Spooky ring pop reader Halloween cupcakes

These spooky ring pop Halloween cupcakes were sent in by Cupcakes Take the Cake reader Carrie Williams of Washington, DC, who blogs at Heavenly Babycakes.



Random bonus photo, also via her blog - "crab" cakes, using crab cupcake toppers.

Orange Oreo cookies in Halloween cupcakes, plus ghosts, spider webs and Halloween

More Halloween cupcakes from Hol-Berry's Cupcakes in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, these using orange-creme filled Oreo cookies in the center to make them festive for Halloween. Also: ghost cupcakes, candy corn cupcakes and chocolate spider webs. via Flickr

Chocolate pumpkin and spider web and ghosts on red velvet Halloween cupcakes

This cupcake is by A Little Something....Sweet via Flickr.




red velvet, cream cheese frosting and white chocolate ghosts

Halloween Cupcake-Carved Pumpkin

This is pretty cool if you ask me. And, even if you don't.








and final product:








Both shots of Cake-Ology (Manitoba, Canada) by 'Lil.

Halloween, surfboard, Super Mario, Butterfinger cupcakes and more (just to mix things up)

These fun cupcakes (I couldn't stick to just Halloween ones, look below to see why!) are all from the Facebook page of Santa Clarita, California's The Cupcake Tree Bakery. You can also follow them @CupcakeTreeBkry on Twitter.














Butterfinger cupcake

The Cupcake Tree Bakery
18836 Soledad Canyon Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA, 91351
661-251-9866 (YUMM)
orders at thecupcaketreebakery.com
info at thecupcaketreebakery.com

Boo!

Happy Halloween!







"Cupcake Eyes" instagram by brent_buford.

Free Halloween mini cupcakes today til 7 at The Divine Cupcake, Eugene, Oregon

Today at The Divine Cupcake at 1680 West 11th Avenue in Eugene, Oregon, there are free mini cupcakes until 7 - via their Facebook page, where I also got these lovely Halloween cupcake photos! Visit divinecupcake.com for more information and menu and custom orders.


cute Halloween cookies on cupcakes


candy corn and mummy cupcakes


oozing "blood" vampire cupcake


This ghost is my personal favorite of the bunch! Maybe because of the big eyes and nose, maybe because of the orange sugar peeking out beneath, I'm not really sure.

Full disclosure: I'm not entirely sure what this pumpkin below is made from. I suspect it's not a cupcake but I'm including it anyway because, well, it's Halloween!

Halloween at Hello, Cupcake in Tacoma, WA

At an impromptu stop to downtown Tacoma last week, I made my way to Hello, Cupcake on Pacific Avenue.  To my surprise, their cupcakes were decorated for Fall and Halloween!  I've been into this shop several times since they opened a few years ago, but I've never seen them decorated quite like this!  So sweet to see them dressed up!

For more info about Hello, Cupcake, visit their website or you can find them on Facebook!

Christmas cupcake ornaments! 

CakeSpy art on their wall! 

Fish + Cupcake: Peter

I think the winner in the Pick Yer Poison contest is clear.








Mr. Peter (the Japanese fighting/Beta fish) has chosen the cupcake on the left. I assume that was a good choice and that he survived the decision.

Never thought I'd see a "fish + cupcake" shot.


Excellence by Delusion Productions.

Devil devil's food cupcakes, mummies with eyes and orange velvet cupcakes with Halloween swirl frosting

I'm all about these cupcakes by blogger Diary of a Mad Hausfrau! via Flickr

Have devils (or devil's food) ever been cuter? I see what I think is sugar on the devil's face and it makes me think the devil is sweating. Am I overthinking a cupcake? Perhaps, but that was my first thought on seeing it. Anyway, these devils and mummy cupcakes are a lot of fun, and just spooky enough for Halloween. I'm really liking that some people are going for scary, gross-out Halloween cupcakes and some for ultra cuteness.







And click here for more of her orange velvet cupcakes with Halloween swirl frosting, including the recipes, like the Magnolia Bakery vanilla buttercream recipe!

Cupcake Baker of the Week: Lindsey Hopkins (Happy Halloween!)

Happy Halloween! I wanted to introduce an early Baker of the Week whose cupcakes and costume couldn't be more appropriate to get us into the spirit of the holiday. (Well, maybe if she had been in this Adult Cupcake Costume.) This joyful witch is Lindsey Hopkins, a stay-at-home mom and avid baker for a young son who has already developed a love for cupcakes.

Read on to find out more about Lipton Alligator Soup (?!), baking in a power outage, and why neighbors can be helpful. Also get some spooky inspiration from Lindsey's spiderweb cupcakes below.

In Lindsey's words, "sharing always makes your cupcakes taste better." Amen. Even if they are ricochet biscuts.

