I got out of work early today and I said to myself , “I can make it to the thrift store before 5!” And I am glad I got out of work early. As i was searching primarily in the kitchen section I came across a single cupcake coaster and it was only 25 cents! I had to have it, but what does one do with one coaster???  I made it into a wall hanging!! I took some twine I  had hanging around and glued it on the back of the coaster to make a loop so you can hang it on the wall. And here it is …

Such a good find!

The fifth graders of Newfield Elementary School have done something that most of can’t even imagine. They raised more than $1,000 for charity. The event was planned by Evan Hyman, a fifth grade student who lost his father to cancer last December. The teachers, students and parents, all chipped in to bake the cupcakes. The money raised from this event will go to the Richard Rosenthal Hospice Residence in Stamford.

Evan Hyman’s father Howard Hyman who was 42 years old had spent the last days of his life at Hospice. His family wanted to raise money for the hospital to mark the one year anniversary of his tragic death. Evan thought of this idea when he was competing for the post of president of student council of the school.

He said that the Hospice took very good care of his father and he wanted to give something back to them. If you also want to donate money to Evan’s fund, contact Hospice Care of Southwestern CT.

http://www.connecticutplus.com/cplus/information/news/health/Cupcakes-for-a-Cause-raises-funds-for-the-Richard-Rosenthal-Hospice-Residence-in-Stamford70927092.shtml

Our first giveaway of 2010 comes to us from a sweet site called Sweet Bling. They specialize in exquisite cupcake charms and shirts. I proudly own this Sweet Bling t-shirt:

The shirt is very comfortable and allows me to show my love for cupcakes without looking like a kid! The best part are the little Swarovski crystals used as embellishments on the frosting.    I have worn it many times and have received many compliments.

Take a look at a few other fabulous items found at Sweet Bling:

Sweet Bling is offering a 15% discount on all purchases made by All Things Cupcake fans this week!  Just type “ATC” in the coupon code area upon checkout.

In addition, Sweet Bling is giving away one black “One Haute Cupcake” shirt to a lucky reader.  To enter this giveaway, go to www.sweetbling.com and look around at their items.  Then come back to ATC and tell us in the comment area below what your favorite cupcake charm AND favorite shirt design was.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, February 25th.  Thanks again to Sweet Bling for sponsoring this sweet giveaway!

My sister passed along this image titled “Sweet Music” was created by Sarah Illenberger, a Berlin based photographer.  After looking around on her website you will notice a common theme throughout her portfolio, food! Illenberger has worked in various media outlets including magazines and advertisements, she has even won several awards for her work.

When your world is getting out of control just take a look at this print and relax …

Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake

I found this at JennysBakeShop on ETSY They sell lots of other unique baking prints.

Taste of Home recently posted this yummy looking Chocolate Cookie Cake recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) white cake mix
• 16 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely crushed
• 1 package (3 ounces) Kraft Philadelphia® – Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• Additional cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies

Directions

• Prepare cake batter according to package directions; stir in crushed cookies. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan.
• Bake at 350° for 33-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in cream until mixture begins to thicken. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Frost cake. Garnish with additional cookies. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12 servings.

Most cake recipes can be easily modified to make cupcakes and Sassybellewares recently blogged about how she did this.  She called them Crazy Good Cupcakes so they are definitely worth a try!

I found this adorable Birthday Cupcake Card on MadeByGirl.com!

B-Day Cupcake

Posted by HeatherLynn on January 13th, 2010 . Filed under: Cupcake Ideas . (edit)

WOW … is all I can say when I ate these yummy yummy in my tummy cupcakes. It’s the perfect mixture of sweet and tangy.  So here it is … brace yourself, here is how I baked them!

First we start with the cupcake itself …

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup  Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 can of cherry pie filling

Line muffin tin with cupcake liner, make about 24 cupcakes. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Strain cherry pie filling as best you can. Reserve the liquid from the filling to decorate with and set cherries aside.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Fold in cherries.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for about 2o minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let sit for 5 minutes then put on cooling rack.

And on to the frosting….

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Add the cocoa powder, extract, and confectioners’ sugar and blend with the mixer on low speed until the ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy.

Once cupcakes are cooled completey you can frost them. I used a 1M tip to frost mine. You do it anyway you like.  Once all frosted is all on you can go ahead and add a lil extra with the cherry filling. The technique i used was to put all of the reserved filling in a small disposable decorating bag and cut off a TINY piece of the tip, just enough for  a thin line of filling. And then make lines over the frosting for a cool effect … and it adds a bit of a tang to the frosting!

And Viola!

I love getting catalogs in the mail and looking through all the pages just hoping to see something wonderful (and cupcake!)  I recently got my Pottery Barn Kids catalog and found this lovely children’s quilted bedding.

