Christmas ornament cupcakes (or cupcake Christmas ornaments)

Either way you say it, these gorgeous works of cupcake art by Hoosier Homemade (via Flickr) are quite the holiday treat. You can not only find out how to decorate your own at Hoosier Homemade, but you also get lots of links to fun holiday cupcakes. Happy decorating!

Are You Ready To Celebrate?! SEA and NYC Parties Next Tuesday

We are so excited to celebrate our sixth anniversary of Cupcakes Take The Cake with parties in both Seattle and New York City next Tuesday. It is our first time partying bicoastal with Betsy Eves from Java Cupcake hosting the Seattle Party and the New York editors and columnists (Rachel, Stacie and Melissa and Me) partying here in Brooklyn. Get your tickets today. Tell a friend.  It's your chance to eat lots of cupcakes and have a fun time!

How-To Make Your Own Cupcake Ingredients

With the Holiday Season in full swing,  I'm sure you've got your baking lists ready and plenty of holiday cupcakes to bake!  What better way to make your cupcakes then with a few homemade ingredients!

Brown Sugar - light & dark
Ryan from Ryan's Baking Blog recently posted a recipe on how to make your own brown sugar.  Now, if I knew this was this easy... I would have been making this a long time ago!

Awesome picture, Ryan! Thanks for letting us use it!

Vanilla Extract

Several months ago, Betsy from JavaCupcake.com, shared on her blog a recipe for making homemade Vanilla Extract. This extract takes a few months to really be good, but it's so worth in the end.  The picture is from Tracy from Sugarcrafter.

Buttermilk
Joy the Baker has a few amazing homemade recipes for baking.  Buttermilk is one of those ingredients that sometimes you just don't always have in your refrigerator.  Joy the Baker has several suggestions on how to make your own or what substitutions you can use for buttermilk.

Thanks for letting us borrow this picture, Joy the Baker!

Cake Flour

Recipe calls for cake flour?  Do you have no idea what the difference is between all-purpose flour and cake flour?  No problem! Joy the Baker can solve that problem for you!  Check out her recipe for cake flour and all your problems will be solved! 

Another awesome pic, Joy! 

Chocolate Curls

Need to embellish your cupcake with some chocolate curls? The Pioneer Woman has a fantastic recipe for homemade curls!  No more buying them in the store or online! 

Thanks for letting me use this great photo, Pioneer Woman! 

Pumpkin Pie Spice
I know... Thanksgiving is over, but really... Pumpkin Pie Spice is used is so many recipes, that it's just great to have on hand year round!  Why buy it when you can make it?  Joy the Baker is at it again with this great how-to on putting together your own Pumpkin Pie Spice.  Thanks Joy!

This picture comes from Joy the Baker! Thanks, Joy!

Holly jolly white chocolate caramel cupcakes and chocolate peppermint cupcakes

These cupcakes are by Sweet Elites Vegan Cupcakes based in Fresno California, who can be reached at SweetElites at gmail.com and on Facebook. As you can tell from their name, they specialize in vegan cupcakes. Descriptions from their site.




Holly Jolly cupcakes: "A trio of cinnamon imperial candies and two green leaves nestled in a creamy caramel and white chocolate buttercream imitate a winter sprig of holly. Joined with a ultra moist chocolate cake these are guaranteed to melt in your mouth and melt your heart at the same time!"


Peppermint chocolate cupcakes: "A moist chocolate cake topped with peppermint buttercream and chopped candy canes. The crunch of the candy canes and chocolate cake together are a match made in cupcake heaven!

Cute caterpillar and yellow hummingbird cupcakes by Sweet Scarlet

These caterpillar and hummingbird cupcakes are by Sweet Scarlet Cakes & Cupcakes, via their Flickr account. She's based in Brisbane, Australia and can be reached via Flickr for custom orders.


Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and fondant caterpillars and flowers.


Hummingbird Cupcakes with banana, pineapple and coconut with vanilla buttercream and fondant frangipani's.

Cupcake review: Au Bon Pain French vanilla, double chocolate and red velvet cupcakes

Last week we told you about the new limited edition cupcakes for sale at the restaurant chain Au Bon Pain, and I can now report on how they taste! You can see more photos in my Flickr set.





I was impressed with all of these cupcakes because not only were they tender and moist, they tasted like what they were supposed to. I can't tell you how many times I've had "vanilla" or "chocolate" cupcakes where all the flavor was in the frosting. That's too much work for frosting. These cupcakes were all delicious and flavorful and very rich; I couldn't finish them, but they're great for sharing.

I think the chocolate would be my favorite of the three; it's rich and dense but not overly sweet, which is something that can easily turn me off from a cupcake. I like the presentation of the cupcakes, too, with chocolate shavings atop the chocolate and red velvet, and little white chocolate chips (I think that's what they are) on top of the French vanilla cupcakes.





