Semi-Homemade Halloween

We are sure that you’ve found a slew of wonderful Halloween treats that you want to make, but where to find the time? So we’ve put together a list of Semi-Homemade Halloween treats that are great for sending to school or work, having for the kids when they get back from Trick-or-Treating, or even to serve at a party. Semi-homemade is a great way to have personalized treats without spending hours in the kitchen.

Monster Donuts

These are one of our most favorite semi-homemade halloween treats. You just need your favorite donuts, some plastic vampire teeth, and some chocolate chips and you can create some super fun treats. I love the idea of doing this and then putting them back in the box. Imagine your co-workers surprise when they open a seemingly harmless box of donuts and find these creatures staring back at them.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

In case you haven’t noticed we are fans over handheld sweets around here. And these mini pumpkin pies are just too cute to eat! Almost. All you need is pumpkin pie filling, pre-made pie crust, and some whipped cream and you are good to go.

Candy Corn Pretzel Hugs

These are cute, use all store bought items, and take no time at all! Plus they have candy corns on them. Anything with candy corn are a win in our book.

Semi-Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Our friend over at Meghan on the Move has a great recipe for Semi-Homemade Hostess Cupcakes. She starts with chocolate cupcakes (made from a box cake mix), fills them with a yummy filling, and tops them with chocolate ganache and the famous hostess swirls. Did you know that the actual Hostess cupcakes have 7 swirls on the top? Do you know how hard it is to get SEVEN swirls on the top of a cupcake? Its darn near impossible! Regardless of the number of swirls on the top of your cupcakes, these are bound to impress your Halloween guests.

We hope that this gives you a little bit of inspiration for having a sweet Halloween! What is your favorite semi-homemade Halloween treat?

Event Recap: Woofstock

We had a GREAT time out at Woofstock this last Saturday. The event was hosted and benefited the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. We had a lot of fun giving delicious treats to the dogs AND people that attended! Below are photos of the treats we had.

Simple Homemade Dog Treats

Cupping Cakes, albeit our name, is more than just cupcakes. We love sharpening our baking skills by trying out new things like madeleines or macarons, or making a batch of the old favorite: the peanut butter kiss cookie.

What is just as fun is making treats for pets, and it has great rewards – seeing those wagging tails and excited sniffs. But what if you want to make something simple but homemade, and don’t want to spend a lot of time prepping? Cupping Cakes has you covered! We’ve found some great simple recipes that have big rewards.

Homemade Sweet Potato Chews – We actually just made a batch of these, and the process could not be simpler. Slice the sweet potato however you would like, sprinkle some cinnamon on and bake bake bake! It would work even faster if you have a dehydrator.  The entire kitchen starts smelling like the holidays!

Homemade Apple Chips – It would work even faster if you have a dehydrator, but it would still make the kitchen smell amazing! One idea is to chop them into smaller pieces, depending on the size of the dog, and use them for motivation or reward.

Peanut Butter Pupsicles – Got a hot dog? Cool them off with a pupsicle! No need to buy those expensive frozen treats from the store when you can whip up a quick batch in any cup you have around the house.

Good luck, enjoy and happy tails!

Customized Treats for your Event

Cupping Cakes recently took part in a Wedding photo shoot, and were happily given a little carte blanche on flavors and materials. The theme was “soft pink and gold – with romance,” the table was set with a great range of pinks, gold accents and soft romantic materials and textures.

First, we chose a white and pink paper baking cup with a scalloped edge, giving it a soft romantic feel. Then, we baked a simple vanilla cake, which gives of a nice soft gold tone, then topped them with a cherry buttercream, alternating with a simple white vanilla buttercream. We then topped these with a pink pearl to tie the two looks together, as well as gold heart edible heart accents from Wilton.

Contact us anytime about your upcoming event, we really enjoy customizing every element of the tasty treat to work perfectly with the occasion.  

Event Recap: Beach Wedding

We had the very great pleasure and honor to be part of a wedding this past weekend. Cupping Cakes supplied cupcakes, the cutting cake and two different types of cookie favors. The wedding was on the beach, and we continued the beautiful blues of the ocean and beach themes throughout the entire event. We worked directly with the Bride to bring her the best items to work with her theme and location, not only with the flavors of the cupcakes, but with the cake design, cupcake wrappers and cookie favors.

Cupcakes:

BLUE VELVET: Blue velvet cake (similar to red velvet) with vanilla cream cheese buttercream, topped with a glittery blue flower.

VANILLA: Vanilla cake, with blue tinted vanilla italian meringue buttercream topped with blue glitter.

COCONUT LIME: Coconut cake (with a healthy serving of coconut flakes) with creamy coconut lime buttercream, topped with toasted coconut and two candy flip flops.

