprinkles to cover a cupcake, use icing to attach sour ball halves to peppermints for the eyes, use a piece of red licorice for the mouth and Reese’s Pieces or M&Ms for the nose, 8 pieces of black licorice for the legs, and 2 pieces of black licorice for the pinchers.

Last year we shared with you an idea from the authors of Hello Cupcake/Whats New Cupcake on how to create a mummy out of cupcakes.  For an alternative mummy cupcake Annie from With Sprinkles on Top offers the idea of making the cupcake faces look like mummies! She bought the eye from a local candy store but I’m sure white candy with a drop of chocolate will have the same effect!

Apparently, Halloween cupcakes don’t have to gross you out. This chocolate orange marbled cupcake from Monistical is gorgeous! Visit their website for detailed instructions on how to make your own marbled masterpiece!

If you didn’t see something you liked in earlier this week’s Halloween themed cupcake toppers maybe one of these other fun, free printable toppers will be more your style.  I Heart Naptime’s toppers feature simple patterns and the phrase “trick or treat.”  Paper Squid’s freebies also include cake pop decorations.

Check out these spooky Halloween cupcakes, crafted by Sal Garcia, head baker at Urban Cookies and OllieCake in Phoenix.  He is even giving us the secrets to making our own.  For the cupcake, use this Basic Halloween Cupcake recipe, and then click on each picture to see instructions for the frosting and toppings unique to each cupcake.  The ingredients get pretty creative: fruit chews, chocolate sunflower-seed drops, red raspberries, bistro biscuits, chive sprigs, and chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds.

Spooky Spider Cupcakes

Ghoulish Ghost Cupcakes

Ghastly Graveyard Cupcakes

Like real seashells on the beach, these edible pastel sea shells sit on a of bed of apple cider icing. These sea-side cupcake creations are available with at least 14 days notice from Retro Bakery in Las Vegas, NV. Please contact them for complete pricing and availability of seasonal flavors.

Click through for 20 other seashell and beach-themed cupcake creations from bakers all over to spark your cupcake imagination for weddings, birthdays, or a rainy weekend.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was at a Sip ‘n See today for a sweet little 3-week-old girl.  As the new Mom unwrapped some sweet bows for her baby girl, I couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of cupcake bows and headbands were out there for babies.  Here’s what I came up with (click on the pictures to see more).

Our cupcake soap dispenser winner has been chosen!  We asked everyone to tell us what a cupcake was to them.  Here’s our winner and her answer:

Annette Roberson
I think cupcakes are as close to HEAVEN as you can get.. The WHITE fluffy icing as the clouds in the sky. The COLORED sugar toppings are like twinkling little stars.. The CAKE is the sun that warms your soul as you INDULGE in a DIVINE treat that I know as “CUPCAKES”… MMMMM….. HEAVENLY !!!

Congrats! Please email us at [email protected].  Thanks to all our sweet fans and to I’m With Cupcake for sponsoring this great giveaway!

Martha Stewart has just created a spooky, new cupcake for Halloween.  Impress your guests with these broken glass cupcakes.  All you have to do to make broken glass is melt sugar, pour it onto a buttered baking sheet, and once it’s cooled you simply break it into pieces.  Then, for a more gory effect, melt some cherry jam and pour it over the “glass” pieces.  Go here to see the recipe and hear Martha explain how to make these terrifying treats.

Image via Paper Crave

Looking for some free printable cupcake toppers?  We Love to Illustrate has put together a collection of printable Halloween themed cupcake toppers, free for personal use!  I came across this blog post via Paper Crave’s Free Printable Halloween Goodies, 2011 Edition post.  There are a total of seven designs to choose from, my favorites are by Bee and Tamara Henderson!

You might remember me posting this recipe several weeks ago for caramel apple cupcakes, but I just found another one that looks really yummy, too!  This one is a yellow cupcake filled with apple preserves and caramels and topped with cinnamon cream cheese buttercream frosting. Enjoy!

So I know it’s late October, and I’m supposed to be baking pumpkin cupcakes with fondant spiders on top, but I was having a lemon craving that couldn’t be beat. So I got to work on Lemon Curd-Filled Lemon Cupcakes with Zippy Lemon Frosting!

for the cupcakes:

• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs Read the rest of this entry »

Located in the Burlington Mall Food Court in Burlington Massachusetts, Shot Cakes are ice cream for cupcakes!  The idea behind Shot Cakes is simple, you combine ice cream and cupcakes for one delicious treat.  At Shot Cakes you choose the cupcake flavor for a selection of over 30 cupcakes and the decide the soft serve ice cream flavor you would like to fill your cupcake with.  Visit the Shot Cakes website to view the unique cupcake technology used to fill the cupcakes with ice cream.  All pictures are courtesy of my sister who was lucky enough to try these cupcakes and said that they were awesome!  For more traditional dessert fans, shot cakes also offers frosted cupcakes, as shown below.  Additional menu items include ice cream cones and mini shot cakes.

Wow…it’s a mouthful trying to say that!  Good Morning America has suggested several chocolate cupcake recipes to try in your own kitchen, and I thought I’d pass this one along to all of you.  These are Guinness and Bailey Irish Cupcakes.

Also in honor of the day, they have given us some ideas for making our cupcakes taste and look more like what you find at the bakery.  They suggest not over-mixing your batter, which will result in a lighter and fluffier cupcake, using exact measurements instead of just eye-balling it, and choosing high-quality ingredients (high-quality baking chocolate or real vanilla beans, for instance, create a much more flavorful product than imitations).

Hol-Berry Cupcakes from Hatfield, PA offers this simply elegant combination of cupcakes around the classic circus theme. Each creation hearkens back to simpler times of a child when colors were bright and shapes were straightforward. Even the background to the cupcake images were chosen to accent the circus feeling with retro party patterns.

Fantastic set of circus cupcakes for any lucky young birthday boy or girl!

These cupcakes are cute and very easy to make.  Bake your favorite cupcakes, ice them, unwrap some Hershey’s Kisses and attach mini Nilla wafers to them with a dab of icing, and then use a tube of icing to add a chocolate stem to the wafer.