WE LOVE A CANDY CHALLENGE
Wow, the All Candy Expo. Even the name makes you dream of Chocolate Bar Heaven. And it was not a disappointment...sort of like a walk in Willie Wonka land. Imagine huge colorful signs with pictures of mouth-watering candies and gigantic blow-ups of candies and cartoons everywhere and one insescapable smell...sugar. This was our challenge, cupcaking meets it's inspiration, candy. We set up a school room to teach folks the Hello, Cupcake! way to decorate cupcakes using candies from all of the candy companies at All Candy Expo. Bring it on. Our friends from M&Ms, Hershey, Jelly Belly, Tootsie Roll, Spangler, Farley's and Sather's, Ghiradelli. Ferrer Rocher, Bachman, and Ferrara Pan provided us with candy and we provided them with cupcakes extraordinaire. From Hershey we made Owls and Acorns using Kisses and Reeses Pieces, from Mars we made fish and flowers using M&Ms, with Tootsie Roll we rolled out the fabulous slumber party babies using Tootsie Fruit Chews for blankets, with Jelly Belly we made a veritabe garden with jelly bean flowers in an amazing array of gourmet flavors, Spangler inspired us to create a new cupcake critter using the Dum Dum pops for eyes, for Ferrara Pan we made Clowns and Ballons with Lemonheads and Boston Baked Beans, and Farley's and Sather's gave us the ingredients we needed for rolling and shaping tasty spice drops to make roses and fabulous flowers. I think the most popular by a landslide was a project using Ferrer Rocher hazlenut candies and Ghiradelli white chocolate. A little thing we like to call pasta night out...spaghetti and meatballs with hazlenut candy for meatballs and white chocolate for parmesan cheese. The easy to squeeze Duncan Hines frosting in a zip lock bag was used to make the spaghetti and the marinara sauce was strawberry preserves. All Candy Expo was so much fun we can't wait till the next one. Hope to see you there.

Here is our booth set up like art class with crafting supplies.

We went through a lot of Duncan Hines frosting in 3 days, those are empties in front of us.

We set up the tables with Fiskars and craft caddies to make it feel like school.

Here Karen turned our Oreo owl from the book into a Hershey owl for the Expo, viva la change!



Jennifer of That's So Sweet came by and made a rock star cupcake.


Funny Dum Dum critters made by our friends from Spangler.


Jim and Andrew from Jelly Belly making our signature Corn on the cob cupcakes with Jelly Belly gourmet jelly beans.

This is Karen loosing her mind after cupcake number 600!


And finally that's Karen's dear college friend, Maureen, in the middle. Maureen drove all the way to Chicago to lend a hand at our booth. She kept us organized, kept us creative, and kept us going for three long days of cupcaking. She even grabbed an offset spatula and started showing folks how they decorate a cupcake in Wisconsin. Thanks Maureen, you are the best.

Hope to see you next year at the All Candy Expo.
Alan and Karen

        

Now that graduation is here, it's time to go out there and put all that knowledge to work. But we think it is best to start out with a jolt of sugar... so why not make an Occupation Cupcake to start the job search! The next Challenge for the Hello, Cupcake ClubTM. Check out this fun challenge at our web site on the Club Page. And please be sure to post your Occupation Cupcakes to the Flickr page so we can all applaud your new career choice.

Below are the Occupations we made for Hello, Cupcake! Take the challenge and show us your career choice.

Happy cupcaking,
Alan and Karen

Photograph copyright Alan Richardson 2009

        

Hey, congrats to all those grads out there. We have a cupcake just for you.
Go to our web site at www.hellocupcakebook.com to see how easy it is to make Graduation caps and diplomas using snacks and candies. Have a great graduation day and may all your dreams come true.

Happy cupcaking,
Alan and Karen

Photo copyright Alan Richardson 2009

        

We were blown away by the number of funny and creative April Fool's Day cupcakes we saw this year. It is certainly a fun holiday and the best day of the year to make your silliest cupcakes. Take a look at a few we found on the internet.


Erica posted her version of our TV Dinner Cupcakes on Favorite Family Recipes. Karen and I made these for Martha Stewart last year on April Fool's Day and Erica points out that the recipe is on the Martha Stewart web site. As one comment on her blog noted "Your cupcakes look as good, if not better, than the ones pictured in the book." We agree. They are fantastic.

Photo from Favorite Family Recipes




Nikki posted her version of Spaghetti and Meatballs on her blog Pennies on a Platter. One of the comments she received, :...LOL i saw that in hello cupcake…yours are perfect!! you did a fantasic job…" Again, we are starting to get the point. Our readers are making improvements on our designs, and we completely agree. The idea of putting them down in a pasta bowl is fantastic. That overhead shot looks just a bowl of pasta. Nice going Nikki. I think you may have a future as a food photographer. We also loved the BLOB photo where Nikki forgot to use freezer weight zip lock bags and it blobbed her pasta. Check it out on her blog.

