Seven poor little un-iced white chocolate mud cupcakes sitting in a container feeling unpretty. What to do? Turn them in to koalas of course! The directions are in the current issue of New Idea magazine, but the basics are grey buttercream frosting, coconut, marshmallows, black jelly beans and brown mini M&Ms.
Update: I filled the courier this weekend with 36 cupcakes to take to a birthday party. It was so much easier to transport the cupcakes in the courier. My only complaint is that you may get a little icing on your fingers as you take each cupcake out, but overall I love the courier!
This is something I have been wanting for a long time! And finally, it is available in the lands down under (Australia and New Zealand). I ordered it Tuesday morning and it arrived Thursday morning. Speedy! I ordered white because I didn’t think hubby would appreciate taking a pink container to work on the train when I bake for his co-workers! I paid $59.95 plus shipping.
From the website:
The Cupcake Courier is an ingenious device that allows you to carry and store up to 36 cupcakes or muffins. Transporting cupcakes has never been easier or more stylish!
The Cupcake Courier has three stackable cupcake trays with twelve cups per tray. The trays will securely hold your cupcakes in place so they will be less liked to get smooshed in transit. Each tray is stackable and removable. Simply lift the trays from The Cupcake Courier and store cakes and baked goods of all sizes. The Cupcake Courier is dishwasher safe and completely air tight.
Order here for Australians and New Zealanders or here for Americans. It is also available through Amazon. I plan on filling it soon - will update then.
These adorable lipglosses were one of the many cupcake-themed gifts I received for my birthday. Very cute and they smell yummy too!
You can also buy them here.
I picked up some more in the US from For Love 21, the accessory store linked to Forever 21.
It was by chance that hubby and I stumbled upon Babycakes in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. On the way back from the gym we popped in to sample the cakes, but alas, the latest batch were only just out of the oven. We were told to come back in 20 minutes or so. Of course we returned, and placed our order. We chose three of the four flavours available - red velvet, chocolate and coconut.
We weren’t disappointed. Fresh, moist and tasty. My only complaint was the texture was so fine that they were a bit crumbly. You can’t beat fresh cupcakes though! Babycakes’ web site seems to be unavailable, however you can find their contact details here.
Katie’s cupcake tour of America rating - 4/5
I don’t have this tshirt yet, but I think I might need it! Buy it here from Sugadeaux.
The Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan is back in stock at Peter’s of Kensington in Sydney. They deliver, yay!. Mine arrived last Monday!
Also available from Amazon.
Now just need an excuse to use it…
I’d all but given up on finding a cupcake shop in San Diego (I’m sure they exist, we just didn’t have the time), until on our last night I spied red velvet cupcake on the menu of the restaurant we were at - Claim Jumper. Yay! I ordered one to take home. The container squashed the pretty icing, but who was I to complain!
I tucked into the cupcake late that night, but I was sadly disappointed. It was dense and oily, without much flavour. The red wasn’t as brilliant as the artificially-coloured recipe I use, which would have been OK if the texture was “velvety”. If that cupcake had been my introduction to red velvet I would have decided I didn’t like it, and probably never tried to bake it myself. Lucky that wasn’t the case!
Katie’s cupcake tour of America rating - 1/5
We spent a week in San Diego so hubby and his friend Dave could hang out with Tiger and Rocco. My time there was spent with Dave’s wife Jackie and their two adorable kids. Jackie showed me the sights of San Diego including Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo. But of course what I was interested in was cupcakes!
Jackie didn’t know of a bakery specialising in cupcakes in the area, but she did take me somewhere just as good - Extraordinary Desserts.Quite simply, this is the way dessert should be done - rich, fancy, decadent and pretty! Of course that comes at a price, cake by the piece is about $8. The slices did not disappoint. Four-year-old Samantha give her stamp of approval to the Au Chocolat, I chose Extraordinary Carrot Cake which was more like hummingbird but very good and Jackie chose a pretty looking cake featuring guava. View a PDF menu here.
Katie’s cupcake tour of America rating - 4/5
I’m on the look out for cupcakes and delicious things while I’m here, I will post my finds when I get back in July!
Yes, sometimes baking goes wrong in Katie’s Kitchen. Sometimes, for reasons unknown! My mission was to make gluten-free cupcakes and regular cupcakes for my cupcake-themed 27th birthday party. In attempt one at these gluten-free vanilla cupcakes, I forgot to add the baking powder. I ended up with an un-risen mess of half-baked cupcakes.
In attempt two, all was going well, or so I thought, until I went to get them from the oven and found the cupcakes again were an un-risen mess! I knew I had added all the ingredients this time so I was baffled. I gave up on making gluten-free cupcakes, my gluten-intolerant friend Leonie would have to have store-bought gluten-free chocolate biscuits instead.
I tried making another batch of the cupcakes, this time with self-raising wheat flour. Still no good! The cupcakes didn’t rise properly and some spilt over the edge of the pan. Off to the store I went to get fresh eggs, baking powder and self-raising flour, with three hours to go until my guests were to arrive.
No more trying to make vanilla cupcakes this time, I went straight to my trusty Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook and made white chocolate cupcakes. Success! No disasters this time, they all rose well. I didn’t halve the ingredients this time, I made the full recipe - and ended up with about 40 cupcakes.
Some of the cakes were used in a cupcake decorating contest at my birthday party, some cupcakes were eaten at my good friend Michelle’s baby shower, and some cupcakes are now iced in pink buttercream frosting, ready to be taken to my co-workers tomorrow.
The aftermath of the cupcake decorating contest at my 27th birthday party
(yes it was a cupcake-themed party)
This is Michelle’s niece stealing the Jaffas and M&Ms from the tops of the white chocolate cupcakes at the baby shower
Pink buttercream frosting on top of the white chocolate cakes for my co-workers.
