Hello, Cupcake! BLOG

What's New, Cupcake? Ducks turn into Easter Chicks!

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:34:18 GMT

This little chick looks like a relative of the duckling family on the
cover of our new book, What's New, Cupcake? And it should because this
fantastic Easter cupcake is made using a donut hole for the head, the
same technique we used to create the little flotilla of ducks for our
cover.

Photo from McCormick.com

Separated at Birth?

To make the chick Karen tinted the frosting yellow using McCormick
food coloring. Then she used a technique from What's New, Cupcake? to
tint the coconut. She placed the coconut in a ziplock bag and added
drops of McCormick yellow food coloring to the bag. With a few shakes
of the bag all of the coconut is evenly tinted a bright yellow color.
You can find the entire recipe and more ideas for Easter cupcakes using
McCormick food coloring at www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Desserts/Chick-Cupcakes.aspx

Happy Easter Cupcaking!
Karen and Alan

Cupcake Challenge Winners

hellocupcakeblog — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:03:00 GMT

Our Fan Page Hello, Cupcake! on Facebook has been running a challenge contest since December and just announced the winners. When I looked at the entries I thought they all looked amazing. I am glad someone else chose winners, I would have had to pick all of them.

The five winners each get a signed copy of our new book
What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion

And the winners are...

Eval Philips-Painters Palette

Lauren Langer-Spring Flowers
Stephanie Adams-Yo Gabba Gabba

Ashley Davis-Christmas Trees

And how can you go wrong with faux food!
Christina Mackin-Hamburger

Our Fan group on Facebook will be hosting more contests soon so join the group Hello, Cupcake! and show us what you've got!
Happy cupcaking!

South Beach cupcakes and sand and sun!

hellocupcakeblog — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:42:00 GMT

We had such a great time in South Beach for the SOBE Wine and Food Festival. We were there with our friends from Jelly Belly and spent all day Sunday shaking Jelly Belly Cupcake Cocktails. The crowd was huge (8000 I think) and ready to party, and from our post we could see the azure waves of the Atlantic and cobalt blue sky all afternoon. Did I say we were making cupcakes on the beach? It was amazing! Take a look at some of our photos.

Happy cupcaking!

It took a long reach to get cupcakes into the display cases!

Karen applying her engineering skills to a cupcake tower!

Karen and Stephanie Scott from Jelly Belly before the gates opened.

Popcorn and Christmas Trees from Jelly Belly jellybeans.

A fan browses through a copy of What's New, Cupcake? while Alan explains how to make a Jelly Bally cocktail cupcake!

Hard at work teaching the Hello, Cupcake! way to decorate with candy.

We had a blast. Hope to see you there next year!
Alan and Karen
Happy cupcaking!

Hearts for Haiti Bake Sale

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:24:00 GMT

Host a Bake Sale for Disaster Relief
Get creative for a good cause!

Click here to see Iron Cupcake: Earth Rules, Prizes, and Info

The survivors of the earthquake in Haiti are going to continue to need our help for along time. We have teamed up with Iron Cupcake: Earth to encourage bakesales for Haiti. We have also created this easy to decorate Hearts forHaiti cupcake to get you inspired. It is based on the Haitian flag andhas a simple square of white marshmallow with a red heart shaped candyat the center. The directions for crafting Hearts for Haiti cupcakes isbelow. If you feel like getting really creative, Iron Cupcake: Earthchallenges you to use ingredients inspired by Haiti in your cupcakerecipe.
For complete Iron Cupcake: Earth rules and to get the Iron Cupcake: Earth button for your blog or web site go to:
www.ironcupcakeearth.com

A Hearts forHaiti poster design is available below to use at your bake sale or inadvertising your bake sale. Feel free to copy it or if you are interested in a larger file size for printing pleasecontact alan@hellocupcakebook.com. Pleaselet us know how your bake sales are going, we think spreading thestories of successful sales will encourage even more folks to getinvolved.

Hearts for Haiti decorating instructions:

Bake cupcakes in silver foil liners.

1. Prepare frosting in two colors, medium blue and bright red. Placeblue frosting in a microwavable bowl and heat until melted, about 20seconds, stopping to stir frequently. Frosting will be the texture oflightly whipped cream. Holding a cupcake by it's liner, dip the top ofa cupcake in the frosting up to the edge of the paper liner. Lift thecupcake and let the excess run back into the bowl. Invert the cupcakeand set aside to firm (about 15 minutes). Continue for remainingcupcakes. If frosting becomes too thick for dipping at any time returnit to the microwave for a few seconds and stir to mix.

2. Once the blue frosting is set, place the red frosting in amicrowavable bowl and melt as above. Holding cupcake by it's liner, diponly half of the top in the melted red frosting up to the edge of thepaper liner. Lift and let excess run back into the bowl. Invert thecupcake and set aside to firm. Continue with remaining cupcakes.

3. Cut a 1" x 1/2" rectangle about 1/4" thick from a marshmallow. Youwill be able to get about four to six rectangles from one marshmallow.Place marshmallow rectangle in center of cupcake placing ithorizontally on the border between the blue and red fields. Use a dotof frosting to attach a heart candy at the center of the marshmallow.

