valentine's day How to deliver the key to your heart valentine's day cupcakes with gold leaf - a how-to tutorial by Sweetopia

The site Sweetopia has an extensive tutorial posted about how to make these key to your heart cupcakes using gold leaf! There are tweezers (!!) and paintbrushes involved. I love how much effort went into these - it shows. They are beautiful and would make a gorgeous valentine's day cupcake gift. Do check it out. You can also find Sweetopia on Facebook and @sweetopia on Twitter.

valentine's day XO valentine's day cupcakes for sale from Austin's Sugar Mama's Bakeshop

XO cupcakes which will be for sale, along with 7 special cupcake flavors and other valentine's day treats, by Sugar Mama's Bakeshop in Austin, Texas, via their Facebook page. They're open 11-7 on valentine's day too for your special sweetheart cupcake needs. See sugarmamasbakeshop.com and follow @SugarMamas on Twitter for more information, such as news of their peanut butter and honey cupcake.

valentine's day 1,000 free cupcakes today at Chicago cupcake truck Sweet Ride

According to their Facebook page, Chicago cupcake truck Sweet Ride is giving away free cupcakes today - it just started. Sorry for the late notice. You can also follow them @SweetRideChi on Twitter.

Come see us at 1230pm in Bridgeport (near 31st and Halsted) or 300pm in Wicker Park/Bucktown (near Milwaukee, Damen, and North Ave). Only 500 free cupcakes at each location. (One per person please.)

valentine's day Cupcake reality TV show merchandise: TLC and Georgetown Cupcake offer up DC Cupcakes DVD, t-shirts, mugs and more!

Last year, TLC ran the reality show DC Cupcakes about the two sisters who run the bakery Georgetown Cupcake, with locations in Washington, DC (Georgetown) and Bethesda, Maryland. Now you can buy the episodes on DVD as well as lots of merchandise; all of it can be found right here. Season 2 is "coming soon" and you can follow @KatherineSophie on Twitter for news such as the fact that they're writing a cookbook:



You can also follow the bakery Georgetown Cupcake on Facebook and @GTownCupcake on Twitter for daily free cupcake specials, 100 per location (today's freebie was chocolate chip).









And via their website (last link), a Valentine's themed cupcake decorating class:

Sunday, February 6; 2 to 4 p.m.; $65 per person, ages 4 and older

Join sisters Sophie and Katherine from Georgetown Cupcake and TLC's DC Cupcakes for a Valentine's cupcake decorating workshop. Each participant will frost, decorate, and gift-wrap their own Valentine's Dozen to take home — with flavors including Red Velvet, Strawberry, Lava Fudge, White Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate³, Strawberry Lava Fudge, Vanilla & Buttercream, Chocolate & Buttercream, Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Champagne, Vanilla & Milk Chocolate, and Chocolate². Enjoy Valentine's-themed beverages while frosting and decorating cupcakes with hand-made fondant decorations. For children and adults age 4 and older. Please call the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown at (202) 912-4110 to make a reservation.

valentine's day Peanut butter and jelly cupcakes are going mainstream

Or at the very least, they are a flavor I'm seeing more and more of. This top cupcake is via Twitpic by Happy Cakes Cupcakes in Saint Augustine, Florida, who you can follow @HappyCakesYum on Twitter and like on Facebook.





Click here to view their cupcake flavors. There are six daily flavors (Purely Chocolate, Wipe Out, The Islander, Red Hot Red Velvet, Black Tie, So Happy Together) and then special flavors including Tres Leches, Ooey Gooey Brownie, Brown Butter Pound Cake, Ginger & Molasses, White Chocolate Cranberry, Caramel Apple, Almond Raspberry, Poppyseed and lots more).

And if you want to see an adorable little girl wearing a cupcake costume on their Facebook page, click here.

Happy Cakes Cupcakes
HAPPY CAKES
112 Sea Grove Main Street, Suite 110 Anastasia Island, FL
904-471-4163
info at happycakescupcake.com

valentine's day Cupcake resolutions and peppermint chocolate frosting at Butter Lane

I stopped by Butter Lane in the East Village (Manhattan) the other night. They were out of eggnog frosting, which I would've tried out of curiosity, but I bought a chocolate peppermint frosted chocolate cupcake (I was told to try it with chocolate) for $3 and was very happy. It wasn't quite as full-on peppermint as I might have liked (the frosting equivalent of, say, Starbucks' peppermint hot chocolate, which is very pepperminty), the peppermint seemed more concentrated in the crushed candy cane at the top, but it was very good, and also rich.

I couldn't finish it - that's actually a compliment! See butterlane.com and follow them @butterlane on Twitter for the latest news and info on their cupcake classes. I did appreciate their cupcake resolution sign. Still trying to work on my 2010 cupcake recap before I get to my 2011 cupcake resolutions!

valentine's day Johnny Cupcakes London store opening announced, Hello Kitty merch selling out fast

Johnny Cupcakes announced on Twitter that his next store (after shops in Hull and Boston, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles) will be opening March 12th in London, UK. There is a small chance I may be able to go! If not, London is on my list of places to visit in 2011 and that will mean a definite cupcake meetup.



