Chex Mix Cupcakes for the Super Bowl
My niece Anna and I made Chex Mix Cupcakes for the Super Bowl game to. We caramelized pecans and Chex cereal and Kix cereal in brown sugar, butter, and a little Dulce de Leche. We added two shapes of pretzels to the mix to give it a little saltiness. then we frosted vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and added the mix to the top to look like a bowl of Chex Party Mix. Now we can't wait for the game to start!



Anna with a platter of our Chex Mix Cupcakes all ready for the game tonight. The game is on!

 

        

Happy Valentine's Day

We are having so much fun with pictograms we made another one for Valentine's Day. We think it is the sweetest way to tell someone exactly how you feel. This time we started with a big letter Q on the first cupcake, the we made a fun golf Tee on the second, and finished with a cupcakealiscious cherry pie on the third. You can go to the Reynold's Kitchen blog to get the recipes. Look on their blog under February 3 for the link to the recipe
Reynold's Kitchen Blog


Q-Tee-Pie!




Have a very Happy Valentine's Day
Alan and Karen from Hello, Cupcake!

        

It's not just because lots of our friends call Indiana home, and it's not just because we love the city of New Orleans, and it's also not just because we are addicted to football.

The reason we couldn't wait to make
FOOTBALL CUPCAKES for the Super Bowl Game is because
WE LOVE CUPCAKES!!



The footballs are made from Malomars (a rare seasonal treat) with a half of a marshmallow cut on the diagonal at each end. We use frosting to glue the marshmallow halves to the Malomar and fill the gaps, freeze them until they are set, and then dip them in melted chocolate frosting. We add stripes and lacing using white frosting, and then pipe green dots of Astroturf all around.
We even serve them on real Astroturf with sprinkles and Good and Plenty to make the field markings. Make a batch for your half time party, and may the best team win!

        

Pictograms for Valentines Day

We designed the cutest cupcake pictogram for Valentines Day. We just love making up phrases that we can transform into clever pictogram cupcakes. Once you get the hang of it you can say just about anything on a cupcake. We started out with the most basic thing we would want to say to our sweeti on Valentine's Day—I Love You. We started with an eye cupcake, then we turned the Love into a heart, and finally we designed a ewe, you know, the female sheep, into a you.

        

New Cupcake Challenge!

Go to our web site www.hellocupcakebook.com  on the Hello, Cupcake! Club page and join the Hello, Cupcake! Club.

Can you solve the pictogram below? We used candy and techniques from our book Hello, Cupcake! to create the fun Valentine below.

Take the challenge and make a sweet message cupcake for your sweetie.
We promise, making cute cupcake pictograms will be an...
Utter delight!


Happy Cupcaking,
Karen and Alan

        

Duncan Hines 1st Annual Holiday Bake-Off
We get to eat cake again tomorrow. And lots of it! This time at the Duncan Hines Headquarters in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
We'll save you a slice! Come eat Cake with us. Cakes presented at 1 to 2 PM judging from 2 to 3 PM Winners at 3:30 PM. If you bring your copy of Hello, Cupcake! be sure to grab us so we can sign it for you!

All the best and... Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

Below is the address and the bulletin for the event

Address: Pinnacle Foods Group, LLC.
1 Old Bloomfield Avenue
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046

 

        

Come join us tomorrow for the
Duncan Hines Holiday Bake-Off with yours truly as the judges.
If you live in the Philadelphia, Camden, Cherry Hill area come on over for a really fun event. If you bring your copy of Hello, Cupcake! grab us and make sure we sign it for you.

Location:
6 Executive Campus
Suite 100
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002

Time:
Presentation of entries 10 AM / Judging at 11 AM

All the best and...
Keep on cupcaking,
Alan and Karen

        

Happy holidays to all of Our Cupcaking Friends!

We made a greeting card for you to copy and paste into your holiday e-mail. Send it to family and friends, it's a very sweet way to say...Happy Holidays!



Enjoy and we wish you the Merriest of Holidays!
Alan and Karen
Hello, Cupcake!

        

This is adorable. Butterbean happens to have a blog named after her, The Butterbean Report at www.thebutterbeanreport.blogspot.com/ and her mom is the best. She made Turkey Drumstick Cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake! for Butterbean's birthday party. Best of all mom created a new technique for the leg bone. She cut them from cardboard rather than using the melted candy wafer technique in the book. That candy swap saved enough time in the kitchen that she was able to make drumstick hats for everyone! Here's what Butterbean's mom wrote on their blog:

What better occasion to serve cupcakes
than a gathering of Daisy Girl Scouts!
And with Thanksgiving being a major part of our central theme...
Well, I could not resist making Turkey Leg Cupcakes!I (from the book Hello, Cupcake!) started with cupcakes ordered from WalMart.
I did say Cupcakes are easy...this just makes it easier yet!
For $5.00 one can special order 12 cupcakes with only icing,
served up in a protective plastic container.

Grab a box of corn flakes, a bunch of plain donut holes,
and an extra can of icing...
again, think easy!

The prep work:
using the following picture as a guide
cut out the "drumstick knuckles"from card stock.
Cut a pointed end to insert into donut hole.
I pre-cut 12 of them.

In a zip lock bag, crush several cups of corn flakes.
Empty well crushed flakes into a large bowl.
Carefully place the donut hole "off-center" for the most
authentic turkey leg look.

Now, cover the donut hole with icing, sealing it to the base.
Once covered, you will dip the cupcake into the flakes...
Viola! A done-to-perfection look.Pierce the donut with a sharp knife.
Insert the knuckle.
and you got yourself a Turkey Drumstick Cupcake

We think this leg bone idea is genius! Who wants a drumstick?