I'm not sure how limited "limited time" means, but look for them at Au Bon Pain.




red velvet cupcakes, which have the most calories at 400 each (350 calories for double chocolate cupcake, 320 calories for French vanilla).

Cocktail Cupcake Happy Hour tonight at Kickass Cupcakes, Somerville, MA

Kickass Cupcakes is having their cupcake happy hour tonight. From Facebook:

Cocktail Cupcake Happy Hour is tonight 5-7pm...free tastings of mini cupcakes with cocktail inspired flavors..tonight's menu...Yule Nog, Choc-o-tini with Godiva chocolate liqueur and Lemon Fizz.



And separately, for the bacon lovers, they wrote on Facebook that they were prepping "The Oink...chocolate cupcake, whipped cream center, maple frosting garnished with candied bacon and sea salt."

Kickass Cupcakes
378 Highland Avenue - Davis Square
Somerville, MA, 02144
617-628-2877
info at kickasscupcakes.com

Glittery chocolate flower cupcakes and fun designs

These cupcakes are by the UK's The Crazy Cupcake Company via their Flickr account.

Campbell's Spotty Dotty Cupcakes

These cupcakes are by Cupkates in Australia, via Flickr. You can also visit them on Facebook.

Limited edition Pinkalicious cupcakes at Crumbs Bakeshop

Pinkalicious, the popular New York Times bestselling children's book (click here to read our interview with the autor and illustrator) and now theater character, has her own limited edition cupcake at Crumbs Bakeshop. I also got in trouble for the first time in years of taking photos at Crumbs - perhaps it's a new rule, or the Crumbs I went into was particularly persnickety, but whatever, I got these before I was told no more photos. And yes, in New York City, due to our labeling laws, you can find out exactly how many calories are in your cupcakes. See Crumbs.com for ordering and shipping details and store locations.




Apple Cobbler (as opposed to Apple Pie cupcakes, pictured below), is their flavor of the month


blackbottom cheesecake cupcakes


pumpkin cupcakes


chocolate pecan pie cupcakes


apple pie cupcakes

Sweets for the sweet

I normally find, despite being a southern gal, that pecan pie's too sweet for me. I bet making it into cupcakes would mitigate the sweetness factor. What a nice idea for an end-of-celebration-dinner cupcake, too!















Images courtesy freakgirl, recipe here [registration wall].

Blame it on Rio

I am so digging the instagram app square format shots for iPhones. Check out this cool vintage-on-vintage shot from Rio de Janeiro:





"Vintage Cupcakes" by cyberelfo.

I give thanks for cupcakes like these

Oh my goodness these look scrumptious!






The kiwis look so beautiful with the blueberries and pink frosting. I bet these were gobbled down immediately after Thanksgiving supper.


"Christine's Cupcakes Batch 2" shot by littlemaiba.

Cupcake tats make me smile.

Even on a bad day cupcake tats make me smile and feel good. Something about seeing the icon of the cupcake inked permanently (or even temporarily) on someone's skin is cool, and uplifting.







This one was sent in by reader Karin M. in Phoenix, whose friend Joe Marcum did the inking.

Size matters not ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?

Yoda! I love Yoda!









You can read up on and see more images of the clone wars cupcakes by a baked creation here. And, you can also ooh and aahh over the scary Storm Troopers too!

More turkey, please! Er, turkey cupcakes, that is.

How colorful and creative! I'm not sure if this was homemade but I think it's cute. And doable at home.







"Turkey Cupcake" by tjstaab.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Cupcake!

I didn't see one of these in NYC, more's the pity. Anyone know if there were any NYC cupcakes in the Macy's parade? This one's from the Portland, Oregon parade.








Nice shot from orb9220.

Gingerbread Cupcakes Recipe

Food Blogger Buck Bannister at Sugar Pies posted these delicious Gingerbread Cupcakes. Click here for the recipe. These should be a big hit at holiday parties and get-togethers this season! Look how beautiful they turned out:

Pretty and seasonal cupcake picture

By brookeduckart in Wisconsin.

Free cupcakes at Sublime Cupcakes grand opening today!

Sublime Cupcakes is giving away a free cupcake to the first 500 customers today (they open at 10 and close at 8), their first official day. They're located at 72 Commerce Dr. Wyomissing, PA 19610, and can also be found at sublimecupcakes.com (site might be a little slow to load, but be patient) and on Facebook, where you can see all the amazing prizes they are giving away. Congratulations to Sublime!








snowball cupcakes


s'mores cupcakes

Their cupcake flavors include Sublime Key Lime, Island Coconut, Grasshopper, PB and J, and French Toast, among others - see their site for listings. They even have Ruby Red, which is a grapefruit cake with cream cheese frosting.

