From Pinkalicious to Strawberry Shortcake, there seems to be a domination of cupcake images with pink and with girls.  On June 21, you can even tune in to season two of Canada’s “The Cupcake Girls.”

But says who?

Jackson loves cupcakes!

I have certainly never known a boy to turn up his nose at a cupcake and say, “Ew!  That’s for girls!”  See, for example, my proof of the same:  a photograph of Jackson eating one of my homemade cupcakes.

According to Jackson’s mother, when asked for his opinion on the matter, Jackson definitely had one, and it went something like this:

Nancy:  Do boys like cupcakes more than girls?

Jackson:  Boys.

Nancy:  Why?

Jackson:  I think some girls might be allergic to them.

So there you have it from the expert!

Hostess Snack Cakes.  Gotta love their cupcakes.  Golden.  Chocolate.  Orange.  Fondant-y icing.  Seven, white squiggles down the middle.  Vanilla creme frosting in the middle.  Wrapped in plastic.  Mass producted.

Hostess is big business.  Hostess Brands, which owns Hostess Snack Cakes, employs 21,000 people in 39 bakeries in 41 states across the U.S.A.  (In case you’re interested:  they’re hiring.)

Hostess is still celebrating its February 2011 launch of the strawberry cupcake, so it’s not too late for you to vote for your favorite Hostess cupcake and get a chance to win $25,000 and other, daily prizes.

According to the Hostess Director of Marketing, “Hostess sets the standard for timeless treats that are loved from generation to generation.”  So just how many Hostess cupcakes do Americans eat every year?  600,000,000.  And it’s Memphis, Tennessee that’s the Hostess cupcake eating capital of the Hostess empire.

Cake Mixes or Cupcake Mixes?

Is the only difference between a ‘cake’ and a ‘cupcake’ the wrapper?

I’ll tell you why I’m asking.  I am probably 50/50 on making cupcakes from scratch and making cupcakes from a box.  But, now that I’m blogging, I’m rethinking everything.

So, when I pulled out a Pillsbury box from my cupboard, I noticed the picture of the cake.  It took me to the baking aisle at my local Wegman’s grocery store, where I found that every box mix pictures a cake.  There wasn’t a single cupcake promo among them.  And, on the Pillsbury website, they don’t even list their cake mixes and frostings among their products.

Pursuing this further, I found a poll on Quibblo of whether a cupcake and a cake are the same thing, but only 9 people have answered (8 yes, 1 no).  WikiAnswers wasn’t much of an analysis.

And, while doing my research, I bumped into this:  the world’s record for a cupcake is 150.7 pounds!  Now how is that still a ‘cupcake’?

Mojito Cupcake

By now, you have probably all seen or read the news that two cupcake “recipes” were used in an MI6 British Secret Intelligence cyberattack of an al-Qaeda e-zine.  What I read several days ago and took as a bit of humor in The Guardian, a British newspaper, has now become worldwide news.

So I thought:  what recipes?

According to United Press International, the two recipes used were from Main Street Cupcakes (Hudson, OH).

Wrong.  The two, specific cupakes used in the cyberattack were the “mojito cupcake” and the “rocky road cupcake.”  Yes, the mojito is from Main Street Cupakes and it’s a “white rum cake with hints of mint and lime covered in vanilla buttercream with a Mojito buttercream garnish.”  But, the “rocky road cupcake” is from Cupcake (Charleston, SC), and it’s “dark chocolate cake plus chocolate icing with toasted almonds.”  This I found out by locating the original .pdf from the Ellen Degeneres show parodied by MI6.

What I did not find were “recipes.”

We may have to file this report of recipes from “The Best Cupcakes in America” entering the public domain under “false intelligence.”

Magnolia Bakery (c Sam Dow)

Let the cupcake wars begin!

Magnolia Bakery – of Sarah Jessica Parker fame – is about to face some serious competition from Georgetown Cupcake – of DC Cupcake fame.  The official announcement, made June 7, forecasts the opening of the NYC store in winter 2011.

Can anyone weigh in on who will win this war?

Will it be Magnolia with their “delicately textured lemon cupcake filled with a tart lemon cream and topped with lemon meringue buttercream,” now on its second owner, having already been sold once since its 1996 opening in Greenich Village?  Or will it be sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne with their “Valrhona chocolate cupcake with a whipped Callebaut chocolate frosting topped with a fondant flower” at the shop in SoHo?

If the yumminess of website photographs is factor to handicap this competition, my money is on Katherine & Sophie.

With Easter just passed, I have to share one fantastic reader contribution.  These are simply amazing.

