Chocolate Olive Oil & Blood Orange Cupcakes, Feb./Olive Oil Cupcake Hero!

One issue that cupcakes and cupcake lovers have to perpetually face is that our favorite tasty pastry treat isn’t exactly healthy. But what can you do? One answer that’s been floating around cupcake circles is to use olive oil in place of shortening or butter. While there’s still more than enough sugar to go around (but let’s be honest, we are working with desserts here), olive oil is great for heart health with it being all full of bad-cholesterol-removing monounsaturated fat & delicious antioxidants.

There are a lot of recipes out there, but some of the most interesting & well documented I found via I Heart Cupcakes February [Olive Oil] Cupcake Hero. It looks like there’s not much lost in translation from shortening/butter to olive oil: all the entries look and sound fantastic!

Basil Infused Olive Oil Cupcakes with White Wine

I especially like Cupcake Project’s entry, Basil-Infused Olive Oil Cupcakes with White Wine – that kind of flavor combination in a cupcake sounds intriguing.  Cupcake Project also has a recipe for Lemon & Thyme Olive Oil Cupcakes with Balsamic Vinegar Whipped Cream. I am a big fan of balsamic vinegar, and I can definitely see how the sweet tang of the balsamic would work beautifully with whipped cream.

If these semi-savory recipes don’t sound like your cup of…cupcake, I Heart Cupcake’s February Cupcake Hero gives you plenty more to choose from. Three cheers for this month’s heart-healthier Cupcake Heroes!

I know I have blogged about cupcakes baked in actual cups before but this is a little different.  Instead of using your own heat proof mugs, Fred has created this set of four Teacupacakes made out of silicone.  The set cost $17.99.

Every girl needs a little bling in their life, right? Well, the designers at Dazzle and Chunk are here to help!  They customize it your favorite items to make personalized charm bracelets.  First you choose your bracelet, then add charms and spacers.

So what  does Dazzle and Chunk have to do with cupcakes?  Well, check out a small sample of their beautiful cupcake jewelry:

 Dazzle and Chunk’s  jewelry is well-made and so perfect for all our cupcake lovers.  I own several pieces of their jewelry and I love them all!  They are sweet, yet sophisticated.  This week Dazzle and Chunk are giving away this pair of cupcake earrings. 

 Just go to Dazzle and Chunk’s  shop and look at all their jewelry.  Then come back to ATC and click on the comment area below.  Please tell us what cupcake item is your favorite AND what kind of charm you think they should create next.  This contest ends on Sunday, February 27th. 

Special thanks to Dazzle and Chunk for sponsoring this week’s giveaway!

I was searching one of my favorite online stores ShanaLogic for new interesting products  when I found this …

Happy Cupcake Dress

Love it!

A few months ago we did a fun giveaway with CSN Stores and since then they have become one of my favorite spots to find cupcake items.   Here’s some special picks I wanted to share with you today:

Cupcake Crib Bedding $127.27

 Cupcake Wall Clock $18.18

 Cupcake Baby Blanket $24.54

 All of these items would look so precious together in a nursery but I think that clock would end up in my room!

I saw this and I said .. I HAVE to have this! I think you will think the same thing once you check this out …

Deliciously Decorated Tin Cupcake Carrier

I found this at this very cool online store called Plasticland.

I seriously want this wicked bad! It looks amazing.

Totoro strike again on All Things Cupcake! Thanks to a tutorial made by one of the original Totoro cupcake-makers, Flickr member Chotda, Flickr member Way Opening made her own little Totoro cupcake army. Kawaii and tasty!

I think in this day and age that most  of us are addicted to one social media website or another, ie: Facebook, You Tube etc. And of course we know that you are addicted to Cupcakes or you wouldn’t be reading this.  So  in celebration of cupcakes and social media here is Social Media Cupcakes!

Here are a few of my favorites …

Mac Cupcakes

Twitter Cupcakes

Bake It Pretty is one of my favorite sites for everything cupcakes! I was searching their website the other day for a decorating tip that I have been searching for forever! But instead of the tip I found these Party Cupcake Kits!

They come with 24 liners and 24 toppers! Soooo cute! And totoally worth the money.

This is my favorite, Mermaid Party Cupcake Kit

Flickr is a constant source of wonder for us here at All Things Cupcake. Bakers and cupcake lovers from all around the world are constantly posting pictures of new and creative cupcake designs and flavors. 

One group of particular interest is Flickr Bake-Off!.  Bake-Off has pictures of some of the most amazing cake and cupcake designs I’ve ever seen; two of my favorite cupcake creations from this group are featured here in this post. They keep the pictures coming by encouraging group members to contact one another and conduct bake-offs via Flickr posted photos.  If you’re feeling competitive and you’re in-between cupcake competitions, this group might be the place for you.

