Win a Cupcake Diaries back to school package with 2 books and an apron!

Our latest contest is to win a copy of 2 Cupcake Diaries books, Katie and the Cupcake Cure and Mia in the Mix by Coco Simon, about a group of middle school students who are friends who form a cupcake club and sell them at school and other events, along with a Cupcake Diaries apron. Enter at this Formstack link through September 6th. U.S. addresses only. Click here to see our writeup of the first two books, and also make sure to visit the official Cupcake Diaries site for a book trailer, excerpts and more info on these 4 cupcake lovers!







The latest Cupcake Diaries book is Emma on Thin Icing, and it just came out.







We'll have a review shortly, but here's the official summary:



When Mia asks the girls in the club to be junior bridesmaids in her mother's wedding, everyone is superexcited about the idea...especially when they find the perfect dress for the occasion! It's Emma's dream dress, except it's a little more than she expected. And with her mom now out of a job (she's been put on furlough at the library) there's not a lot of room at the Taylor's house for extras. But not wanting to disappoint her friends, Emma decides to take on a few more jobs and chores around the house to help cover the cost. Between babysitting her bratty brother, a dog-walking business, flute practice, the Cupcake Club--and oh yeah, being a typical tween girl--Emma may have bitten off more than she can chew. Can she handle it all?

Become cupcake famous: cupcake flavor contest at Main Street Cupcakes to name the Medina Cupcake!

Want to show your town spirit and have a cupcake you've designed for sale at Main Street Cupcakes in Medina, Ohio? Read on!







From their website:



Main Street Cupcakes



wants your help designing the official

Medina Cupcake

The Medina Cupcake will join our ever rising list of 245+ flavors of cupcakes!



Join our other cupcake design winners like Jennifer from Rocky River who designed a “colorful cupcake because Rocky River is a colorful place to live.” Chocolate cake filled with fudge, baked with chocolate chips and walnuts, then topped with yellow tinted vanilla buttercream, all rolled in green sugars, and garnished with Swedish fish.



And Amanda who designed the Hudson Cupcake: Vanilla cake baked with apple pie filling topped with caramel buttercream, and garnished with a touch of cinnamon because “the city of Hudson is as American apple pie!”



It's free to enter! All entries must be submitted electronically to Sarah at MainStreetCupcakes.com

*Be sure to be creative, tell us a story about why this cupcake

should be made in honor of Medina.*



Contest runs from August 16h-September 2nd



The Winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 6th.



In addition to infinite bragging rights for designing the official cupcake of Medina, the winner will also receive a

free dozen of their winning flavor!



Main Street Cupcakes has three Ohio locations: Hudson, Rocky River and Medina. See mainstreetcupcakes.com for more information.



Also, each of the three locations has daily cupcake flavors which you can find on their Facebook page; today's in Medina are:



Wedding day white - Red Velvet - Peanut butter banana bliss - Cassada - Vanilla chai - Chocolate peanut butter - Classic chocolate - Raspberry Lemonade - Classic vanilla - Orange float - Berry Berry Strawberry - Strawberry Margarita - Lemon drop - Day & Night - Chocolate Lava - Strawberry & Pink...



And the cupcake flavor of the month is Peanut Butter Banana Bliss!



Here's a few random photos from their Facebook page:











Rocky River Cupcake: Chocolate cake filled with fudge, baked with walnuts and chocolate chips, topped with yellow tinted vanilla butter cream frosting, rolled in green sugar crystal sprinkles and garnished with a sweedish fish candy. This cupcake represents the Rocky River, the trout, the beaches and the Emerald Necklace.







"Caramel Toffee Cheesecake." Cheesecake and Toffee Cake, frosted with Caramel buttercream, and garnished with toffee crumbles and a chocolate drizzle.

Win one of three copies of children's book You Are My Cupcake

Our latest contest, which you can enter on Formstack, is to win an adorable new children's board book, You Are My Cupcake by Joyce Wan. US addresses only. Deadline is Friday, August 12th, 5 pm EST. We will email the winners for their addresses.

You can also buy You Are My Cupcake from Amazon.



Here's what Publishers Weekly said about it:

"You are my cupcake... My sticky little gumdrop... My mushy little sweet pea," coos this plucky board book featuring terms of endearment based on cutely personified foods. Embossed for a satisfying tactile effect, Wan's digitized characters, reminiscent of Japanese animation, have chocolate-brown eyes and rosy cheeks. "Baby, I could just eat you up!" concludes the adoring final spread. All that's left of the cupcake is its smiling, green liner. Presumably, no actual cupcakes were harmed in the making of this crowd-pleasing plum. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)”

Win a copy of cupcake cookbook Sparkle Cupcakes

More from this new cupcake cookbook next week, including two recipes, one for the salted caramel cupcakes seen below, but for now: a contest! Win a copy of Sparkle Cupcakes: The Little Black Book, the cookbook by Kathryn Sutton; to enter, go to Formstack and fill out the form there by July 18th. That is the ONLY way to enter (not as a comment here). US addresses only (sorry). You can also buy it on Amazon if you just can't wait!



More about the book:

Cupcakes make every occasion a celebration. The Little Black Book captures some of the celebrations that have been marked with a Sparkle cupcake or many. In this book, Sparkle Cupcakery shares its secret recipes- from rich red velvet Valentine’s day cupcakes to wedding day cupcakes- there’s even cupcakes for men and pupcakes for the pooch! Complete with step-by-step instructions on baking and decorating, you’ll be sparkling in no time!


salted caramel cupcakes from Sparkle Cupcakes.

Find out more about Sparkle Cupcakery on their website and Facebook page.

Cake Contests

Does anyone know of any good cake decorating contests going on? I always seem to just miss the deadline on them, unfortunately. I know a few months back there was a contest for Charm City Cakes, Her Interactive, and last year there was Threadcakes (are they doing that again this year?) but I don't know if there are any current competitions out there floating around on the Internet.



So if you hear about any contests on a cake forum, or in a magazine, or on a website, please let me know! I'd like to compile a list of current cake contests (I'm talking about the "send in your photograph" kind not the "you've got 6 hours to make the cake in front of a live studio audience" kind of competition...I don't think I'm ready for that quite yet!) and keep a running list up on my blog. I'm sure we could all benefit from that! :)



So expect a post in the next few days with whatever information I've come up with, and if you know of any contents, let me know in the comments section! :)