This is a cupcake tree created by Trish from Sweetology.  She says “Are you like me and look at everything and say….how can I use that object with/for/on my cupcake??”

Well this tree seemed to just appeal to her and the results are amazing!

So many choices, the obvious leader… Chocolate, the other contenders carrot and caramel… but I wanted to choose something a little different, chili!  But don’t worry, if you love chocolate, I have actually mixed the two and gone for a chili chocolate cupcake!  In fact, why not add another C, in the form of some Cinnamon!

Throw it all together and you have these wickedly good looking cupcakes…

Cinnamon, Chili, Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

As you can tell from the photo, this cupcake is from Not Quite Nigella.  Lorraine is from down under, in fact, from my original home city of Sydney.  She is making quite a statement and has a book due out next year.  But lets get to talking about this cupcake, the mud cake is rich and dense (like a good mud cake should be) and uses Dagoba Powder for the spice mix.  Don’t fret though if you don’t have this in your local supermarket as it can easily be recreated by making your own, which is explained on the blog, along with the irresistible recipe!

So you thought I would go with banana, right?  Well I am not sure about making this too healthy and seeing I featured fruit yesterday, I thought today we could do with a Triple dose of sugar!

Triple Butterscotch Cupcakes

This cupcake is from the delightful Annie’s Eats.  I have featured her cupcakes before because I am yet to try one of her recipes and not be totally in love the results, and I have been eyeing these wonderful cupcakes off since she published the recipe in November last year.

There are three parts to this cupcake, the cake, the frosting and then the butterscotch sauce, which should be applied just before serving or eating, for MAXIMUM butterscotch appeal! But why read about it? see the recipe here.

Today I am going to do something a little different, that is, feature a different cupcake each couple of days… for each I will share with you a fantastic cupcake blog which features the cupcake recipes with that alpha ingredient!  Each of these blogs have the recipe listed so you can try and make these yourself!

So first up (unless you have mastered reciting the alphabet backwards) is A, and what better than an apple! (With a name of AppleCupcake, I couldn’t really choose anything else huh?)

Spiced Apple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream

These cupcakes come from Raspberri Cupcakes and represent everything that is hearty and good about apples!  I love the look of these deep brown cupcakes that on the inside have a dense moist look, almost like a muffin, but topped with delectable buttercream.

Find the recipe here.

If you spend hours creating a cupcake work of art, you need to spend a few minutes making it look fantastic when you serve it!  Besides, you have worked hard to create your masterpiece, so it deserves to stand in the spotlight for a few minutes before it disintegrates to just a few crumbs and a great memory.  So how to do this?

Little cupcake stands!  These are a great new product from Diva Entertains and are a great way for converting a cupcake into a classy dessert! Imagine these on your dinner table at your next dinner party!  Check them out here.

How on earth would you celebrate an Art Gala at a Comic Book Store?

Jenny from Geek Sweets has the answer… with comic book cupcakes of course and these are fantastic.

Jenny has created so many different types of cupcake decorations from Flash lightning bolts to Spidermen, to Batman, to the Joker, to the characters from Watchmen!  Everything is here, including Superman in many different colors!

To check out all the individual cupcakes and get the inspiration you need for your next superhero cupcake party, check out her blog here.

Are you tired of flicking through hundreds of different Christmas cupcakes after doing your Google Image search, finding images you love, but no instructions?

Well rest your weary mouse and check out this one site.  It is of course the Wilton Cupcake site, and by clicking on this link here you will find loads of Christmas Cupcake ideas along with full instructions and lists of the equipment you need to make them.

As a baker I am constantly checking out this site as a way to learn new techniques and find new and interesting ideas.  This year I am loving the angels!  I have just got to buy myself that pan.. early christmas present perhaps?

Click on the images to go directly to the instructions for that cupcake.

There are many ways to create a cupcake christmas tree, including using cupcakes on a christmas tree cupcake stand, or what I am talking about today, and that is decorating your regular every Christmas fake or real Christmas tree with cupcake decorations!

Start with heaps of tinsel, and then put up your cupcake Christmas lights if you can get them, if not go with candy cane lights, or failing that normal lights.  Then decorate all the rest of your tree with cupcake based ornaments!  Here are some cupcake decoration ideas:

• Glass Cupcake Ornaments
• Faux Cupcakes (any design, just add a little ribbon)
• Cupcake pictures adhered to pegs
• Cupcake pictures hung by ribbons
• Felt Cupcake Pouches
• Cupcake wrapper streamers (and don’t limit yourself to the Christmas tree!!!)