And the winner is… Silvia Victory!
Congratulations! Please email us at [email protected] or go to OnceUponAPedestal’s Etsy shop and email her directly. Thanks to all who entered and commented on her wonderful items.  Special thanks to OnceUponAPedestal for sponsoring this giveaway!  Our next giveaway will be one week from today and it’s a good one!

Visit stayhomecupcake’s Etsy site.

Oh The Joy of Valentines Day! It’s a great excuse to make pink cupcakes. And that I did …

I used a one bowl vanilla cupcake recipe and used coconut flavoring instead of vanilla and i added one cup coconut flakes.

Here is the recipe…

One Bowl Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1 1/2 cups sugar

* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 cup shortening (very soft but not melted, Crisco is best)

* 3/4 cup milk (or half and half cream)

* 1 tablespoon coconut flavoring

* 2 large eggs

* 1 cup coconut flakes

Directions

1. Set oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour with sugar, baking powder and salt until combined.
3. Add in the shortening cream or milk, cocbut flavoring  and eggs; beat on medium speed of an electric mixer scraping the bowl constantly until just blended, fold in coconut flakes
4. Pour into paper-lined regular size muffin tins filling under just three-quarters full.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cupcakes test done.
6. Frost once completely cooled

Heather’s No  Fail Cream Cheese Frosting

* 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temp

* 8 oz cream cheese, room temp

* 16 oz confectioners sugar

* 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together with mixer  until smooth
2. Frost away

And here is my finished cupcakes on my new cupcake pedestal …

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!!

You can find this card at Tiny Prints!

Enjoy your day … I will be baking cupcakes later. :-)

Hi cupcake fans!  This is just a reminder to enter our pedestal giveaway by this Sunday night.  One winner will be announced on Monday morning. 

 Please click here to enter the giveaway. 

 OnceUponAPedestal informed me that she will also be posting several new cupcake items next week so make sure to add her shop to your favorites and check back often!  

It’s cold and flu season again and it seems that everyone I know (including me) is sick.  In hopes of making myself feel better, I went searching on Etsy.com to find some items to lift my spirits and help my cold at the same time.

Maybe a long bath might to the trick…

 Grape Cupcake Bath Bomb $4.50

Or maybe a heat wrap…

 Microwavable Neck Wrap $9.95

Or a sweet get well card…

 Set of 8 Cards $20

Or perhaps a tissue box cover…

Tissue Box Cover $11.50

I feel better already, don’t you?

Visit stayhomecupcake’s Etsy site too.

Annie of Frites and Fries brings us these tasty treats, an invention she created for her roommate. Not only does she give us lots of delicious looking pictures, she includes her recipe in her post, an altered version of the butter cake recipe featured in Gourmet in 2008 with Slashfood’s cream cheese frosting. And that wee little cinnamon roll on top just makes it as cute as all get out (yes, Annie has a recipe for that too!). This opens the door to a some other interesting alterations of the base butter cake recipe…crumb cupcakes, anyone?

February isn’t just about presidential federal holidays or your valentine…it’s also about bare-knuckles cupcake smackdowns.  The East Coast brings us the Iron Cupcake Challenge on February 28th at the Tortilla Press Cantina. Open to the amateur and the baking professional, the fifth annual Iron Cupcake Challenge will center (like its namesake) around one special ingredient: chilies.  Cost to participate is $15 for adults and $7 for kids under 12, and the proceeds from this event will go towards earthquake relief in Haiti.

From the left coast we have the third annual Cupcake Challenge on February 20th at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel. Over 20 Southern California cupcakeries will go head to head for the honor of becoming the Cupcake Challenge Champion. Since it’s LA, there’s a celebrity judge panel, but members of the public in attendance at the event also get an equal vote.  20 different cupcakes to sample, $40 at the door – if you have room in your stomach, the math works out in your favor.

I stumbled across this blog the other day with an interesting title, Dudes With Beards Eating Cupcakes.

And the title of the website says it all, its photos of dudes with beards eating cupcakes. I love cupcakes and I love dudes with beards so this is perfect for me.

Here are a few of my favorites … Check out the websites and maybe you will find a hunky man enjoying a luscious cupcake.

Valentine’s Day gift giving can get complicated. There as so many choices: flowers, cupcakes, adorable stuffed animals, a massage at the spa…mmmm, massage at the spa… So which one should you get your sweetie? Ok, after you make sure to get that massage for your significant other (and one for you, too!), I recommend making your life easier by getting two gifts in one: a cupcake bouquet.

