valentine's day Pretty individualized party guest cupcake toppers

Talk about a party to remember! I think it would be so cool to have a personalized cupcake topper to pick out and keep as a souvenir. Check out this post by Natasha at Amelie's House for more photos. Via Flickr. She writes:

I recently treated myself to a glue gun, I feel like a real crafter now, so I used this to stick cocktail sticks to the back of the figures with a little piece of plain paper over the top, to hide the glue.
You can't really tell from the picture but the birthday girl's dress had gold spots.

valentine's day Cupcake cupcake topper on sugar cookie birthday cupcakes!

Blogger Risa at Baked Perfection celebrated her birthday in November by making these fun sugar cookie cupcakes with vanilla frosting and mini cupcake-shaped cupcake toppers! She writes:

Vanilla has to be one of my favorite flavors, if not my favorite. Since I love vanilla so much I decided that was exactly what I wanted for my birthday. The last several years Zack baked my birthday treat, but unfortunately he was out of town for work on my birthday this past year. Several people offered to make me something, but I really wanted to make these cupcakes and that is exactly what I did. They were so delicious! The cupcake was wonderful and the frosting is my absolute favorite frosting. I have to chew gum while making it and decorating or else I eat it straight out of the bowl. I got the idea for the adorable little cupcake toppers (which are frosted mini Reese's cups) from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

valentine's day Harry Potter scar, Quidditch, broomstick and wand cupcakes

Oh Crumbs! in the UK made these custom Harry Potter cupcakes for a 21st birthday. They can be reached at hello at ohcrumbscupcakes.co.uk or 07539449832. Via Flickr. You can also find them on Facebook.



We baked a batch of Double Chocolate and Vanilla & Strawberry cupcakes and topped them all with swirls of Chocolate and bright red Vanilla buttercream.

She told us that her friend really liked Harry Potter and fairies! With this in mind we hand made a “Nimbus 3000″ broomstick, a wand, Harry Potter glasses, Harry Potter lightning scar, a Quidditch ball (Golden Snitch) and a fairy wand and topped the other cakes with icing 21s, hearts and stars.

valentine's day 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).