Photo from Pennies on a Platter



And on Bake at 350 Bridget came up with the coolest idea for April Fool's Day. She made meat loaf that looks like cupcakes, and cupcakes that look like mashed potatoes from Hello, Cupcake!. I am so confused I wouldn't know what to eat first, but what a funny idea. Go to her blog Bake at 350 to see the fantastic meatloaf cupcakes and take a look at the mouth watering mashed potatoes below. Bridget you are too funny.

Photo from Bake at 350

This is so much fun we can't wait 355 days for more April Fool's cupcakes. Consider this...April Fool's Day 365 days out of the year!


Happy cupcaking and thanks to Erica, Nikki, and Bridget for a look at their fun and funny cupcakes.

Alan and Karen

        

Last night was another Tuesday night get-together with spaghetti dinners and...
wait a minute those are cupcakes!

Today must be APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Every year Karen and her family load up on platters of Spaghetti and Meatballs and spread the April Fool's cheer all around town taking platters to school, to the hospital, to friends and neighbors. It isn't enough that this holiday is a Tack family favorite, they have to turn it into a party for the whole village. What a great idea. Spread the cheer and pass the Parmesan, please!


Keep on cupcaking,
Alan

        

Look at this adorable cupcake party made just for Emma. Our reader Kristen sent this photo to us. We love the way the pupcakes are stacked on their sides on top of a cake layer to build the tiered birthday cake. The pupcake faces are really cute. And the dancing topper is terrific. Really creative Kristen and Emma. Thanks for sending it and all we can say is...

Keep on Cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

The good folks at McCormick, you know, the food coloring people, invited Karen down to show them how we use their food coloring to make Hello, Cupcakes! They made a video and posted recipes for our Easter ideas on their website.

Karen made really cute bunnies with blue and pink coconut, you gotta love those marshmallow tummies and ears.

Photo courtesy McCormick



She also made an adorable yellow chick with funny coconut wings. Since when do chicks have hair?

Photo courtesy McCormick



And finally some pretty cookie posies in pink, yellow, and blue.

Photo courtesy McCormick

If you want to get the recipes click on the link below.
Hello, Easter! Cupcakes using McCormick Food Coloring

Happy Cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Our demo at the Grand Opening of the A C Moore in Mt Laurel New Jersey on Sunday was a smash event. We were swamped with lots of wonderful and funny cupcakers who came to see us demonstrate the Hello, Cupcake! way to decorate cupcakes. We taught Slumber Party, Sunflowers, Ear of Corn, Westies, and my all time favorite Spaghetti and Meatballs. One little girle named Areanna came by with her mother to show us photos of the cupcakes she has been making from our book. They had made the pupcakes and the corn on the cob, and their cupcakes looked amazing. Areanna and mom, where was my camera when I needed it? I forgot to take your picture. If you read this please send us a photo of you holding the pictures of your cupcakes. They were amazing.

One of our fans, Juliana, came by the Moorestown, NJ  A C Moore with her mom to make cupcakes on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone who came and be sure to look for the book in your local A C Moore store.

Keep on cupcaking
Alan and Karen

 

        

Uh-oh, we are getting a lot of e-mails about runny frosting. Something is up. We have noticed it too and have been having a really hard time with some of the canned frosting on the market that used to be nice and thick. They melt and run once you frost with them. We have been in touch with the manufacturers and hopefully they can fix it. Meanwhile we suggest that you try the Almost-Homemade Buttercream Frosting on page 227 of Hello, Cupcake!. It is made from marshmallow fluff and butter, with vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar. It is really simple to make, tastes great, and has the body and texture you need to hold your candies in place for all of our designs. We know it adds a step to making the designs but we think it is worth the effort, especially if you are making a cupcake masterpiece for your loved ones. Give it a try and we will keep you updated on the frosting front.

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

TAG IT It's time you laid an egg!

For this challenge use techniques from Hello, Cupcake! or come up with your own fun ideas to lay an egg just in time for the Easter season. Just post your Easter Egg Cupcakes to the Hello Cupcake Flickr page so everyone can enjoy the Easter Parade of Eggs!

Show us your best Easter Egg cupcake ideas!

When you post your images to Flickr be sure to

TAG IT

Challenge #6 Easter Egg Cupcakes

So get started cupcaking

and welcome to the

Hello,

Cupcake!

ClubTM.

        

New challenge from Hello, Cupcake! ClubTM

        

Sweet cupcakes for the sweet!

Make a box of chocolate cupcakes for your sweetheart. Our heart-shaped box is filled with mini chocolate cupcakes decorated to look like Valentine’s Day chocolates. The "chocolate truffles" are made using marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate frosting and iced with a drizzle of chocolate. The remaining confections are as easy as frosting a mini cupcake with chocolate frosting and decorating them with candy hearts, red candy corn, or any red or pink candy that happens to be your sweetheart's favorite. Enjoy and be sure to send us a photo of your valentine cupcakes.