Also? His Hello Kitty cupcake collaborations, including t-shirts and a tote bag, are selling out fast. This sticker (below) is still for sale!

valentine's day Happy National Cupcake Day!

Yes, today, December 15th, is officially National Cupcake Day in the United States (November 10th is National Vanilla Cupcake Day). How will you celebrate?

Flour & Sun Bakery in Pleasantville, New York, is offering up this brand-new hot chocolate cupcake, made with "Cocoa cake with toasted marshmallows topped with hot chocolate frosting & powdered sugar:"



And, just for fun, here's their peppermint cupcake, both photos via their Flickr account. Visit them at www.flourandsunbakery.com for daily flavors and specials. You can also join their email list and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

valentine's day Chicago food truck Flirty Cupcakes shut down by local police, now back up and running

From The Wall Street Journal (via Hit & Run), which covers Flirty Cupcakes and other Chicago food trucks being shut down temporarily:

Chicago's rules are for health and sanitary reasons. The City Council is currently considering some changes in food-truck laws. Brick-and-mortar restaurants are fighting the mobile insurgency, chasing trucks from their street fronts, calling police and snapping photos of the vendors in hopes of catching them illegally parked.

Holly Sjo, owner of The Cupcake Counter, a year-old downtown shop, called the cops when she spotted Ms. Kurtz parked near her business in a spot she believed to be illegal.

"She seems to only park next to other people's cupcake shops," Ms. Sjo says.

Ms. Kurtz denies the accusation. "I would never want to do that to another cupcake business," she says.

The food truck concept is "a quaint idea," says Dan Rosenthal, owner of Sopraffina Marketcaffe, a chain of Italian restaurants in Chicago. "But when you get right down to it, it creates an unlevel playing field."

A food-truck operation can get off the ground for under $150,000, while many restaurants spend more than $1 million on real estate and equipment to open their doors.

"It's an elitist thing," says food-trucker Mr. Maroni. "Just step up your game," he says. "McDonald's doesn't ask Burger King if they can open up across the street."

From Flirty Cupcakes on Facebook, today's schedule:

AON Building - Stetson Side 11:30-12:45
Monroe/Dearborn - 1:15-2:30
State/Lake 3:00-4:00
Adams/Wacker 4:30-5:45

You can also follow @flirtycupcakes on Twitter for the latest news.

Some of their fall cupcakes, also via Facebook:


"Great Pumpkin Patch" - A brown butter pumpkin cupcake snuggled in a maple pecan frosting...good grief, there really is a "great pumpkin"


"Cinnahoneystreusel"..yep like Bradgalina, this cinnamon spice cupcake is swirled with a cinnamon, honey cream cheese frosting and topped off with a cinnamon streusel crumble...a partnership made in heaven!


"S'more Me Over" - A moist chocolate cupcake, layered with a graham cracker bottom and a melt in your mouth marshmallow frosting...you may find yourself belting out Kumbaya is if you were by the campfire!

And even though Halloween is over, I wanted to share this spider cupcake, because it made me smile:

valentine's day Tinkerbell, animal print and Pac Man cupcakes

These fun Tinkerbell and animal print and Pac Man cupcakes are all by Miss Cupcakes in Peru, who can be found www.misscupcakes.pe as well as on Facebook and @MMissCupcakes on Twitter. All photos are from her Flickr account.

For all the little girls...and everyone who loves Tinkerbell:



and all the big girls...



and all the geeks...

valentine's day Christmas Cappuccino cupcake: Eggnog cinnamon cake with a sambuca & advocaat cream filling

This very special cupcake debuts tonight at Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe in Rochester, New York. Via their Facebook page:

"Christmas Cappuccino" cupcakes debut this evening at Sugar Mountain. Eggnog cinnamon cake with a sambuca & advocaat cream filling, topped with espresso buttercream and a dollop of eggnog whipped cream. sprinkled cinnamon.



Today's other flavors:

Roccity Crunch, Peppermint Candycane, White Chocolate Raspberry, Bourbon Eggnog, Turtle, S'mores, Tiramisu, Chocolate Merlot, Pecan Pie, Lemon Creme, Chocolate Malt, Cookies&Cream, Ol'Blue Eyes, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Sinfully Chocolate and Very Vanilla.

And an older photo, but one to whet your appetite for February - the Valentine's Turtle. Chocolate fudge pecan cake filled with a chocolate caramel ganache whipped with salted caramel buttercream. a caramel drizzle,rolled in crushed pecans. garnished with a heart shaped white chocolate drizzled chocolate on top.



You can also follow them @smbscucpakes on Twitter

Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe
258 Alexander Street
Rochester, NY, 14607
585-319-5001
sugarmountainbakeshoppe at gmail.com

valentine's day Reindeer, snowman and other holiday cupcakes from Dollop

These fun holiday cupcakes (and how can cupcakes using pretzels not be fun??) are by Dollop Gourmet in Rochester, New York. They can be reached at info at dollopgourmet.com and also on Facebook and @dollopgourmet on Twitter. They are $3.75 each.









The Gingerbread wreaths are gingerbread cake.

