There is nothing I love more than those gorgeous little cartoons that entertain kiddies for hours!  One such cartoon is the delightful Peppa Pig!  So today as a great idea for a toddler’s birthday I thought I would feature these way too cute 2D Peppa Pig cupcakes!  They look great and creating two dimensional images (ie flat) is a great way to build confidence in cupcake decorating.

This great example is from Angelina Cupcake.

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Did you know that Chip n’ Dale are about 60 years old?  They look pretty amazing, huh!

For some random reason yesterday I was cruising the internet to find out cartoon characters from the 1950s.  Well the reason isn’t really random, I am getting married to my long term partner at the end of the year and it is as 50s wedding, so I wanted a cute 50s cartoon for our invites (work with me, I thought it would be cute), but most of the cartoons are men!  Think Snagglepuss (1959), Huckleberry Hound (1958), Yogi Bear, etc!

The best I could come up with were Fred and Wilma Flintstone! … As I said, it was an idea!

But in looking I did briefly consider Chip n’ Dale, but of course they are two boys.  Though one looks very feminine!  Did you know they originally both looked more alike, but then they changed the nose of Dale to red so that you could tell them apart?

So I learnt many things, one is that I need to think of a better idea for my wedding invite!  But I love these cute Chip n’ Dale cupcakes I found, created by Cupkeiks, they are so bright and funky.  Perfect for a kid’s birthday or for a colorful fifties wedding!

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There are not many children who do not love Sponge Bob!  So today I thought I would bring you a group of Sponge Bob Square Pants cupcakes that Paula Henning recently created.  The only really terrible thing about this show, is the terribly annoying song which gets stuck into your brain.  Right now, as I type this, I cannot help humming along…

The first photo above show Gary Snail and a happy Sponge Bob, and the next a smiling Sponge Bob, and finally below Patrick Star.

These cupcakes represent a fantastic design that you can adapt.  With the pattern mostly flat, you can layer your fondant to create the images.  Get an icing pen in black to be able to draw on the fine details such as Sponge Bob’s eyelashes and eyeballs.

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The big question this week is… pies or cupcakes… pies or cupcakes…

the answer.. CUPCAKES of course!  You just can’t decorate a pie like you can a cupcake!

Tuesday 11th January – Save the Denver Cupcake Trucks!  If you believe that cupcakes have a place on the streets of Denver, then you have the ability to make a difference and sign the official petition to help save Clyde and Clementine, the two trucks which have been parked since late last year.  Why?  Well it seems the owners cannot get a straight answer from the Department of Excise and Licenses.  More information is on Denver Westword.

Wednesday 12th January – Got what it takes to bake a cupcake or two?  Then how about considering auditioning for Season 3 of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars.  Reality Wanted has details of how to go about creating your entry.

Saturday 15th January – Is the cupcake business a viable one?  It is an interesting question and one that has been asked a few times by many people and companies.  The New York Times You’re the Boss Blog asked the question back in November 2009 and received  wildly divergent opinions, but given the success and expansion of Crumb’s Bake Shop, they have decided to ask again.  So if you have an opinion or would like to see what the answers were last time they asked, check out You’re the Boss here.

Saturday 15th January - Bye bye cupcakes – hello pies?

In Australia the ‘pies’ may have won the premiership, but are the edible version really posing a treat to the popularity of cupcakes?  LA Times Blog ponders the issue.  Apparently pie shops are springing up everywhere and pie has even replaced cake at some weddings.  What do you think, will a piece of pie replace your cupcake?

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If so you will love these cupcakes from Blue Cupcake.

Julie who runs Blue Cupcake, continually creatively out-does herself with her clever creations, and this time is no exception.  Presented with a challenge to come up with cupcakes for one of the actors of the CBS Show NCIS, she set to work researching all the other equipment and details.

These cupcakes have added a smile to my face, two of the photos are here but you can see the others on Julie’s blog.

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First I have to sincerely apologise that there will be no Cupcake Five this week or next, but they will be back the week following bigger and better than ever!

They are an Australian sensation and apart from the odd lost member they are pretty much in tact as they were.  In fact the new yellow wiggle is just as good, if not better.  So do you wiggle?

I have a large number of friends in America and I know their kids love the Wiggles, so today I thought I would take the punt that the majority of you know who I am talking about and post this awesome Wiggles cake with cupcakes!  These are by Cups’n More!