Sublime Cupcakes
72 Commerce Dr.
Wyomissing, PA 19610
610-898-4183
sublimecupcakes at yahoo.com

Happy Thanksgiving, Cupcakes Take the Cake Readers!

Best wishes to everyone on Thanksgiving ! Hope y'all are saving room to enjoy some turkey day cupcakes.








"Turkey cupcakes from Highland Bakery in Atlanta" by jenny8lee.

Cupcake Baker of the Week: Emily Hanhan (Cupcake Competition Tips)

Happy Thanksgiving! In the spirit of giving thanks for friends, I'm happy to introduce Emily Hanhan, avid cupcake baker and a regular participant at Cupcakes Take the Cake events in NYC. She's the creator of the crowd-pleasing Salted Caramel Peach White Chocolate Cupcakes for our 2010 Delicious Sandwich Social. Emily, an experienced food throwdown/bakeoff/contest veteran, has shared some of her cupcake competition tips at the bottom of this post.

Also check out her Honey Glaze Carrot Cupcakes with Salty-Sweet (Local) Honey Butterscotch, topped with Crunchy Pecans and Fresh Currants, for a dash of holiday baking inspiration!

Name: Emily Hanhan
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Website: www.nomnivorous.com

1. How did you get into cupcake baking?

Cupcakes popped into my life once I realized how much I enjoy baking for others. Two dozen cupcakes for a friend's birthday seems less daunting than a two layer, leveled and frosted cake. Perfection is NOT my specialty, yummy is.

2. Do you have a signature cupcake?

I love changing flavor combinations too much to give one the reigning title of signature. But I think most people know me as the salty-sweet baker. And the flavor combination that introduced most of my friends to my baking bug is a Guinness chocolate cake, whiskey ganache filling and Bailey's buttercream. It's a decadent, drunken affair.

3. What kind of cupcake do you plan to bake next?

Homemade marshmallows have completely captured my attention, so I would like to work on a scorched, ooey gooey S'mores cupcake for the winter. The graham cracker is the most mystifying part of the equation!

4. Where do you find inspiration?

The flavors that are comfortable to me, familiar, inspire me. To make it more interesting, more balanced, to fill every nook and cranny with flavor. Bringing savory touches to sugary sweet ideas has become a huge part of my repetoir. What a sprinkle of salt has done for my sweet tooth, it's just beyond words.

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

Over the summer, I discovered just how rough the heat can be to a delectable buttercream. In New York, there is an indie food competition community and I've jumped into it. When I decided to make 200 carrot mini cupcakes with honey butterscotch buttercream for one competition, I didn't factor in that it would take place over a three hour, steamy July afternoon. To say I was frazzled by it all would be an understatement. The puddling oozes of frosting didn't win any awards for looks. But the flavors were on point, which helped my bruised ego. It was a sad afternoon, but at the worst a pricey learning experiment.

6. Give one piece of cupcake advice for other bakers out there.

Don't let baking paralyze you! In the end, baking has alway been about having fun and sharing the love (final products) with friends and family. If you're freaking out over the missing sour cream or frustrated that you can't find your vanilla extract, the fun is gone. Baking is a science, but a flexible one. The more you let yourself get comfortable in the kitchen, the more natural making substitutions will feel. And I can almost guarantee - the happier you are while baking, the more delicious that final cuppycake will be!

Honey Glaze Carrot Cupcakes
Honey Butterscotch, Crunchy Pecans & Fresh Currants

Emily's Cupcake Competition Tips

I. Moisture. Cupcake competitions make you realize how delicate and fault-ridden most cupcake recipes are. Starting from the cake up, when it comes to competitions I try to use extremely moist recipes. Usually I am baking in advance, so the moisture is very important.

• Use a fresh fruit or jam to flavor fruit-based cakes instead of an extract.
  
• Brush liquid onto the tops of vanilla, chocolate, or non-fruit cupcakes. I do that both when they're warm and once cooled down. Coffee is great on chocolate, Bourbon or rum makes vanilla more interesting, but there are any number of ideas.

II. Stability. Just recently, I've discovered one of your best tricks at keeping frosting more stable for transportation and storage outside is shortening. It's not a new idea, but even replacing two tablespoons of butter with shortening will help the frosting whip up smoothly and keep it from melting a bit. The addition of marshmallow fluff is also a fun way to make your frosting more friendly!

III. Decoration. And, a great tip is, if you're not the best at piping, play around with decorating. I'm a fan of decorations that also taste fantastic, like the currants in the above cupcakes. Fresh fruit, a chocolate drizzle, toasted nuts, fresh herbs, or even some jimmies make for a more enticing cupcake.

Thanks, Emily! 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 Melissa at cupcakestakethecake@gmail.com with the subject "Hey Melissa! Meet this Cupcake Baker!"