The reindeer are double chocolate with pretzel antlers.

The snowflakes are sugar cookie flavored.

The marshmallow snowmen are marshmallow flavored with fluff.

Peppermint chocolate pointsettia cupcakes

And the Christmas trees are eggnog flavored.

valentine's day Poinsettia cupcakes

I had the honor of meeting Lora from the food blog Diary of a Mad Hausfrau in New York at the Bakerella book signing, followed by an adventure at Magnolia Bakery in Grand Central where my iPhone got stolen (still have to blog about that!). I was so honored to meet her and think that one of the best things about running this blog is getting to meet so many fun cupcake lovers from around the world.

So direct from Germany, here are some of her poinsettia cupcakes - click through to see them all! You can also follow her @ofamadhausfrau on Twitter.



Lora writes:

The shapes I cut out freehand using a knife and then used it to create the indentations on the leaves and petals. I used 4 green leaves and 6 petals for each of the Poinsettias, pressing then together in the middle. Using the yellow fondant, I rolled a few tiny balls and pressed them n the middle.

I glittered them with red, green and gold disco and hologram dusts by dipping a small paintbrush into vodka and brushing on the glitter.

Every other cupcake was adorned with a fondant poinsettia. I swirled the frosting on the non flowered ones and once the icing hardened a bit, brushed on gold hologram dust.

valentine's day Gingerbread cookie coffee & cream cupcakes for our NYC party by Lux Sugar

Look what custom cupcake company Lux Sugar made for our 6th anniversary party at Brooklyn Winery in Brooklyn tonight! Join us, why don't you? Yum! Via Ow.ly. You can find out more about Lux Sugar on their website, see their photos on Flickr and follow them @LuxSugar on Twitter and on Facebook.

valentine's day

And this Christmas tree green tea Lux Sugar cupcake isn't for our party, but I saw it on Ow.ly and liked it too!

valentine's day

valentine's day Candy cane and gingerbread cupcakes by Blue Bird Bake Shop in Orland

These candy cane (vanilla cake w/ crushed candy cane topped with peppermint buttercream & crushed candy cane) and gingerbread (gingerbread cake with cream cheese icing topped with a sliver of candied ginger) cupcakes are by Orland, Florida's Blue Bird Bake Shop - candy cane was yesterday's flavor of the day, gingerbread is today's. Keep up with them on their website, and on @bluebirdbakeshp on Twitter and Facebook.

valentine's day Turkey and Halloween cupcakes from So Cupcake

Yes, I know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Halloween was last month, but keep these cupcakes from Salt Lake City bakery So Cupcake in mind for next year! Via their Facebook page. See socupcake.com and @socupcake on Twitter for more information.





And today's flavors are:

Wednesday's Flavors: Banana Cream Pie, Ande Mint, Candy Cane (Peppermint), Corn Bread w/Honey Butter, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Brownie, Lemon, German Chocolate (coconut filled), Pumpkin, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip.

EVERYDAY FLAVORS: Key Lime, Red Velvet, Chocolate, Carrot, and Vanilla, and Chocolate
w/Cream Cheese.

valentine's day 5 frosting shots from Butter Lane: hazelnut chocolate, cranberry, blackberry, pumpkin and apple spice

I'd read that NYC's East Village cupcake bakery Butter Lane has new Thanksgiving frosting flavors and I wanted to check them out last night. I love their moist cakes, in vanilla, chocolate and banana, but at $3/cupcake, and after dinner, I was more in the mood just for the purity of the frosting. They do a great job with their frosting shots; they're $1/each and mine were very carefully prepared and packaged so as not to spill, plus they had garnishes on top.


5 frosting shots: Cranberry, Blackberry, Pumpkin Spice, Apple Spice, Hazelnut Chocolate (which is different from their other chocolate frostings)


hazelnut chocolate frosting shot closeup

Out of these, cranberry was far and away my favorite. It was a little tart but sweet as well, and refreshing. It very much tastes like cranberry, and the same for blackberry tasting like blackberry - if you like those fruits, check them out for sure. Pumpkin spice does have a bit of a kick, as does the apple spice, which was my least favorite of the five. The hazelnut chocolate was intense, in a good way, and the nut shavings added a little texture. They also have tiramisu frosting, but they told me that that wouldn't be so good as a standalone frosting shot because it works better on a cupcake so you get the full experience.

I think I've said this before, but unless you have an extremely high sugar tolerance, these are almost impossible to finish. I recommend bringing a friend or two; you really notice when eating frosting shots how rich frosting itself is, and how much the cupcake is actually the marriage of frosting and cake, and how each complements the other. What I like about Butter Lane is that because it's mix and match, you can ask them which cake would go best with which frosting, and they're happy to share their opinion.

They've also just launched a loyalty program using PlacePunch (more next week on other cupcake bakeries with loyalty programs). I'm not 100% sure how it works, but you can log in using Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare, and you get points for checking in, like this:





See more of my photos from last night in this Flickr set


sea salted chocolate frosting on vanilla cupcake

Visit them at Butterlane.com as well as Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook for the latest news. They offer cupcake classes twice a week.