Name: Lindsey Hopkins
Location: Beaumont,Alberta (small town outside of Edmonton)
Website: www.lovecake.ca

1. How did you get into cupcake baking?
I’m fairly certain that Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson, my mom and my grandmothers had a lot to do with me getting into cupcake baking. Baking was always happening somewhere around me, from coffee cake at my grandma’s house, to the best pancakes at my Nana’s, to after-school snacks of chocolate chip cookies and lipton alligator soup made by my mom. So, around the age of 13 or 14, I guess I felt like I needed to find my own niche in baking that appealed to me, and it was the petite two-bite version of a whole cake with your very own personal swirl of sweet icing that made the cut. I remember not baking very often, since I admittedly made a big mess in the kitchen for my poor mom to clean up behind me, but when I did it was special for me.

2. Do you have a signature cupcake?
Sadly, I do not have a true signature cupcake. I wish I did. Though, I can tell you the very best cupcake I ever made was a Snickers inspired cupcake. Devil’s Food cake base with a French vanilla spread of icing mixed with crushed snickers and a frozen slice of Snickers on top. When I made these, I lived in a small ski town, Fernie B.C., and we had just been dumped on with at least a couple feet of snow. The power went out just as I finished baking my cupcakes, so I had to decorate them by flashlight held by my brother. I was 16 and I remember our neighbors had a small child and I thought maybe this would keep him/her from being scared of the dark. They were super moist and topped with my favourite candy bar - truly delicious.

3. What kind of cupcake do you plan to bake next?
A vanilla bean cupcake with a strawberry cream cheese frosting with the base dipped in chocolate coating and graham crumbs. My cupcake version of strawberry cheesecake.

4. Where do you find inspiration?
Inspiration is found in every Martha Stewart magazine, cook book, TV show, article, or TV appearance. Nigella Lawson also inspires me to just focus on making everything as delicious as possible. And I also find inspiration in sneaking through Flickr accounts and Googling bakeries. There are so many amazing cupcake bakers out there that keep me baking.

5. Describe a memorable (funny/disastrous/life-changing) cupcake baking moment you've had. 

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of white cupcakes to test out a new Swiss meringue icing recipe I found. Not only was I testing a new icing recipe, but I was making my first white cupcake recipe in a long time and thought I would Google a recipe. Needless to say, the cupcakes were not as good as I had hoped they would be. They turned out to be quite dry and hardened in no time. {However, the icing turned out delicious!} But, because I do not like cupcakes to go to waste, good or bad , I called up my neighbor to see if she and her husband would be interested in helping my hubby and I eat these cupcakes up. Now everytime I make cupcakes - or bake, for that matter - my neighbor is quick to remind me that he doesn’t want any more “Ricochet Biscuits."

6. Give one piece of cupcake advice for other bakers out there. 
JUST KEEP BAKING. I make a LOT of mistakes. I try a LOT of new methods and recipes that are not up to my expectations. So DON’T get discouraged when things do not go the way you hope. If you just keep baking, you’ll remember what not to do next time or what recipe to get rid of. And SHARE your baked goods; unless they are Ricochet Biscuits, sharing always makes your cupcakes taste better.



Thanks, Lindsey! Stay tuned for next week's Cupcake Baker of the Week. Leave us questions, feedback, and suggestions for future bakers in the comments below, or e-mail us at cupcakestakethecake@gmail.com with the subject "Hey Melissa! Meet this Cupcake Baker!"

Spider, witch hat an orange ghost Halloween cupcakes

These cupcakes are all by Love Lane Cupcakes in Banchory Aberdeenshire Scotland, UK (via Flickr).

Kids and Cupcakes: Max

Messy cupcake faces leave me weak-kneed with laughter.







Shot by xparxy.

Fun Halloween cupcake and topper project

Not as much scary as adorable, the ghost cupcake:






Complete with a how-to and free downloads here. Excellent project and image at the Craft Nest by Alanna George.

Happy Halloween from Cupcakes Take the Cake

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween, whether you're dressing up or not. Collectively, I think cupcake bakers and bloggers and bakeries have outdone themselves this year with the extent of their baking creativity when it comes to fun, spooky, outrageous Halloween cupcakes. If you make some tomorrow, feel free to send them as we'll post some highlights next week too as we move on to the other upcoming holidays.


ghost and pumpkin cupcakes with Halloween cupcake wrappers by Cupcakes To Go Go via Facebook - they were selling these wrappers for 50 cents each, not sure if any are left. They are not open Sundays (Facebook says open Monday-Saturday, their site says Tuesday-Saturday) but I loved these cupcakes so much, I'm posting them now anyway. And who says you can only have cute pumpkin cupcakes on Halloween? Or stock up for next year.

Cupcakes to Go Go
2524 W. Edmond Rd.
Edmond, OK 73011
405-330-2190
orders at cupcakestogogo.com

Spotted at Sanity/Fear Rally

Spotted by reader and cupcake enthusiast Stephanie R. at the rally today in Washington, DC. I bet Georgetown Cupcakes was packed.