Series of Halloween Cupcake Ideas!

Halloween isn't far off, only two months, but you still have time to try out some of these excellent cupcake ideas. I'll add a few posts with different ideas. Sure, if your child loves some character and you're hosting a party, by all means make the cupcakes to celebrate that character or story line. You can turn almost any character set into a Halloween theme!

Harry Potter Cupcake Ideas

Today, let's talk about Harry Potter cupcake ideas. Now, you can either go with a kit or recipe plan like the one offered by ThePartyWorks.com, here:



Or you can create your own. If I was running out of time, I'd definitely consider the Harry Potter Cake and Cupcake Decorating Kit at ThePartyWorks, but if I had more time, here's what I'd do.

Read through the books (I just finished rereading "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," myself!) and make a list of the various Weasley Brothers' products. You can make dozens of cool cupcakes and other morsels based on some of these ideas. If you don't have time to read the books, check out the list on Wikipedia.

Weasley's Wheezes?

How about cupcake Nosebleed Nougats? Get some plastic noses at a toy store, wash them well, and make red or green Jello noses, then place them on top of the cupcakes.

Or how about Puking Pastilles? A nice bunch of crushed walnuts in a beige sugar cream frosting, with maybe some corn kernels scattered about would be utterly disgusting!

Or whip up small mini-cupcakes and decorate them with wildly colored frosting, eyeballs, and gummy worms and call them Skiving Snackboxes!

Last but certainly not least, create cupcakes with black frosting and use bright green frosting to create the Dark Mark on top, as shown in the upper right of this page. That's sure to get everybody screaming!

Ok, more ideas to come soon!

How Would You Like to Teach Cake Decorating?

How would you like to teach cake decorating? If you're a cake decorator (or a cupcake decorator!) check out Wilton's site. They are always looking for decorators and actually have a fairly detailed online application form.

The application is a little scary (it's big!), but don't let it stop you. Just take your time and fill it out over a couple of days, if you need to. I'd print it out and fill it out by hand, then enter it in later.

Wilton's also has a pretty good book on cupcakes called Cupcakes Fun! with over 150 how-to cupcakes & treat designs for every occasion.

Oh Yeah, Let's Not Forget the Japanese Cupcake Ideas

I've seen this one around the Web for awhile, but it's always worth a second look. Check out the lovescool.com site for more info, and for one of the commenters suggestions on how to microwave cupcakes using boxed cake mix.

I haven't had the courage to try that yet, but if you do, let me know how it is!

And, if you're interested in some Asian baking (not Japanese, but really cool!) get a hold of this cookbook:

A Collection of Fine Baking: The Recipes of Young Mo Kim

Young Mo Kim is a Korean baker whose work is just amazing!

Want to Try Some International Cupcake Ideas?

You don't have to limit your cupcake ideas to US recipes.

These days, what with the world shrinking and all, you can take advantage of all sorts of international cake recipes. You won't find a lot of cupcake recipes on international sites, but you shouldn't be afraid to experiment with international cake recipes.

You can usually get two dozen cupcakes out of an 8 inch layer cake recipe.

Check out these links:

International Cakes Recipes - Not a huge list, but some interesting recipes, worth trying out as cupcakes. Some, like Creme Caramel are not really cakes, but more like flan or custard. Still, I think I'm going to try and cook some cupcakes with this stuff inside. Yum.

A Baker's Tour: Nick Malgieri's Favorite Baking Recipes from Around the World Really nice cookbook with great pictures!

The Tassajara Bread Book Edward Espe Brown's classic bread book, very easy to follow. There are mainly muffin recipes and some dessert recipes, so you'll have to improvise. Try making cupcakes out of the Turkish Coffee Cake recipe and add your own mocha frosting!

Want Amazing Cupcake Ideas?

Oh yeah, cupcakes are all the rage. Cupcake ideas are here and there, but really cool ones are sometimes a bit hard to come by.

What is it about cupcakes that just makes you want to bite into them?

• Is it the paper wrapper, which gives it a sort of gift-wrapped feel, that makes each cupcake like a little jewel, a gift?


• Is it the individuality of the cake, the fact that it's yours and yours only?


• Or do they now just invoke those wonderful memories: licking the batter off the mixer paddles, scooping your finger around the bowl, or helping pour the creamy batter into the individual little holes in the pan?

It's a two part deal, though. You can come up with really clever designs but still make cupcakes that'll choke a horse. You need to follow a good recipe and take the time to learn how to make cupcakes right!

Yeah, there are plenty of sites on the Internet with cupcake ideas. But, I suggest you check out some of the better books on the subject. Some of my favorites are:

Crazy About Cupcakes A most amazing book all about cupcakes by Krystina Castella. A must have for a true cupcake afficionado.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule Now, I'm no vegan, not even a vegetarian, but this cookbook is just sooooo good. Don't let the vegan-ness of it put you off. By Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor Anne Byrn has done a nice job here. Even though this is part of a series, and I am not normally into series books, this one has some great recipes and nice photos for cupcake ideas.