Happy decorating!

Oh, and one word of caution, ensure your cupcake lights are safe to use with paper if you are making paper streamers as you don’t want a cupcake bonfire!

Its that time of year again!  Less than a month until Christmas day and you have to buy presents for all those people in your life and more often than not, you have no idea what to get!

Well here are a few cupcake ideas for a cupcake inspired Christmas!

First is a cupcake clutch, this one was spotted by Rebecca A. Cooper in Periwinkle boutique at  Shirlington and is USD $52 plus tax. The patent bag is super cute with its embossed cupcake!  See more here.

For kids, you cannot really go past this year’s best seller, the Squinkies and their Cupcake Surprise Bake Shop from Blip Toys!  You can pick this one up for just USD $39.99 from Amazon and it is currently in stock (though only just).

Or how about something a little more strange?  Like Angel Heart Design’s Cupcake Chandelier?  This white iron chandelier comes with three cupcake lights and is USD $145.00.  You can also have a say in the color of your cupcakes!

Or play it safe with body products like these adorable little cupcake soaps from Ditsy Daisies.  They are just GBP 8.50 and come in three flavors, or should that be smells!?

Then don’t forget, if they bake there are heaps of ideas around, such as cupcake liners, wrappers and toppers, not to mention cupcake books and baking trays!

Sweets for Sweetest Day by Shari's Berries

The third Saturday in October is Sweetest Day; this year that falls on October 16th. It’s a wee holiday that’s mostly celebrated up in the Great Lakes region with the giving of small gifts to loved ones. Sweetest Day originated in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 as a PR move by a committee of Cleveland confectioners: on the first Sweetest Day, 20,000 boxes of candy were distributed to the city’s poor and unfortunate by movie stars. Admittedly, giving boxes of candy to the needy is great press, but what I take away from this is that Sweetest Day is about giving to those who need it most.

I want to advocate for a revival of Sweetest Day as a holiday where we again give to the most vulnerable among us.  Since we can all agree that cupcakes are way better/sweeter than candy, it’s pretty easy to see how we can fit our favorite baked good into this equation.  Also, from what I’ve read in All Things Cupcake, cupcake aficionados are all about uniting our favorite food with philanthropy.  This is something we do naturally – it’s no secret cupcake-lovers are sweethearts.

Celebrations of Sweetest Day can be as literal as giving cupcakes to orphans, but they could also take the form of bake sales to feed the hungry or to raise awareness about epilepsy. We’ve already seen the outpouring of cupcakes and funds in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti and Jody Hall‘s use of Cupcake Royale as a platform for social justice.   Let’s use Sweetest Day as a way to celebrate the best parts of ourselves and to use cupcakes to their greatest potential – helping our fellow human beings.

—

If you decide to plan something for Sweetest Day, let us know! We at All Things Cupcake would love to hear about our readers plans to bring back what is possibly the only cupcake-related social justice holiday in existence.

Continuing the run of Uncommon (cupcake!) Goods posts, here is just the sweetest little sugar and creamer set I’ve ever seen.  Artist Beth Mueller hand-paints these herself in her studio in Vermont. I love how adorably but simply she conveys the ideas of cream and sugar!  This ceramic duo isn’t cheap, but then again you’re getting what you pay for in cute creativity and handmade in the USA quality.

Tweet Tweet Cupcake Set by Uncommon Goods

Cupcakes of a feather flock together!  Apparently, so does good cupcake merchandise, since this is my second great cupcake accessory find from Uncommon Goods.  The Tweet Tweet Cupcake Set is $12 and has enough wrappers and toppers for 24 cupcakes, which seems like a decent deal to me.  The folks at the Uncommon Goods labs were also kind enough to throw in the recipe for Orange Pineapple Sunshine Cupcakes in their blog post as well:

Orange-Pineapple Sunshine Cupcakes or Cake (Serves 21 or 16)
Cupcakes/Cake:

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup applesauce
4 eggs
1 can mandarin oranges in light syrup (11 oz.)

Frosting:

1 8 oz. container Cool Whip (Lite or Regular)
1 pkg (3-4 oz.) INSTANT vanilla pudding mix
1 can (15 1/2 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg. In a large bowl, stir together all the cake ingredients until moist. Beat by hand for 2 minutes. Chop up the oranges as you mix.

2) Line a muffin pan with cupcake papers or coat a 13×9 cake pan with cooking spray. Pour the batter into the papers/pan. Bake cupcakes for
25 minutes or bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

3) Frosting: In a large bowl, mix together all the frosting ingredients until well blended. Spread over the cupcakes/cake. Store in fridge. Enjoy!