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On Thursday we had TV Cupcake ideas for girls, so now it is the boy’s turn!  Here are some of the best boy television cupcake ideas around.

First we have the vivid green Ben 10 Cupcakes by Heart Cakes. Then next we have Dragon Ballz cakes by Mily’s Cupcakes.

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Finally below we have three more fantastic cake ideas for boys based on TV shows, these all have the traditional blue for boy theme.  First we have the SpongeBob cupcakes all swimming around in bright blue ocean frosting by Shannon at Did Someone say Cake?  Then there is the cool fondant Blue’s Clues puppy and paw print cupcakes by Francesca at Sugar Siren and finally down below the ever popular but not fully blue Avatar, as in the TV kids show and not the movie!  These fun Avatar cakes were uploaded to Flickr  by Rachel from Cupcakes Takes the Cake and were created by Home Schooled Year.

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My daughter is absolutely in love with the Winx Club.  She cannot get enough of the little fairies, so I got thinking about cupcakes for kids based on their favorite television shows, a little bit of digging later and I have come up with some fantastic cupcake ideas from some really talented cupcake creators.

Where else to start but the Winx Club Cupcake Cake by SpecialCakes Tracey.

Another one of her absolute favorites is the PowerPuff girls.  These are sooooooo totally adorable, and were created by Aline Berg.  I love the PowerPuff girl eyes.

No tv cupcake round up could be complete without Dora!  These are from Clever Cupcakes in Montreal.  Or if your girl is not into the girly shows, there is Wonder Pets.  This fantastic tower was made by Natty Cakes.

Or potentially you need to mix animals and a show together, that is what  Cupcake Tarts Kim & Michelle did to create these amazing Bratz puppy dog cupcakes.

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Katie doing a kid's birthday party

Last week in Cupcake News I brought you Bruce’s entry for Cupcake Wars, and if you have been over to YouTube recently you would realize he is not alone!  The entries range from the yawn, to the laugh out loud to those that have serious cringe factor elements!

So this week I’ve been watching YouTube more than what I should, and these are my favorite for creativity and fun, they made sitting through all the others worthwhile!

Like it Bite it or Both – Love the creative spin on the start of this one, I bet they do actually get a lot of these calls.  Plus anywhere that describes themselves as a mullet, has a whisk war and cupcake wrapper art is in my opinion worth a shot!  This is an enjoyable video, good luck!

Katie’s Cupcakes – If you want to see how to mix karate and cupcakes, Katie knows how. She is certainly is not afraid to put it out there.. nice moves at the end!

Esther’s Cupcakes – Okay this isn’t funny like the top two, but if you are thinking of entering, this is a really well made, professionally presented audition.

Know a cool cupcake audition take that we haven’t looked at?  Send it in, we’d love to see it!  Best of luck to all involved!

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Did you watch this week’s fun episode of Cupcake Wars on Food Network TV? If not, you missed a lot of cupcake fun and sweet surprises.

Four cupcake teams from bakeries around the country competed to bake yummy cupcakes for a glamorous red carpet charity gala for Children Mending Hearts/Women for Women in Hollywood. Suite 106 Cupcakery was the winner! The excitement continued during the episode as the teams began by baking a single cupcake, then three cupcakes and then more….finally to make 1,000 cupcakes on a custom designed stand for their cupcakes.

Sisters Christiana and Rebecca Grammer, co-owners of Suite 106 Cupcakery in California won the July 20th episode with their sweet and touching cupcakes. With flavors reminding everyone easily of childhood tastes and memories – and sweet drawings from Christiana’s daughter making the cupcake stand artistic and creative – her cupcakes were chosen as the winner. With buttermilk cupcakes, espresso and chocolate cupcakes and other sweet treats – they easily won the judges hearts (and taste buds!)

The biggest challenge was baking 1,000 cupcakes in 2 hours. Fortunately, they had 4 additional helpers to frost and bake cupcakes and also to build the customized cupcake stand. The cupcake stand featured artwork by Christiana’s daughter. With hearts and butterflies, it easily connected with the Children Mending Hearts charity, as their symbol is a butterfly. The charity gala was held at the Peter Fonda theatre in Hollywood, California.

Their cupcakes have been eaten by celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Alyssa Milano, Jimmy Kimmel and Chad OchoCinco.

Missed this fun episode? Don’t worry…it will be re-broadcast on Sunday, July 25th! Check your local listing for the show time. Enjoy the fun and yummy Cupcake Wars…we know we are!

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