Have a very Happy Valentines Day

Karen and Alan

        

Merry Cupcakes and Happy New Ears from Karen and Alan at Hello, Cupcake!

        

We are so glad to be home.

        

Every year on the 4th of July we celebrate my niece Sarah's birthday a few days early. Sarah is very proud of being Italian and at age 14 a bit of a meatball, so what better way to celebrate than to make spaghetti and meatball cupcakes!



Sarah had to blow out utility candles since that's all we had at the cabin. She also knocked over the Jenga tower.
Sarah liked her cupcakes so much she had two. That's another meatball in the background, her brother Thomas.


Sarah's sister Anna helped put the meatballs on the cupcakes, and their sister Stephanie demonstrated the proper technique for dismantling a meatball cupcake. Always the independent thinker, brother Lawrence decided to invent his own cupcakes with toasted marshmallows.


Here's the whole gang saying Happy Birthday to Sarah. Hope you enjoyed the meatballs.

Keep on cupcaking,
Alan

        

Sur la Table has been sponsoring us at cooking classes in their Culinary Schools across the country. We have such a great time at the classes because the students always have a great time. We get everyone from beginners to certified Wilton decorating instructors, and they all come away with a big smile on their face. In the classes Karen does a demo of each cupcake project and then it is the students' turn to make a cupcake masterpiece. To get an idea just how much fun cupcaking can be take a look at some photos from a recent class in Manhasset on New York's Long Island.


Below (l to r) Tara and her sunflowers with Julia Child looking over her shoulder! Sharon puts the bite into Heather's shark! And Joanie makes a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers.



Below (l to r) Stefanie's pup is sitting pretty in a makeshift doggie bed. Tara and Aunt Denise show off their shark. And Meredith promises that all three kids are getting pupcakes for their birthdays this year!



Below (l to r) Our favorite cooking teacher Natalie has a mighty firm grip on the frosting bag! Vicki has perfect ziplock piping technique and a perfectly ferocious looking shark. That's Lorette's sweet sleeping baby at the end of the evening.


We had so much fun so all we can say is...

Keep on cupcaking!
Alan and Karen

        

Hey all you cupcakers. Challenge #2 is up on our website at hellocupcakebook.com

        

Karen and I were in Chicago last week and I decided to go check out Paper Source. I knew they were carrying Hello, Cupcake! and I wanted to see if they had the book in stock. When I got there my friend Felicia (from Chicago) informed the cashier that I was the author of Hello, Cupcake! Within moments we were surrounded by clerks and customers and I found myself describing the Candy Detective philosophy behind the book and telling the crowd how easy cupcaking can be if you just take a trip down the candy aisle. We chatted about recipes, ziplock bags, candy substitutions, sources for paper liners, and our favorite cakes and frostings. My friend Felicia managed to buy their last copy of Hello, Cupcake! for a friend and we finally slipped out with promises to return for a Hello, Cupcake! event at Paper Source in the near future. Encounters like this make Karen and I the happiest cupcakers around. And Paper Source turns out to be a perfect place to sell Hello, Cupcake! The store is full of creative crafting materials like beautiful papers, colorful ribbons, cards, markers, decorative boxes, and other things that would be great to use for creative cupcaking. I left with a lot of ideas for future cupcake projects. The staff at the story was happy to pose for a photo in front of the rack of beautiful papers. That's Mayra, Marcia, Gerrie, and Rachel (l to r). Thanks and all I can say is...


Keep on cupcaking!
Alan

        

My niece Stephanie D asked me to help her make cupcakes for her 14th birthday. We wanted to do something that would let us spend some creative time together and also let the other kids get in on the fun at some point. We decided to do the butterflies because I knew we could make the wings ahead of time, and then bake the cupcakes, frost them, and assemble the butterflies later with the other kids. We got our supplies together and found some quiet time in the kitchen to get creative. The first few wings came out a little clumpy and I knew we hadn't heated the melting wafers enough. We tossed them in the microwave again and when we got the texture of the chocolate wafers just right the wings really started to flow. Steph really liked blending the brown and orange and became very adept at using the toothpick to pull the colors together. It took us less than an hour to make all the wings for 36 butterflies, more than enough for our 24 cupcakes. Later all the other kids joined in frosting the cupcakes, piping the bodies, and assembling the wings on the cupcakes. We all had a blast and the cupcakes on the platters were as pretty as a picture.
Take a look!


Stephanie D. with her beautiful butterfly wings



Sarah, Stephanie, Thomas, Anna, and Lawrence (l to r) and the wings of the butterflies.


Happy Birthday Stephanie,
Keep on Cupcaking!
Alan

        

Another postcard from the graduate desktop publishing students at Emerson College in Boston. They used images from Hello, Cupcake! to make post cards for the class. We love the one by this really talented designer, Catherine Tatge. Really cool to play with the idea of dessert for breakfast. Thanks Catherine, we love it.