Toolkit for Tasty Filled Cupcakes :)

I was paging through the Uncommon Goods catalog the other day when I came across this cupcake corer and decorating set.  You can find decorating sets and kits all over the place, but I thought that the corer that’s included in this kit set it apart.  Getting just the right-sized filling hole in a cupcake can be fussy, possibly crumbling the cupcake in the process.

In case you’re skeptical about this corer’s usefulness or the quality of the kit in general, Uncommon Goods did a gift lab on this product to see how well it worked. While

Finished Filled Cupcakes!

a manufacturer’s take on their own product isn’t exactly objective, the post is pretty informative about the kit’s performance.

You’ll want to click the link to get the long version, the short version is that the cupcakes weren’t picture perfect, but they turned out better than they would have without the kit.  All in all, it sounds like it’s worth the $20 price tag if you’re into making filled cupcakes on a regular basis.

Pac-Man Cupcakes by hello naomi

hello naomi takes the nerdcake for the second week in a row with her Pac-Man Cupcakes. This 80 cupcake set is an expansion on an earlier batch of Pac-Man cupcakes; the set shown above is actually a wedding cake for a friend of Naomi’s.

Super Mario Cupcake by hello naomi

There’s nothing more classic geek than Super Mario Brothers.  I love how sharply detailed the iconic little characters turn out in fondant!

Amazing cupcakes and picture by ATC favorite and baker extraordinaire, hello naomi. Thanks to GeekSugar for the cupcake tip!

After my post about the Blue Q Cupcake Shopper by the fine folks of 64 Colors, I took a tour of the 64 Colors photostream.  And what d’ya know: more cupcakes!

Cakewalk

Falling

Cuppycake Pals

Hello Kitty Print

Also, I checked around the internet, and as I far as I can tell everything here was custom, either one-of-a-kind and already sold or for a show. However, if you like 64 Colors and you don’t mind your merch not having a cupcake on it, check out their online store or search for them at Rotofugi.

2009-2010 Holiday Location of The Cupcake Store at Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is about to have a new permanent attraction: cupcakes!  The Cupcake Store, based out of Mission Viejo, CA, had such a successful temporary holiday booth at Downtown Disney that they’ve decided to open up shop there permanently. Word is that they’ll ship in cupcakes daily from the bakery in Mission Viejo to the happy hordes looking to take a break from Splash Mountain and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

The Cupcake Store is run by cupcake veteran Janel Mitchell. This is her first solo store after parting ways with business partner John Frank, with whom she founded Frostings Cupcakes.  The new Downtown Disney location is set to open up in September. With any luck, they’ll be up and running by the time I go down to SoCal for a visit in a few weeks. If that’s the case, I’ll tell you all about it!

While combing the internets for cuteness, I found Japan LA and their adorable store. Among the Hello Kitty and the sushi scarves, there I discovered some prize cupcake accessories.

Rilakkuma Cupcake Pouch - oh no, it's brand spankie new and it's already sold out!

Yummy You! Knitted Cupcake Scarf - $65

Yummy You! Knitted Cupcake Purse - $70

Applecupcake gets the credit for introducing the design collective 64 Colors to ATC earlier this summer with her post about the group’s custom-painted Cupcake Dunny.  So this is part follow-up, part realization that I own something designed by them.

The Blue Q Sweet Cupcake Shopper is equal parts adorable and useful.  It’s got plenty of space and good strap length, and is a step above most reusable shopping bags in stylish cuteness and sturdiness (woven polypropylene is tough stuff!).  Two more important Sweet Cupcake Shopper attributes: you can own one without having to tackle anyone for it, and it’s only $12.

American Cupcake's Red Velvet Fried Chicken (photo by Anthony Mylott)

San Fransisco restaurant American Cupcake decided that the world could use more red velvet.  AC’s owner Devon Alpert reckoned that if  everyone loved the flavor in cake and cupcakes, they would like it in fried chicken too.   And it looks like she was absolutely right. In the delicious words of urbandaddy:

At first glance, it’ll look like a heaping plate of leg, thigh and breast. But upon further inspection, you’ll see that the chicken has taken on a slight reddish hue. That’s because your precious fried bird has been pre-soaked in AC’s signature red velvet cake batter, then dredged in toasted, crumbled bits of red velvet cupcake before being dipped in a frying pan.

Because they don’t want their delicious fried chicken to be lonely, American Cupcake includes a side of cream cheese and garlic mashed potatoes, inspired by the frosting on the cake.