Cupcake jewelry fest (or feast?): cupcake tray ring, cupcake wine stopper, cupcake pin, cupcake earrings, rings and pendants

All of these pieces of cupcake jewelry (and the cupcake wine stopper, which isn't technically jewelry, but is too cute not to include in this roundup) are for sale by Etsy seller GiraffesKiss. I just don't know which I think is the cutest; they're all charming to me, and there's more in their Etsy store!


cupcake tray ring


cupcake wine stopper!




cupcake earrings


cupcake pendant


cupcake ring




cupcake stick pin

Smoke your cupcakes? Vaportrim vanilla cupcake flavored "dessert inhaler" claims to "taste just like dessert"

Whoa...Emily McCombs over at xoJane tested out the Vaportrim cupcake flavor and...

You can watch her reaction:



and read about it in more detail, like: "What this product does not taste like is delicious dessert. It also does not make you feel like you just ate dessert. If anything, that hint of dessert-y flavor made me crave a real vanilla cupcake, the exact opposite of its intended purpose. As does the picture of the cupcake on the box."



Here's what Vaportrim claims:

A pint-sized party favorite, this dainty dandy consists of moist white cake slathered in rich, buttercream frosting and stippled with a festive assortment of colorful sprinkles. Wonderfully sweet and buttery, Vanilla Cupcake is pure fun and pure heaven for cake lovers. Dig in!

I don't think anyone reading a blog called Cupcakes Take the Cake would be interested in smoking their cupcake flavor or missing out on the deliciousness that equals cupcakes, but there are all kinds of people trying to make money off of people who like cupcakes, and this is one more wacky product out there.

Cupcake cuff links and a carrot cake cupcake necklace

Another fun cupcake item: cuff links! The first three are by Etsy seller The Apple as is the carrot cupcake necklace and the bottom one from Etsy seller The Clay Collection.

Does Shipping Cupcakes Stack Up? Plus, a Giveaway: Georgetown Cupcake Sends You a Dozen!

Thank you Georgetown Cupcake for the shipping and the cupcakes -- and the Valentine's Day giveaway. 

I'd always been suspicious about how well shipping cupcakes works, even though I'd had a reliable experience before.

It arrived in fine condition, bright pink and happy-looking, very distinctive. Once you see this box you won't forget it anytime soon (check out these amazing shots of the boxes arriving for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan during "Operation Cupcake"). When I opened the box there was a foil wrap around the cupcakes:

Inside that was a small gel-type pack of ice.

And a card, although it had no information abut the cupcakes inside. No names, flavors, ingredients, nor the name of the collection, which was a Valentine's Day special. That was kind of a bummer, not sure why it was overlooked.

The cupcakes arrived partially frozen, with sticks in them to keep them in place:

A tiny bit of movement showed but for the most part the cupcakes arrived looking great!

Flavors were:

Red velvet.

Strawberry Lava Fudge.

Chocolate squared.

(I looked them up.)

The red velvets were my favorite.





Yummy and sweet cream cheese frosting with a dense moist (but not oily or greasy) cake. My cupcake-tasting partners (in crime) felt the cupcakes had a slightly alkaline aftertaste but I didn't notice.

The strawberry lava fudge was exactly as advertised:






A lava-type cake with a sweet and gooey fudge center. The frosting is also very sugary, with a fruity strawberry taste. I thought I also might have tasted some raspberry but no one else agreed with me. *sigh*

Warning: this cupcake is messy! Gooey and drippy and best eaten with a fork or spoon. Also, the frosting had a tendency to separate. Maybe due to the fact there was so much of it?




The chocolate squared was so rich and dense and obviously made with quality ingredients.






My friend took one bite and said, "Are these made with Valrhona?" Wow. Impressive. Yes, they are.  We both agreed that the cake was just a vehicle for the frosting. So decadent. And really a grain-free taste, which I think is hard to achieve in a chocolate frosting.





I love how the cupcake wrappers were decorated on the bottom:



So cute.




The cupcakes are hard to remove from their container. It's best to remove them while they are still frozen, or you will have fingerprints all over your frosting:








As an aside, Senator Harry Reid received a similar box and regifted the treats to the press! Nice move, Senator Reid. Media people love cupcakes.



Georgetown Cupcake is home to TLC's show DC Cupcakes and they are expanding soon to NYC and Boston. Excellent shipping, quality ingredients, popular TV show, busy bakeries (4 by the end of the year) -- is there anything these women can't do?!



Anyway, Georgetown Cupcake and Cupcakes Take the Cake are giving away a dozen Valentine's Day cupcakes plus some cupcake merchandise, shipped directly to your home (USA lower 48 only due to shipping restrictions). To enter, leave an email address where CTTC can contact you below, in the comment section, on or before February 6, 2012 at 5:00 pm ET.  We will choose one winner at random and contact you via email, the gifts will be shipped from the cupcakery.



The small print:

"Georgetown Cupcake ships all of its cupcakes overnight via FedEx. Due to the FedEx shipping schedule, Georgetown Cupcake cannot ship cupcakes for arrival on Sundays or Mondays. Unfortunately, we cannot ship to P.O. Boxes, APO, or FPO addresses.We do not require signature upon receipt of any shipping order. However, due to the perishable nature of our product, it is best for someone to be present to receive the delivery.

Please be aware of any specific delivery policies at your shipping destination.Georgetown Cupcake cannot guarantee delivery if we are provided with an incorrect address, or for shipping delays resulting from inclement weather.Georgetown Cupcake will provide you with a FedEx tracking number via email once your order has shipped."

Best of luck to y'all!

;)