Tips for a successful bake sale:

If you plan carefully the bake sale will be a lot of fun and veryeffective. Be sure to delegate. Your bake sale will require four verydistinct responsibilities, and you will need lots of help to make itsuccessful.

1. A cupcake coordinator. This person is responsible for getting bakerslined up, coordinating recipes and designs, getting the cupcakes to theevent, and making sure the table is re-stocked throughout the event. Besure to keep the table fresh and appealing throughout the event.

2. An advertising coordinator. This person needs to get the word outabout the bake sale. Personal media like blogs, TWITTER, and e-mail area great start but be sure to approach you local newspaper, radio, andcommunity and church bulletin boards for support. Finding a localcelebrity to promote or attend the event is a great help. Don'toverlook such popular locals like your firemen, a favorite teacher, orthe mayor. Be sure to use our poster above and the Iron Cupcake: EarthHearts for Haiti button available at the Iron Cupcake: Earth site to promote your event.

3. A financial coordinator. This person will be in charge ofresearching the charities, collecting the money and donations, andmaking sure all of the funds get to the chosen charities. Try to lineup matching support from local business or private citizens. A dollarfor dollar bake sale match is a fantastic way to double your donation!

4. A people coordinator. This is the person that makes sure bodies hitthe ground running on bake sale day. Getting the volunteers there ontime and making sure you have enough people scheduled throughout theevent is critical to a successful bake sale. Enlist from groups likesscouts, local schools, church, work, neighbors, and of course friends.Some schools even have programs that offer children extra credit forvolunteer acitivities.

5. Have fun at your Hearts for Haiti event. Since the cupcakes will bebased on flavors fromHaiti, an island theme with Caribbean colors and music could getgood response. Remind folks about all the wonderful things Haiti has tooffer and why it is so important for us to continue lending a helpinghand to our friends in Haiti.

Feel free to copy and paste this poster to promote your bake sale.

Stir It 28 Haitian Relief Fundraisers Sunday February 21

hellocupcakeblog — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:17:00 GMT

In the last few days we have been privileged to meet some very generous bloggers in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York who are going all out to help the Haitian Relief Effort by raising cash for 2 fantastic organizations, Yele Haiti and Share Our Strength. There will be amazing food, incredible drinks, and several authors have donated signed copies of their books as prizes at the events. We hope you will attend and maybe go home with a signed copy of Dorie Greenspan's fabulous Baking From my home to yours, Daisy Martinez's newest book Daisy: Morning,Noon, and Night, or if you are really lucky, a signed copy of Hello,Cupcake! from yours truly. Click on the logo below to find out more at the Facebook page and read on below to find out more about the organizations helping to create this generous event.

Cheers to all,
Alan and Karen

Click on the logo below to go to the Facebook page for the event!

Bren of Flanboyant Eats www.flanboyanteats.com/
Courtney of Coco Cooks duodishes.com/cococooks.com
Chrystal of Duo Dishes duodishes.com/
Christy of Balance Food balancefood.blogspot.com

These bloggers have come together to host a gathering of foodies in their cities on February 21. They have lined up talented chefs and creative mixologists for a fantastic tasting event in each city. If you live near Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York this is going to be a wonderful chance to taste some delicious chow and raise some cash for Share Our Strength and Yele Haiti. If you can't attend please go to their web site and donate. 100% of proceeds will go to the Share Our Strength and Yele Haiti.

To find out more about Share Our Strength go to http://strength.org/

To find out more about Yele Haiti go to http://yele.org/

Hello,Cupcake! Chex Mix Cupcakes for the Super Bowl

hellocupcakeblog — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:36:00 GMT

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!

Hello, Cupcake! says it with MORE pictogram cupcakes!

hellocupcakeblog — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:59:00 GMT

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!

Super Bowl Cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake!

hellocupcakeblog — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:34:00 GMT

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!

Hello, Cupcake! says it with cupcakes!

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:16:00 GMT

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.

Get the recipes at the Reynold's Kitchen blog, just go to February 2 entry and scroll down the blog and you'll find the recipe link.

Eye Heart Ewe!
Happy Valentine's Day from Alan and Karen

New Hello Cupcake Club Challenge

hellocupcakeblog — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:56:00 GMT

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

Let us be the Judge of That Cake!

hellocupcakeblog — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:29:00 GMT

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

Hello, Cupcake! Judges Duncan Hines Bake-Off

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:17:00 GMT

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

Cupcake Greeting Card to Send to Your Friends

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:00:00 GMT

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!

Butterbean Gets a Turkey Leg Cupcake for her Birthday

hellocupcakeblog — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:51:00 GMT

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

Movie Night and Cupcakes!

hellocupcakeblog — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:31:00 GMT

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

Holiday Cupcake Ideas from Hello, Cupcake!

hellocupcakeblog — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:52:00 GMT

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

Happy Thanksgiving, Cupcake!

hellocupcakeblog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:29:00 GMT

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

Fall Cupcakes are a Hoot!

hellocupcakeblog — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:09:00 GMT

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

More Halloween Cupcakes

hellocupcakeblog — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:39:00 GMT

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.

These Owls are a Hoot!

hellocupcakeblog — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:08:00 GMT

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