Sweet Cupcakes, Man!

Next Tuesday is the International Day of Peace, and though I'm pretty sure tie dye and hippie peace signs aren't the idea behind the day, I can't help but do some totally rad, hippie things this week. Like.... this!

Tie dye cupcakes! These were so totally fun to make and even more fun to eat! (P.S. No, I'm not eating left-over frosting/icing from the jar as I type this. Promise!) :)




So wanna know how to make some for you and your little Woodstock-ettes? Alright, here we go.

First, get a box of cake mix or make a basica vanilla cake. I used yellow cake mix. (The red layer was slightly orange because of this, so if you want, use white cake mix for better colors. Though to be honest, these colors were pretty rad.) Then divide the already-mixed batter into six containers--or however many colors you want. Add a small dallop of icing color gel and mix well.

I chose to use the gel because the color is much better than food coloring--as in I can't mix food coloring well. Also, food coloring is liquid and may make your cake batter too runny. Yes, even those drops. It takes quite a few to get a good color.



Layer the batter, one color at a time. One box of cake mix makes 24 cupcakes, so I did one pan of cupcakes that started with purple and went to red on top and another pan of cupcakes that started with red and went to purple on top.



Here's the cool thing about these cupcakes. You don't have to mix them. Actually, you shouldn't mix them or you'll just have brown cupcakes. As they cook, batter from the bottom rises slightly along the sides, giving these cupcakes their awesome tie dye look.

See? Some of the green has come up, and if you bite into it, you'll notice the blue and purple are also lining the sides of the cupcakes.



Then let the cupcakes cool, frost them up, cover with some sprinkles... and enjoy!


Okay, so that was totally rad! And tomorrow - tie-dye shirts!

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I Can't Get Enough Cupcake Books

You may have noticed -- I have a gargantuan tiny cupcake crush.

I like to bake cupcakes. I like to decorate cupcakes. I really like to eat cupcakes. And what's more - I like to read books about cupcakes.

Weird, right?

These are only a few of the many cupcake books I have. I can't help it. If anyone writes a book about cupcakes, I will buy it. It's an impulse. Like breathing.


Must. Buy. Cupcake. Book.

Cannot. Live. Without. Cupcake. Book.



Hello Cupcake ✽ Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

500 Cupcakes ✽ Crazy About Cupcakes

Cupcakes! ✽ Betty Crocker Just Cupcakes

Know what I'm saying???

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Icing Designs Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Naazia!! She wrote lucky comment #5, and she is the winner of the Cupcake Couture hand-illustrated, hand-glittered cards and gift tags from Icing Designs.

Here's what Naazia said...


Naazia, I'll be emailing you soon to get your information for Melissa and Kellie at Icing Designs.




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Cupcake Carnival: Fourth of July Flavor

In case you haven't looked at a calendar in a few days, we're only nine days from the Fourth of July.

Nine days from red, white, blue, patriotic firework displays overload.

And I can't wait! Can you??

Next week (when I'll inevitably be in a post-Cupcake Carnival stupor), I'll be sharing some fun Fourth of July crafts I've been working on. But I thought I'd get an early start and combine cupcakes with patriotism for one last Cupcake Carnival post.

Love these American Pie Cupcakes from MommyTopics

These red, white, and blue cupcakes from A Latte with Ott, A are very festive!

How great are these tiny Patriotic Pops from Bakerella? Could you stop at just one?? (Me either!)

You can print and use these great 4th of July Printable Circles from Bella Grace Party Designs and Paper and Pigtails.

Martha Stewart has another great one with these Flag Cupcakes made with red licorice and blue buttercream.

See you back here on Monday for Fourth of July crafts! Don't forget to enter the Icing Designs giveaway by midnight tonight! (You can do so here.)

♥ Kimberly


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Cupcake Carnival: Tierra from Pebbles and Poppys

Hi, my name is Tierra and I have a little blog called Pebbles and Poppys. I have many different things on there such as crafts, tutorials, recipes, photography, downloads and whatever else I can think of.

I was tickled pink to have Kimberly ask me to submit an idea for her wonderful Cupcake Carnival. I have so many ideas running through my head it's hard to choose. Here is what I came up with.

I have this daughter.... who has this aunt..... and they both love cupcakes. Every time they are together they have to make cupcakes. It's a tradition with them and it's always something they look forward to.

About a year ago Auntie decided to branch out with the cupcakes and get Caelan an apron with cupcakes all over it. Of course Auntie had to get a cupcake apron too. The two of them are so cute about their cupcake parties. It's even gotten Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma hooked into the parties. (You see Caelan is the only girl on this side so anything girlie is so much fun.)

Auntie even got a baking pan that made a HUGE cupcake cake. I think Caelan was trying to claim the whole thing. That made us laugh a little.

We saw this book one day and HAD to get it for Auntie because it was so perfect. Auntie has a cat that she loves and what's better than giving a cat a cupcake?

For a lot of people that don't have the option of eating everything they want there is a website called Gluten Free Goddess. She has many different recipes for cakes and cupcakes that look really yummy and are gluten free. Click on the picture to take you to the post with all the recipes on it.