Cutting Cake: Blue velvet cake, filled with vanilla cream cheese, decorated with the ombre petal frosting style and edible “beach sand”

Cookie Favor 1: Sand Dollar Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, with edible sand.

Cookie Favor 2: Sand dollar sugar cookies with royal icing outline and edible glitter, with edible sand.

Contact us to customize your event!

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Cupcakes at Weddings of All Kinds

I recently attended a “Equal Plan” Wedding Show, which gave opportunities to couples of ALL KINDS to meet vendors that support love of any kind. This choice to support any event was a no-brainer for me, but it got me thinking about how some people still view cupcakes at weddings as “unconventional.” So I took some time, gathered some great ideas and information about cupcakes and wedding traditions.

What this resulted in, was a really great info-graphic that is a fantastic ice breaker for brides, grooms, wedding planners and cupcake enthusiasts. I introduce to you…the cupcake wedding information powerhouse!

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Semi-Homemade 4th of July Treats

The 4th of July brings about thoughts of BBQs, picnic foods, fireworks, and eating outside. The last thing you want to do on an extra day off is spend hours in the kitchen baking up tasty treats for your family. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t still whip up something extra special!

Check out some of our ideas that we found for easy, simple, and semi-homemade treats for your 4th of July parties and picnics!

I just love this idea from AThriftyMom.com! She just took store bought ice cream sandwiches and coated the edges with red, white, and blue sprinkles! Another idea is to cut the ice cream sandwiches in half before adding the sprinkles, then stick a Popsicle stick in each one to make them a little less messy.

Mariah at Giggles Galore has two of my favorite EASY treats that are also a little bit more healthy – Patriotic Fruit Kebobs and White Chocolate covered strawberries.

Using marshmallows, strawberries, and blueberries you can easily throw together some Patriotic Fruit Kebows. This is also a good alternative to fruit salad because you can eat it without a plate or even a fork!

Pair some strawberries, white chocolate, and blue sprinkles and you have a very festive and tasty red, white, and blue treat!

If you have a little bit of time before your party you could easily throw together these Fireworks Push-It-Up Cakes. I’d suggest baking the mini cupcakes ahead of time and just throwing them in the freezer until the day of the party. You can use premade frosting as the recipe suggests or make your own. Throw in some sprinkles and you’ll have a treat that everyone will enjoy!

We hope this gives you a couple ideas for some fast and easy treats for your 4th of July bash (or any summer party)!

Happy 4th of July!

Custom Flavors for a Custom Event

Cupcakes and parties aren’t just for Weddings and Birthdays, there’s millions of reasons to have friends over for good fun and good food! We love custom fitting flavors of our cupcakes to work with any theme or occasion. This time we made cupcakes for a really great couple, so we had a cupcake flavor modeled after each person!

First was a Chuck-Cake, what’s a chuckcake you ask? Chocolate cake, with a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough INSIDE, topped with luscious chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, and cookie pieces on top!

Next was the Autumn Cupcake, we managed to combine a lot of awesome items, all in one! We made a buttermilk cake with hazelnuts and BACON inside, we then filled it with bourbon caramel, and a fun frosting with bourbon, some of the caramel, and a few spices. It smelled heavenly….or sinfully delicious!

 

Celebrate Summer!

Summer is a time to enjoy the outdoors, time off from school and fun family picnics and pool time. Who wants to deal with messy treats that leave you sticky or crumbs everywhere?

Cupping Cakes has you covered!

Cupcakes are of course, the answer to every one of life’s problems. But we do have a few more great solutions for Summer.

Did you know we also offer Push Pops?

We can fill these adorable and super handy pops full of your favorite cake, fillings, frostings, the works!

Our favorite is banana pudding: homemade vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers, banana, and whipped cream. Yum!

Too sweet for your Summer? How about filling them with your own mix of fruit slices?

Want something cooler? How about ice cream sandwiches? or whoopie pies?

Go out and enjoy the Summer! But don’t forget to bring some Cupping Cakes!

Summer is Almost Here!

Summer is almost here, and for us Floridians, it’s ALREADY here! Some Northerners may still be scooping up snow, but we’ve seen temps higher than 90 already here in Tampa Bay.

We’ve got some great holidays coming up as well, Memorial Day, July 4th, and a lot of outdoor festivals and events. You know what works really well for summer parties? Oh yes, cupcakes. No cutting, messy knives, forgetting to buy tiny plates or piles of trash. Cupcakes are single servings of deliciousness!

Want more Summer Party tips and tricks? Click here!

We like the single serving of pre-scooped ice cream, in the cupcake tins. The silicone re-usable wrappers make it even easier and eco-friendly!

With all of these great events coming up, we’re offering you a deal you can’t refuse!

Our Sweet Summer Sale!

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