Cupcakes from my bake-sale fundraiser (Matt Demers)

This is kind of a random posting of cupcake links mid-week, but I’ve been pretty loaded down with school. I’ll try and get back to a regular schedule at the end of the week. Above is a picture of cupcakes I made as part of my bake-sale fundraiser for my trip to Ghana. My friends have been generously making donations to my trip in exchange for baked goods – it’s very much appreciated.

Cupcakes in a jar! I have no jars, but it’s a fun way to package cupcakes.

Magnolia bakery founder sued by others after opening an unauthorized location in Athens, Greece.

Mompreneur stigma and the Cupcake Challenge – Forbes magazine discusses how female entrepreneurs have moved past the “cutesy” businesses of baking and making things for babies. According to the article when women pitch these ideas when seeking banks from loans, they are faced with skepticism about financial returns.

Will work for cupcakes. Anyone want to buy one of these for my fridge?

A few weeks ago I tweeted about how one of my secret life ambitions is to open a food truck. I’ve changed my mind, I now want to open a double-decker food bus, which is what a woman in Albany, NY did! Bettie’s Double Decker Cupcake Stand is an old double decker bus converted into a cupcake shop. Amazing!

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Blake Lively sent Christopher Bailey cupcakes as an apology for missing the Burberry show last month. A good cupcake would make me forgive quite a bit.

Katy Perry wore a cupcake dress again while performing in the UK . The skirt resembled a cupcake tree, the skirt had tiers topped with bright coloured cupcakes. She has also performed in a cupcake-print skirt before. While the cupcakes on Perry’s dress are fake, a bride asked the girls of DC Cupcakes to make her wedding dress out of cupcakes. As much as I love cupcakes, if I get married I’m leaving the cupcakes on the dessert table.

A true sign your bakery has made it big? When Google throws its support behind it — which it did for a Rosewell bakery serving frozen yogurt and cupcakes. Google gave Cloud 9 Frozen Yogurt and Cupcakes new laptops, cellphones, accounting services and $100,00 (USD) for marketing. Not that they even need it after this endorsement. Google gave five small businesses in the United States endorsements. Cloud 9 may be sponsored by Google, but its website is in need of a major overhaul.

A Seattle Weekly blogger calls bullshit on food trends. For years articles about “the new cupcake” have been running. First, the macaron took on the cupcake – but it was “not American enough” to tackle the super dessert. The doughnut has been trying to breakthrough the past few years with minimal success. I talked about pies entrance to the dessert war a few weeks ago, and I just can’t see it truly taking on the cupcake. Pie requires a plate and fork to eat, while you can eat a cupcake anywhere. Also, there are so many elements to a pie to screw up, meaning mass-producing pies doesn’t have amazing success. Tarts might have a running chance, but I think it’s a long shot for the pie.

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Forever 21 is now carrying cupcake earbuds. Want!

A New Jersey bakery is leeching off Charlie Sheen’s antics with a tribute cupcake. The Charlie Sheen Tiger Blood cupcake is becoming one of the bakeries best sellers. Personally I think we just need to stop paying attention to Sheen and hopefully he’ll go get the help he obviously needs.

An LA artist combines two of my favourite things — installation art and cupcakes. The piece entitled “Let Them Eat Cupcakes,” is using cupcakes to look at the scale of hunger in the city. In exchange for a cupcake from her pop-up shop, she is having write out stories about homelessness and hunger on index cards.

A UC Berkley student mapped out cupcake shops in relation to the territory of two San Francisco gangs. Previously, Dr. Kathe Newman, a Rutgers Urban Policy Lecturer looked at how cupcake shops in New York City provide “a more accurate and timely guide to the frontiers of urban gentrification than traditional demographic and real estate data sets.”

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A mother of two attacked a bakery employee and smashed up the store’s display after learning they were out of her favourite type of cupcake in Cardiff, UK. She caused £400 damage to the store. An anonymous donor has offered up a £220 or 100 cupcakes reward for information to locate the culprit.

On Glenn Beck’s show he used cupcakes to explain inflation and global food riots.

A Financial Post article talks about the success of the Cupcakes chain in Vancouver. Heather White and Lori Joyce now have six stores and 70 employees, as well as a show on the W Network called Cupcake Girls. Years ago I went to try a cupcake from one of their locations, and it was honestly one of the worst cupcakes I have ever have. Here’s hoping they’ve adapted their recipes since then!

Pie is considered to be the latest dessert to battle the cupcake craze. FitSugar shows nutrition comparisons of cupcakes and pie. While pie generally has less calories, I think really the “everything is okay in moderation” rule applies to both desserts.

In Toronto the gourmet doughnut trend is catching on. I’ve heard “doughnuts are the new cupcakes” several times over, and I don’t think this has been the case in most cities, but we’ll see what happens in Toronto.

Jack Russell only has eyes for a cupcake (Cute Overload)

I adore this picture because it 1. has a Jack Russell and 2. has a cupcake.  Back at my parent’s house, lives my little brat, Kirby, the Jack Russell Terrier.  I can see him making these wide eyes at a tasty treat like a cupcake.  This is from the site that always cheers me up, Cute Overload.

Recipe for Chocolate Olive Oil and Blood Orange Cupcakes

When I was in Kensington Market on Tuesday, they had some lovely blood oranges. While this recipe contains many ingredients, they sound tasty and incorporate olive oil, meaning they have to be somewhat good for you. Right?

Fashion Cupcakes – Trendland

I know this is older, but these are amazingly styled cupcakes prop-styled by Lisa Edsalv.  Seeing as New York Fashion Week is underway, I thought it was appropriate to post this.  My favourites is the Christian Louboutin cupcakes, which have as much sex-appeal as the red-soled shoes.

Four Square Cupcakes – Flickr

You may have noticed my latest obsession with foursquare via my Twitter, so here is a “Mayor” cupcake picture I found on Flickr.

Birthday Cupcake (Leah Wong)

College Fashion – Birthday Girl Fashion: 4 Outfits for the Best Day of the Year

This post combines two of my loves: cupcakes and getting dressed up.  Sarah of College Fashion suggests cupcakes for each of the attention-grabbing outfits; my favourite includes a Crave-o-licious cupcake.  It was recently my birthday (Jan. 22) and I was surprised by a yummy cupcake from my friend Carly – the icing on the cake of a perfect birthday.  I fully embraced the ability to dress up on my b-day, wearing my zebra dress, grey suede booties and a birthday necklace Meggie and Dayna gave me two years ago.

Food2 – Cupcake Cup

Food2 is having a competition for the best looking cupcakes, there is still over a month to submit your best cupcake photo.  Once voting starts, I’ll try and pick some of my favourites.

prettysweet Custom Cake Creations

A custom cake designer based out of Toronto with fashionable, musical, or just plain fun cakes and cupcakes.  I adore The Beatles’ cupcakes.

The 100 Games Cupcake Game is 100 different cupcakes decorated to represent various childhood games. They were part of a New Year’s Eve party, where guests had to guess which games they represented.  My favourite, pictured to the left, is Sonic.  What’s your favourite?