The other two blogs that my SIL sent me to are Coconut and Lime and Cupcake Project. Check them out. They are yummy recipes.

I also went to a local cupcake shop to try them out and ended up with 6 cupcakes instead of 2. Yeah right. Like I was going to only just get two. The cupcake shop is called Icing on the Cupcake.

Thank goodness the shop isn't just around the corner or I would have problems.

This cupcake I got for my son. Perfect right? It's called the Kiddie Cake.

My daughter loves pink so I knew this is the one she would choose. This one is called the Pink Delicious and it is their signature cupcake.

Here are some of my favorites that I bought. The Red Velvet is my favorite. I just love cream cheese frosting. The other two are Chocolate Macaroon and Caramel Apple. My husband doesn't like apple desserts and kept ribbing me about getting that one over the Mint Chocolate one. It's been two weeks and he still ribs me. *sigh* I think I am going to have to make him a chocolate mint something just make amends. I do have to say that the Caramel Apple one was good though.

The last cupcake of the bunch that I bought was the Raspberry Lemonade. That just makes your mouth water when you hear that right? It made my mouth water just biting into it too. It had a kick to it and a perfect balance of sweetness.

All in all I loved the cupcakes but I really don't want to ever go back in because they are kind of pricey. It was $15 for the 6. I split a dozen with a friend that came with me. For those that know me, I am a bargain shopper and that much on cupcakes is a once in a blue moon kind of purchase.

And to leave you with a little something for stopping by, I have created a printable card for you to download and use. Just click on the picture and it will take you to a website that you can download this for free. Enjoy!



www.pebblesandpoppys.blogspot.com



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Cupcake Carnival: Stephanie Lynn from Under the Table and Dreaming

Hello Cupcake Lovers!
I'm Stephanie Lynn from
Under the Table and Dreaming

I'm so excited to be participating in
Kimberly's Cupcake Carnival!

I love to take a theme and run with it for my little guy's birthday parties. For his second year bash we held a Carnival Extraordinaire {here} and of course we had to have a themed cupcake to go along with the festivities; What carnival isn't complete without some popcorn!

These are very simple and easy to put together and they don't require any special decorating skills, I promise!

You want to begin with a cupcake of your choice. I used a large cupcake pan to bake my cupcakes, however, these can be made with any flavor batter or size pan. {Dare I even say, store bought cupcakes would work too!}. You want to ice your cupcake with any type of white frosting, preferably creating a swirl mound. This will give height to your popcorn pile.

To create the 'popcorn' you will need {1} mini marshmallows as shown in photo above. {2} Using a knife cut the marshmallow in half. {3} Squish the two cut halves back together at one end. You will need quite a bit to cover a batch of cupcakes so while your cupcakes are baking you can work on this step and place them in a ziploc until you are ready to decorate.

Working in a random pattern, begin placing the prepared marshmallows onto your cupcake. The icing will hold them in place. You want to make sure you cover as much icing as possible, leaving as little of space possible between each piece.

To add a 'butter' effect to the popcorn, take a tiny bit of water, add two drops of yellow food coloring and mix well.

Using a paint brush {preferably not the ones you have already used crafting =)} lightly brush on the water mixture to your marshmallows.

I found a neat red and white striped scrapbooking paper at my local craft store which I used to make simple wrappers to cover the cupcake liners. I cut the paper into strips {wide enough to cover the entire cupcake liner} and taped the ends together to create a circle. You want the circle to be the circumference of the top of the cupcake; where the liner meets the cupcake. This will allow the cupcake to nicely fit into the wrapper and only expose the 'popcorn' top.

Yummy Goodness!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend ~ Stop by and say 'Hi' if you get a chance!
I'll show you how to put together these cute stands =) Enjoy!
Thank you so much Kimberly for letting me celebrate Cupcakes with you and your readers!

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Cupcake Carnival: Easy DIY Cupcake Flags

For the cupcake party I hosted for some friends (you can see the post about the party here), I made each guest 24 cupcake flags. They could use it at the cupcake party (like in the strawberry cupcakes below) or keep and use them later.

If you want to have something like these flags at your own party, or for a special occasion, or just for fun, you can make them super quickly and without a lot of special products (i.e. no Cricut needed). Now sure, you could get super detailed and make some flags that are labor intensive and time consuming, but I'm just here for the cupcake.

With all the great scrapbooking papers, the possibilities are endless!

What You'll Need
Cupcake Punch (the one I used was by Martha Stewart)
Circle Punch (I used a 1" and 1.5" circle.)
Double-sided tape or mounting squares
Scrapbooking squares
Toothpicks
Glue


Punch out lots of cupcakes and circles. I mix and match tops and bottoms on coordinating circles.


Place a small slice of double-sided tape or mounting squares in the center of the circle. Tape down the bottom half of the cupcake and then the top half.



Flip the circle over and squirt a small line of glue (school glue works fine) from the center of the circle to the edge. Just make sure the cupcake is vertical on the other side. (I had a few cupcakes that tilted just a bit. Oops!) Then nestle the toothpick in the fresh glue. Let the glue dry three or four hours.


So there you have something very, very cute and easy for your party or special occasion.


♥ Kimberly




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