Two cupcakeries with notable bouquet showings are Bettie’s Cakes of Saratoga Springs, New York and The Blushing Bakery of Charlotte, North Carolina.  The Blushing Bakery chooses to go with five pink (fitting!) frosting cupcakes arranged in a bucket.  Bettie’s Cakes does a classic dozen red roses in a long florist’s box.  Either way, that’s some fancy frosting work. Too good to eat? Never!

Since as we recently told you how popular red velvet cupcakes are right now, here is a recipe for “Shortcut” Red Velvet Cupcakes.  These cupcakes were posted on Alice Q. Foodie’s blog last year for Valentine’s Day but is sure to please any Valentine this year!

 This week’s giveaway comes to us from new Etsy seller OnceUponAPedestal.   In her shop you will find lovely dessert stands and pedestals.  OnceUponAPedestal gathers new and used plates in all shapes, colors and sizes and matches them with unique bases of different heights to create beautiful trays.  These are great for displaying your deliciously sweet treats.  I have thoroughly searched Etsy and have found no one else that makes these unique cupcake pedestals.

I am so happy to own this well-made and whimsical cupcake pedestal.  It holds 1-3 regular size cupcakes and is the perfect centerpiece for my cupcake displays.  The glass base is just as pretty and perfect.  This stand is now my favorite item in my cupcake collection!

This week OnceUponAPedestal is giving away this wonderful cupcake pedestal: 

 Just go toOnceUponAPedestal’s Etsy shop and look at all her amazing creations.  Then come back to ATC and click on the comment area below.  Please tell us what item is your favorite AND what kind of pedestal you think she should create next.  This contest ends on Sunday, February 14th. 

Special thanks toOnceUponAPedestal for sponsoring this week’s giveaway!

If you are ever looking for some amazing cupcake pictures, two great groups on flickr are sugary sweetness and Cupcake Obsessions!

Sugary Sweetness’s contributed  pictures all consist of mouth watering photographs of cookies, cakes, donuts, pies, candy and of course, cupcakes! There are so many delicious looking pictures you’ll have to look for yourself but her are a few of my favorites that are great for Valentine’s Day:

I Heart Cupcakes "Love Cupcake"

Tutu Cupcake By Jennifer Squires Ross

Cupcake by Lulu's Cupcakes

Similarly, Cupcake Obsessions has tons of pictures that look good enough to eat.  In addition to actual food pictures, the group contains any image that is related to cupcakes.  This means that there are cute cupcake rain boots, dishtowels, earrings, tattoos and more.

Happy World Nutella Day!  In honor of the worldwide celebration various blogs submit Nutella inspired recipes.   Here are just a few awesome cupcake ideas from years past.  If you have a Nutella cupcake recipe you love be sure to share it with us!

Carrot Squash Nutella Cupcakes

Self Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

Nutella Filled Cupcakes

Double Choclate Chunk Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

Valentine’s Day is a holiday for lovers. So what the heck are you supposed to if you’re single?  Cakelab of NYC has a solution: their Sourpuss Cupcake Pack. Instead of the usual romantic sentiments, the Sourpuss pack features conversation dot cupcakes with messages like “H8 You”, “Let it go”, and “WTF”.  You can also drown your sorrows in the accompanying Sourpuss pack flavors of banana split, chocolate chip cookie dough and black bottom.

Cakelab is not one to drive off customers – they’ve got a Sweetheart pack too, for those who have them :) This assortment comes with more conventionally messaged champagne-flavored conversation dots as well as red velvet, chocolate turtle, and chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes.

I really appreciate Cakelab’s approach to cupcakes for the upcoming heart-shaped holiday. They’re willing to be typically adorable and inventively bitter, thus capturing both sides of the Valentine’s Day market.

You’ve seen it here at All Things Cupcake, you’ve seen it everywhere:  the  pink and red and heart-shaped wave has come and it’s sweeping up our favorite little confection in its wake.  Red Velvet cupcakes are enjoying a seasonal bump in popularity (no surprise there) as cupcakeries across the nation make a run on flavors in the right color range. Ex-pat bakery Little Miss Cupcake is taking the trend to Paris with their special Valentine’s flavors La Vie En Rose, Linger, & Go All The Way.  In my own hometown, Cupcake Royale just came out with this year’s version of the Deathcake Royale,  a chocolate-packed supercake that’s only available for two weeks per annum right before Valentine’s Day.

This is just a proverbial taste of what is to come.  All Things Cupcake is here to bring you daily coverage on the latest in Valentine’s Day themed-cupcakes (and cupcake shaped items!).