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Does the title of this week's blog sound like a scene from 'Highlanders'? (That excellent movie from the 80's ..) well it might. I started a little group of illustrators and writers on Facebook that gathers in an imaginary snug bar in a Highland Tavern and sits and chats about this and that. So far we are having fun! Never would I have thought that FB could have given me so much pleasure when I joined with such misgivings earlier this year. I have found old friends and made new. It has brought me new business contacts (and work). It has introduced my illustration to folks I would never have normally reached. It picks me up when I am down and even gives me inspiration through my connections with like minded people. It is, in short, a great place to gather. And I for one, in what is sometimes a lonesome occupation, say cheers mate!

Been scribbling away this week ... I did work on the pastel of the HORSE ... here it is ...

 

This week I had the pleasure of visiting the OUP UK office and spending face time with my wonderful counterpart, Kirsty. [*Waves*] In honor of this, we have done a team Linked Up. (Go team!) Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Margaret Atwood! [For Books' Sake]

What better way to commemorate the forthcoming royal nuptials than with some china? [The Guardian]

This genuinely made me LOL. [Hyperbole and a Half]

With only 37 shopping days left until Christmas (I know, I know) here are some gift ideas for the bookworms in your life. [Reading Matters]

The Costa Book Awards shortlists are out. [Costa]

Um…baby dolphin + curious penguin? What’s not to love? [Daily Mail]

Cookie gif! [Simple Life in Tokyo]

Participating in No Shave November? Well keep that beard! Here’s a festive idea. [Dainty Squid]

Windshield rainbow: all the way. [Helmut Smits]

Anyone need cupcakes for their Harry Potter party? [The Love We Deserve]

We’re putting the finishing touches on our presentations for the Keystone State Reading Association Conference, which begins today.  We’re looking for the fall literacy conference season to begin!  (We’ll be presenting at Literacy for All in Providence, RI and the NCTE Annual Convention in Orlando, FL next month.) NOTE: Cupcakes are from Sweets in the [...]

Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper

Vanilla Cupcake is born after ingredients are mixed together and he is baked in a toasty warm oven.  He is decorated with plain vanilla frosting and then meets all of the other cupcakes that have been decorated in a much more fancy way.  By the end of the day, he is the only cupcake that remains and hasn’t sold.  He bursts into tears and a candle nearby hears him crying.  Cupcake explains what has happened and the plain green candle understands because he has very fancy siblings of his own.  Then Candle has a great idea and hops off to find exactly the right thing to decorate Cupcake.  They try all sorts of things from pickles to pancakes and even a squirrel!  But nothing is quite right.  Just when readers think that Candle and Cupcake will finally figure it all out, there is a delicious twist that will have everyone laughing out loud.

This book is a hoot!  I had worried with its sparkly cover and sweet subject that it might get a bit too syrupy, but just when you think that might happen the humor kicks in and takes the book in a different direction.  Harper’s writing is simple, adding to the humor by its straight-forward tone.  Her art is also simple and graphically strong with its black outlines and pastel colors. 

A book that captures the cupcake craze with a sweet tone and plenty of giggles, share this one at any sweet storytime you may be planning.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

• Cupcakes Take the Cake
• Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
• Parent Dish

In Loving Memory of the Bake Sale

herethereandthem.blogspot.com - Bella Foster's blog

My friends know I also love being creative in the kitchen. Here are the birthday cupcakes I baked for my sister tonite. MMmmmm!

Rosebud Cupcake Number One

I simply can't believe it, I just realized that it's been nearly 2 MONTHS since my last blog post!
I knew it had been a while but truly, really, I had no idea it had been that long!
The Summer has simply slipped by like syrup sliding off a spoon....my studio is piled with finished paintings, and drawings for something hugely exciting that I've wanted to do for absolute ever...even though I have, as always, that feeling that I'm simply not getting enough accomplished.