Butterbean wearing a turket leg party hat?

Thanks to Butterbean and her mom for the idea. Save us wing next time! We hope everyone had fun.

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

This family has it all going on. Kathryn wrote on her blog about their family movie nights and the cupcakes she made to accompany the movies.We can't wait to try it.

On a recent snowy day Kathryn planned a Peter Pan movie night and just to make the night complete made Tick Tock the Croc using our design in Hello, Cupcake!.

Kathryn writes on her blog:

We had a beautiful snow fall on Saturday.
The kids played and built snow forts,
and threw snowballs,
and we enjoyed every single second of it!!!

We had plans to watch our favorite version
of Peter Pan and create another Hello Cupcake
project to go along with it.
It was a magical evening after all that snow~

Here is Tick Tock,
 we sang "Never smile at a crocodile" so
many times I think I even dreamed singing it~

And just look how great it turned out.

Photo from little-men.blogspot.com/





On another night, Kathryn made the Alien Cupcakes and screened the X-Files Movie for her crew.

Kathryn writes:

In honor of our X-Files movie night I made Alien cupcakes and we are having flying saucer pizza!
Fun! Fun! Fun!
Cupcake ideas came from the book "Hello Cupcake"

Photo from little-men.blogspot.com/

That's fantastic. We want to go to movie night at your house. We think this is such a great idea we are going to try to think up other great movie/cupcake combos. Maybe we'll make our penguin cupcakes and watch Madagascar! Thanks for the great idea Kathryn and thanks for those beautiful posts about your beautiful family at little-men.blogspot.com/

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

We have a new selection of cupcake ideas for the holidays on our very own page at the Duncan Hines web site. There are Hello, Cupcake! recipes for gingerbread boys cupcakes, nutcracker cupcakes, and beautiful holiday ornaments. You can also watch our step by step video showing exactly how we make the holiday ornaments.

We wish you all Happy Holidays and
Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen from Hello, cupcake!

CLICK ON THE GINGERBREAD BOYS TO GET RECIPES AT DUNCAN HINES

        

Get Hello Cupcake! Thanksgiving Recipes at Duncan Hines. There are beautiful russet-colored Autumn Leaves made from melting wafers, a vibrant orange Pumpkin Patch made from orange frosting and sugar, and an adorable Larry the Turkey place holder made from caramel frosting, ginger cookies, and candy corn.

Get all three Thanksgiving cupcake recipes on our very own page at www.duncanhines.com


  Autumn Leaves from Hello, Cupcake!

Pumpkin Patch from Hello, Cupcake!

Larry the Turkey from Hello, Cupcake!

Have fun decorating them and Happy Thanksgiving, Cupcake!
from Hello, Cupcake!
Alan and Karen

        

Autumn is a great time to get in the kitchen and stir up some creative fun for the whole family. These cupcakes were sent to us by Ellie and her dad Charles. By the looks of it Ellie has quite an eye for cupcaking! Thanks for sending these and we hope the whole family had a blast.

They wrote to us:

My 10 year old daughter Ellie made the owl cupcakes for her class at Halloween, which were very well received by her classmates- she chose to closely imitate the illustrations in the book and they worked great.

The pumpkin cupcake basket (below) was the centerpiece for “Pop pop’s” 70th birthday party celebration in Wilmington, Delaware. Our family and friends there had never seen anything quite like it, and it was a fun topic of conversation until all of the evidence was eaten! Ellie and her mom Stephanie put together the Autumn cupcake selection for the occasion.

Best,
Charles

        

Alien Invasion Cupcakes
for Halloween

Alien Invasion photo from  Hello, Cupcake!

We have the recipes for three of our favorite Halloween cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake! on the Duncan Hines web site this month. Go to www.duncanhines.com to get the recipes.

        

Photo from Patacake Parties


I saw this adorable owl posted on a wonderful site called Patacake Parties and was immediately smitten by it's googly eyes. Mindy teaches kids how to cook and hosts cooking parties for kids. She made the owls based on our design from Hello, Cupcake! and look how beautifully they turned out. If you are searching for a special event for you kids next party be sure to contact her at www.patacakeparties.com

Thanks for linking to us Mindy, and...
Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Hello Halloween

We are so excited about the new page at Duncan Hines' Web Site. They have the complete recipes for three of our favorite cupcakes, Werewolves Cupcakes, Alien Cupcakes, and Owl Cupcakes. We will be designing all new cupcakes for each season so check out the page and...

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen





Go to Duncan Hines' Web Site for
Hello, Cupcake! Halloween Recipes

        

Sarah made these totally unique and scary cupcakes for Halloween. There are goblins, eyeballs, witches, spiders, pumpkins and more. We love them. Halloween is one of our favorite days to Cupcake! Congratulations Sarah we love them.

All the best and...
Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Danelle must have some serious cupcaking urges because she sent us a whole lot of great looking cupcakes she made from Hello, Cupcake! Take a look at the WOW. We love how you did Sunflowers, Peas and Carrots, and Christmas Ornaments all at the same time. Any season is a good reason for a cupcake.




All the best Danelle and...
Keep on Cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Our reader Bonnie sent us this over the top project of horses in a corral made from pretzels. Some folks have had a hard time finding the white circus peanuts, but we are glad to see Bonnie found them just fine. We have also seen folks coating the orange circus peanuts with white chocolate to get the same look.



Congratulations Bonnie,
Your horses are beautiful. Hope it was a fun party.

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Look at the amazing billiard balls Keri sent to us.



She got the design from our book Hello, Cupcake! and what a great job of decorating, especially the stripes. The number piping is fantastic too!

Congrats Keri and...
Keep on cupcaking!

Alan and Karen