The set is called Darcie Quilted Bedding and it comes in lavender or pink.  So adorable!

Hi there, its Holli. I just wanted to share my Vanilla Cinnamon New Years cupcakes with you guys! I did a simple vanilla cake mix ( I was on vacation so I cheated! ) and added a tablespoon of cinnamon to the mix! Poured the batter into gold liners, then sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar before baking! Then for the frosting I used a simple butter+powered sugar recipe then added a little vanilla and cinnamon! I used a plastic bag to pipe the frosting ( I left my piping bags at home =[ ) and decorated them with silver edible glitter and ivory pearlized sugar candy. Topped with a Happy New Years sign! =]

<3Holli

sent two pictures of the cupcakes, and one of me and my cousin who helped me make them! I’m on the left! =] hope your new years was awesome!

Its hard to decide whether to eat them or just look at them. Aren’t they gorgeous!

This weekend I made Red Velvet Cupcakes from Stefanie’s Red Velvet Cupcake Mix.  The package comes with just about everything you need to make the cupcakes, the cupcake liners are even included. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sweet Paul’s Etsy he has listed white cupcake paper cups.  The set of 24 paper cups that are made from grease proof paper cost $4.50.  They remind me of Sweet Revenge’s cupcakes that use parchment paper as liners.

sweet revenge cupcakes

My boss recently sent me a few links to some very interesting Packaging ideas for Cupcakes …

Lovely Package – Lola’s Kitchen

luxcrux.com – Billy’s Bakery

Very cool and interesting ideas for Cupcakes!

OurFacebook Community is growing everyday and we are now over 700 strong!   I am amazed by the fan cupcake photos that are posted there.  Here are some of my favorites posted last month by Ro Rie Villa Rama.

There is nothing better than a nice cupcake to quench a sudden sugar craving. But do you know that one batch or cupcakes can contain more than one cup of butter? Needless to say, most calorie conscious people see these tiny cute things as one of their worst enemies.

But do you know that by changing few things in the cupcake recipe, you can make it much healthier? Yes, for example, instead of using butter you can use canola oil which is rich in monounsaturated fats. You can also add a cup of applesauce or mixed fruit butter in your cupcake batter and eliminate the oil and butter completely.

Another great way to make the cupcakes healthier is to add whole wheat flour in the batter. You can use the fine flour and whole wheat one in equal proportions. This will increase the fiber content and make them easier to digest.

Now, don’t shy away from eating cupcakes. After all, life is to enjoy the things we love!

Steelhead Studio celebrated their centennial anniversary with 100 cupcakes of various games.  Can you guess the 100 games by looking at the cupcake?

Some easy ones:

Too easy?  How about a harder one:

96 more cupcakes games to guess at Steelhead Studios.

Cupcake toppers…

Vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate ganache plus sprinkles of dessicated coconut and fondant topper…

Bonita from Macau sent us an email about her cute ginger family. You can see these photos and more by visiting her Cream Me Bake Shoppe.

Thanks for sharing your creative cupcakes with us! They looks awesome! :)

You can see these cupcake photos and more at Well Kiss MyFrosting’s photostream.

Brilliant assortment of the infamous Hello Kitty and Sanrio friends.  This set was constructed by Gabby Cupcakes.  I also see Keroppi, Badtz-maru, Chococat, but alas.. no Pochacco.

I love how create people can get when it comes to coming up with unique cupcake flavors.  Baa Baa, Cupcake, Have you Any Frosting? has created prickly pear cupcakes.  I have only had prickly pear once and it was with lemonade but this recipe along with the photographs make me think I just might have to try these!  There are tons of fun and different cupcakes on the blog!

The Champagne Cupcakes she made for New Years sound delicious!

Anyone with a sweet tooth is sure to love these Snickers Cupcakes

These Honey Lavendar Cupcakes with Grapefruit would be great to make since it's citrus season.

I love the detail put into decorating these Pistachio and Cardamom with Mango Frosting Cupcakes.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords A-leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Gold Rings
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me

Eleven Pipers Piping

Ten Lords A-leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids A-Milking
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Six Geese A-Laying
Five Gold Rings
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

One of my best friends just announced last week that she is having another baby and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her.  So in honor of this new little life, I found some cute Etsy essential baby items to share. 

Cupcake Pacifier Clip $5

 Cupcake Onesie $6

Cupcake Newborn Mittens $5

Cupcake Baby Blanket $35

Cupcake Diaper Bag $59.95

I read on Eat Me Daily about Aluminum Cupcakes created by Timothy Thompson.  The cupcakes, created out of aluminum and bondo are part of the Camper Contemporary exhibition. The exhibition is in an old camper which means it is mobile! According to the website it was last parked in Baltimore.