The light is thinning just a bit... some afternoons, like today, the light, the air looks/feels as though it's whole milk rather than cream, on it's journey to the thin, blue skim milk light of Winter....the occasional yellowed leaf, even a crimson one tucked amidst the others like a rare and precious ruby...it's coming.
More raccoons at dusk, and lately when I'm still up at 3 am, I see them out and about. They're hungry and I've been putting out free, just past the sell by date, donuts! And this afternoon, a pie! Raccoons are mad for pie! Who knew? Watching their elegant slender fingered hands...paws? search about, seeking out the best bits....while gazing about, ever vigilant, is great entertainment.
This evening the Mamma Raccoon and her three children, a male who shows up frequently and several new black masked visitors feasted on cherry pie.There's an apple pie for tomorrow!

So....the new blog, it's called The Occasional Cupcake.......
I am not a cupcake connoisseur, hardly, nor an expert baker or eater of pies, cakes or cookies but I love painting them.....the fanciful decoration, the luscious swirl and curve of frosting, the sweet and indulgent promise of pleasure and / or comfort.
I am painting a collection of small sweet indulgences, there are great plans for them and I am offering them, as well, for sale or license. Please inquire.
Right now there is one, Rosebud Cupcake Number One.
Hopefully there will be another soon. very soon.......I wanted to call the blog The Daily Cupcake and like those admirable artists, paint a pretty cupcake, or a shimmering slice of pie, everyday. I knew however that immediately I'd miss my self imposed deadline as other deadlines clamor and cajole, so I opted for "occasional".

Please visit The Occasional Cupcake, and once there, you can even subscribe to see new posts and new paintings as they come!
Thank you so very much, your support and kind attention are well and truly appreciated!

For a Socialist, this must be embarrassing.

At First Book, we tend to notice (and love) all things that are children’s book-related. So it’s really no surprise that one of my co-workers came across this great blog post from Lyndsey at Coco Cake cupcakes in Vancouver, BC.

Tasked with creating refreshments for a Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed 1st birthday party, Lyndsey created the caterpillar himself out of cupcakes! Check out the Coco Cake blog to see all of the photos of the making of the caterpillar party train.

And if you’re near Vancouver, be sure to check out how to order all sorts of unique and delicious-looking cupcakes!

Photo courtesy of : http://www.cococakecupcakes.blogspot.com/

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." ~ Buttercup Bake Shop


If you think you've been seeing cupcakes everywhere, you're definitely not imagining things. Ever since Carrie and Miranda ate those famous Magnolia Bakery cupcakes on "Sex and the City" back in 2000, everyone has gone cupcake crazy.


photo by yummyinthetummyblog.

Actually, Magnolia Bakery cupcakes had been oh-so-cool as far back as 1996, when co-owners Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey began to specialize in cupcakes after they made a batch from leftover cake batter and noticed how quickly they were snatched up. "Sex and the City" then turned the Greenwich Village bakery into a tourist shrine, and cupcake specialty shops have been sprouting up across the country ever since.


Magnolia Bakery delectables (yummyinthetummy).

Today's gourmet cupcake is a far crumb from the ones we ate in childhood. They've gone deliciously upscale, made of the finest, freshest ingredients, like Valrhona chocolate, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, and European sweet cream. Flavors like lava fudge, ginger lemon, passion fruit poppy seed, and chai latte beg for your attention alongside the traditional vanilla and chocolate. Some are filled with luscious, flavored creams, others adorned with coconut or colorful sprinkles. What do you say to a chocolate liquer cupcake filled with raspberry Chambord cream, topped with white chocolate meringue frosting?

Oo-lah-lah. I'd love to peel off your paper.


Molly's Cupcakes in Chicago offers Cookies 'n Cream, Boston Cream Pie,
and Chocolate Decadence (photo by FriendlyJoe).

So, why are seemingly sensible, professional, sophisticated adults willing to stand in long lines at any time of the day for a cupcake fix? It's mostly about nostalgia. We want a reminder of safer, happier, simpler days -- school birthday parties, picnics, church bake sales, cupcakes specially decorated for Halloween, Easter, or St. Patrick's Day. One of my happiest grade school memories is when my mom was Room Mother, and she ordered cupcakes for our class. No matter that they came from a bakery and that she never baked cupcakes herself -- those cupcakes symbolized everything that was right in my world.


photo of Georgetown Cupcake in Washington,D.C., by M.V.Jantzen

And who can resist them? They're small, cute, perfect, and portable. You get one all to yourself. There are no quibbles about somebody else getting a bigger piece of cake, and there's far less guilt over eating just one little cupcake. They can be decorated in an infinite number of ways to suit any occasion, all celebrations. Bakers, amateur or professional, can go wild experimenting with new flavor combinations. Even in these tough economic times, people are willing to shell out $2 to $4 for a little taste of heaven.


