Ahhh… done for another year!

To share a secret with you, I am not a big fan of Valentines Day, but I do like little treats!  My boy bought me bubbles to share! It was wonderful, just what a girl needs after a stressful day!

So today I thought I would celebrate with a gorgeous collection of Valentines Cupcake ideas from Kati Angelini!  Hope you all had a wonderful day (whether you marked the occasion or not!)

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Cupcake news is dominated by Valentines Day this week.. but we have been able to scrape a few other stories!

Thursday 10th February – Cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes is what I’m hearing… Today bring on cupcakes by the truckload!  You don’t have to search hard to find all the blogs and news articles shouting ‘For the Love of Cupcakes!’

Saturday 12th February – How are cupcakes like Facebook? Find out at the National Post?

Sunday 13th February - The new Joanna Farrow book is all about dressing up your cupcakes!  Dress your Cupcake will hit stores on Monday 14th February.  Anyone think this has been timed for Valentines Day?

Monday 14th February - Is Washington big enough for two cupcake superstores?? That is the question being asked as Sprinkles sets up shop just three blocks away from Georgetown Cupcake.  What do Sprinkles think… ‘The more cupcakes the better” and I tend to agree!  More information in Washington Post.

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Firstly an apology for the lack of messages over the past two days , some computer issue took me out of action completely, but I am back, and today I thought I would feature Cupcakes n Candy who have an absolutely amazing gallery of cupcake ideas on Flickr.

Below is one of Cupcakes n Candy’s gorgeous flower cupcakes, but this is not the only one, there are loads of flower ideas, from stems and flowers, to flower clusters and red roses, perfect for valentines day or for a special event, such as a wedding or birthday.

But my favorite of the moment in her gallery is this totally cute little love bug cupcake.  First she cut out fondant hearts and then I image piped the little rose details on each one.  To finish it off she added the little ladybug in the center.  Very cute!

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Its almost Valentines Day, so I thought I would bring you one of the simplest but most effective Valentines Day cupcake ideas! This cupcake created by PinWheel Bakery and I love it!

Alternatively, you can go all fresh fruit with these gorgeous cupcakes from As Cute as a Cupcake:

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Now most people will make cute little heart cupcakes or strawberry cupcakes for their loved one this week, but one idea you may want to consider if all that love stuff makes you feel a bit ‘whatever’!  Trash can Valentines Day cupcakes!

This strange cupcake idea is from 3 Brothers Bakery and I would love to know the story behind why they were created.  I am not sure I’ll be making trash cans for my fiance this year, but I love the idea of trash can cupcakes for other events, like a trash and treasure sale! or to create oscar the grouch cupcakes!

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As we get closer to Valentines Day we’ll be bringing you more and more cupcake inspiration!

Cupcakes are a great option for Valentines Day because they show you care, without having to spend a fortune, plus they are adorably irresistible, even with a simple frosting on top!

Today’s early inspiration, given valentines day is now less than a month away, are these perfect pink bows from Pet Lamb Patisserie.

If you have some Valentine inspiration to share, why not email us, as we would love to see / feature your cupcakes!

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Send cupcakes instead!

These cupcakes are from Sugar Daze Cupcakes otherwise known as Little Miss Cupcake Paris and she baked these up for a customer who was visiting Paris for the weekend from the Ukraine.

It seemed that she wanted a special batch of cupcakes for her partner to celebrate his birthday.  How wonderfully bright and retro these are, perfect for a Paris holiday!

Also I had to feature them because Sugar Daze have some awesome names for their cupcakes including the Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Rolo Over Beethoven and the Vanilla Lovers You Go Go cupcakes!

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Okay there is one thing I am not sure that I quite understand, that is, we all love little cupcakes because they are so adorable, we can have so much fun with them and they are not going to completely decimate our diets with their calories.  So if all this is true, what is with the big cupcakes?

I have seen a heap of these around now and I thought I just had to feature some of my favorite ones on this weeks ‘Five of’ post!   But tell me, what do you think of the big cupcake? Have you made one?

1. The princess giant birthday cupcake

This absolutely gorgeous cake was created by Peggy’s Cupcakes and is just so pretty!  I love the mix of frosting and hard icing flowers on this one.