Kara's Cupcakes, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco
(photo by Steve Rhodes).

Have you ever wondered how cupcakes got their name?

Two theories, both supported by historic evidence, have emerged. First, that in the early 19th century, there was a shift from measuring ingredients by weight to measuring by cups to save time in the kitchen. Cupcakes were sometimes called "number" cakes in those early days, because numbered ingredients made the recipe easy to remember: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, etc. 


"Cupcake Makes a Cake!" by cakespy.

The second theory harkens back to small cakes actually baked in earthenware teacups or small clay baking pans, so they would bake faster in hearth ovens. Individual cakes date back to the 18th century; a good example is the Queen's Cake from England, a rich, creamy blend containing currants, lemon zest, and chopped almonds.


Magnolia Bakery interior (photo by yummyinthetummy).

Cupcake mania shows no signs of slowing down, either. While other businesses have been struggling, cupcake shops seem to bustle with business, providing a happy, charming, homey atmosphere, where eager customers walk in smiling, in anticipation of that first bite. And the internet has become that much sweeter with the proliferation of blogs devoted solely to everything cupcake. They feature recipes, taste tests, news about store openings, cookbooks and related merchandise, and offer a forum for cupcake aficionados all over the world to gather and simply talk cupcake.

According to Publisher's Weekly, cupcake mania has translated into ever-emerging batches of cookbooks that seem to fly off the shelves before they've had time to cool. Sellers do not feel the market is yet saturated; in some cases, the mere image of cupcakes on a cover has attracted buyers, even though the book's focus is not on cupcakes. 

   

Like apple pie and hotdogs, cupcakes are classic Americana, a beloved comfort food. And we all know you shouldn't mess with that. Back in December 2006, a federally-mandated healthy foods plan was enacted in school cafeterias across the country in an attempt to curb childhood obesity. But when the principal at George Mason Elementary here in Virginia tried to ban cupcakes for classroom birthday parties, parents (moreso than kids) were outraged. Cupcakes symbolized the very essence of childhood innocence, and were a traditional and economic way to celebrate. Needless to say, the ban was half-baked and cupcakes gained even greater respect.

      
         photo by Brian Wible (Stacie Joy for CTTC's photostream).

These days, Jennifer Appel, who claims to have ignited the current cupcake craze, is no longer affiliated with Magnolia Bakery. In 1999, she split from her partner and opened the Buttercup Bake Shop in midtown Manhattan. Her old fashioned American desserts have been such a hit, that she opened a second shop in the Upper West Side, and is now selling franchises across the country. Cupcakes may be small, but somehow they have a magical way of multiplying.


Exterior of Buttercup Bake Shop by M.V.Jantzen


Some of Buttercup's gourmet offerings (photo by robobby).

I can see that a "research" trip to Georgetown Cupcake is in order. Their Chocolate Ganache recently won the Washington Post Cupcake Wars, and has been rapturously described in magazines and on TV. I'll let you know, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I'm curious. What's your favorite cupcake? And how do you eat them -- lick off frosting first, just bite in, nibble around the edges?


from Georgetown Cupcake (photo by BrassPotato).

ICING ON THE CAKE:

For a list of great cupcake blogs, including Cupcakes Take the Cake, Cakespy, and 52 Cupcakes, click here.

For National Geographic's list of "25 Cupcakeries We Love," click here. (Have any of you been to any one of these?)

Visit MarthaStewart.com for recipes and videos of Cupcake Week.

Don't miss Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supplies. Love their designer baking cups.

Adorable cupcake apron at Carolyn's Kitchen!


"Cupcake Walks Pets" by cakespy.

*Cupcakes at the beginning of this post by gemini angel art.

"Pure bliss baked daily. Happiness in the palm of your hand. Joy never tasted so good." ~ Georgetown Cupcake
 

This is my take on one of my all time favorite famous paintings....

It's home is in Paris....and I think she loved cupcakes too....