2. Blue and spotty giant cupcake

The cupcake by Steph on her blog is very well done.  She did this one for a man, but I think it shows how you could make excellent mushroom style cupcakes.  You would have to carve down the inside a little, but it would look brilliant.  Potentially it would become unstable, but hey, it is art!

3. The love cake

I really like this one too, it is a super cute chocolate cake which is covered in chocolate buttercream and decorated with piped icing hearts.  The Knife blog got this cool cupcake from La Provence in Beverly Hills.

4. The Christmas giant cupcake

Move over humble Christmas pudding, no one wants your fiery brandy goodness no more!  This red bow and ribbon cake is the new centerpiece, but according to the Get Your Coat blog, learning how to ice this well may yet stand in your way!

5. Spoooooooky Ghost Halloween giant cupcake

If we have covered birthdays, valentines day and Christmas, we couldn’t forget Halloween!

This awesome cupcake is from Wilton, but we found the great design on All Things Cupcake!

So that rounds out another five of, what did you think of these big cupcakes, are you going to make one soon?  There apparently is a trick to making these cupcake cakes a success.  A lot of people have had issues with the middle not cooking properly or it ‘sinking’.  This is not because the mixture is wrong (in most cases) but because your oven is set too high cooking the outside, but not the inside.  Adjust your heat down to a lower setting and cook the cupcake cake for longer.

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photo credit: Don’t Lose Your Lunch

Valentine’s Day is the time to celebrate the beauty of love and relationships. Whether you are married or dating, presenting your significant other with a vegan Valentine’s Day cupcake is a great way of making the day more eco-friendly. The usual options of flowers and candy are great, of course, but cupcakes are also perfect for the holiday. They are cute, delicious, and beautifully designed.

Vegan cupcakes don’t have any ingredients that were derived from animals. Therefore, these cupcakes won’t contain milk, butter or eggs. However, with a bit of advance planning, you can make sure these cupcakes are still delicious.

Nothing says romance like a homemade touch. Your significant other will know that you went the extra mile to create something special for Valentine’s Day. If you are making your own vegan cupcakes for Valentine’s Day, there are plenty of recipes that you can easily find online.

Instead of the eggs, you will usually be replacing flax seeks or silken tofu. The flax seeds need to be ground finely and then you simply need to beat in some water. This process gives the flax seeds a gooey quality that will make them a great substitution for eggs. You can also use silken tofu instead of eggs. The ratio is about ¼ of a cup tofu to equal one egg. Many people who make vegan cupcakes will also choose to use a banana. To make the correct quantity for one egg, use about ½ a banana.

So what about the other traditional cupcake ingredients of milk and butter? Milk can be substituted with soymilk, or rice milk. Even almond milk will do the trick. Instead of butter, you can use margarine. The quantity would be ¼ teaspoon of margarine standing in for ½ a cup of butter. Canola oil can also stand in for butter. Simply reduce the amount that you would need of the butter. You need slightly less oil that you would have needed butter.

As far as cupcake flavors go, nearly all of them will work for Valentine’s Day. Popular choices are chocolate cupcakes, or strawberry cupcakes. After all, pink is a popular color for Valentine’s Day.

Now that you have some idea of what ingredients can be substituted to make vegan cupcakes, you can try some decorating. Typically, you want some sort of pink or red decorations on your Valentine’s Day cupcakes. You can make a chocolate or vanilla cupcake and give it pink or red frosting and it automatically starts to look more suitable for Valentine’s Day.

You can really get creative on Valentine’s Day and decorate your vegan cupcakes with smiles, heart shapes, flower designs, and even “X” and “O” symbols. If you have a batch of cupcakes ready, you can decorate each one differently with different shades of pinks and reds and different hearts. Some other great decorative touches for vegan cupcakes for Valentine’s Day would be to add chocolate frosting with pink embellishments or pink frosting with coconut.

Just remember since your cupcakes are vegan, make sure that not only are there no animal products in your cakes, but also none in your frosting. Remember the frosting should have no eggs, milk or butter, so make sure you replace these animal products with one of the ingredients mentioned above. If your significant other is a vegan, and you go out of your way to make vegan cupcakes for Valentine’s Day, you can be sure that your efforts will be truly appreciated

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