Cake Central Spotlight

We are so proud to be featured in the first issue of Cake Central magazine. AND we were on two pages. Look how pretty it was...see below. They did a fun activity of asking people to take a picture with their Cake Central magazine when they received it and to post it on their site. These were the photos of me. I was so excited!


Recently Jackie Shaffer was one of our judges at our CupcakeCamp Seattle.
She is pictured below with me and the other fabulous judges in the bottom row on the right side. She is an absolutely a sweetheart AND knows a bit of something about cakes!

From left to right; Top row: Jessie of Cakespy, Carrie of Bella Cupcake Couture. Bottom row: Keren of Frantic Foodie, Melody of CRAVE, Kelley of Kelley Moore Creative Media and Jackie Shaffer of CakeCentral.com

Cake and Cupboard Rocks a Cupcake

We are LOVING this stylish "do" that Cake and Cupboard has done with our Bella Cupcake Couture in Lu Lu Black and White. The hot pink with black sugar pearls is nice and sassy!


Quote from Cake and Cupboard: "All dressed up in Bella Cupcake Couture Wraps, these cupcakes make a wonderful centerpiece for any celebration. I love that these cupcakes are very versatile and can look elegant and chic or a bit edgy and punk when you add the skulls."

Tips from Cake and Cupboard– To do this project at home you will need the following:

~Bella Cupcake Couture Lu Lu Black and White Cupcake Wraps (1 pkg-12wraps)
~12 Large Baking Cups (1-7/8″ wall and 2-1/4″ diameter base)
~14″ Pastry Bag/Decorating Bag
~Ateco Tip/Tube 825
~Black Sugar Pearls
~1 Bottle Americolor Electric Pink Gel Paste

Optional:
~12 Chocolate Skull Toppers

Shop Cake and Cupboard HERE for all sorts of fun finds for your baking needs; sprinkles, baking pans, cake stands, buttercream tools, and even an inspiration section full of ideas.

Cake and Cupboard "You Rock!"

Style Your Wedding Cake with Cupcakes

How cute is this idea? The Sugar Rush Baking company recently used our cupcake wrappers in a unique way.

Sugar Rush created a base design for a wedding cake by using our standard size wrappers for a decoration and then had cupcake wrappers to match. But they didn't stop there.....they also decorated the cake to match the design so it all tied in so sweetly. We like their style!!

Red Box Pictures shared all these fabulous photos from this special day. Thanks Red Box and Sugar Rush for making our Bella Cupcake Couture look so sweet!

3 NEW Styles You'll Go WILD Over!

Bella Cupcake Couture is pleased to bring you three NEW textile-inspired patterns. From Seaside to Safari to Carnival Chic-- you're sure to go wild over these stylish designs

SOPHIA: A stylish cheetah-inspired design featuring a whimsical vine with soft pink leaves to bring out your wild side. OLIVIA: Our newest Olivia is a perfect shade of sea blue for any occasion; from an ocean side wedding to a Tiffany-style event. CHARLOTTE: A cheery, versatile and fanciful pattern combining Stripes and Polkadots.

Which one is your favorite?

Wedding: Mini Cupcakes by Over the Rainbow

Roman of Over the Rainbow does it again.....creates little works of art incorporating our Bella Cupcake Couture. This time he used our mini Lu Lu Black & White wrappers to create this delicious display for one of his Palm Springs, CA clients wedding day. Very stylish!

Wedding Cupcakes: Kyle & Claudine

We just received these photos from one of our clients. Claudine baked her own vegan cupcakes for her wedding day using the "made from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World."

Wedding date: June 26, 2009
Couples Names: Kyle & Claudine Herlihy

Congrulations Kyle and Claudine! Thank you for selecting our Bella Cupcake Couture for your special day.

What makes you happy?

It was so sweet of Mary Beth of Pink Happy Thoughts to ask me just that.

1. Spending time relaxing with my husband and our dog Baxter.
2. Creating special moments through food and celebrations with friends and family.
3. Thinking outside the box and developing something unique.
4. I love to joke around and make people smile/laugh.
5. I enjoy random acts of kindness.

Read the whole blogpost HERE. I didn't mention cupcakes in my top 5 but assumed that was a given. ;)

I also thought it would be fun to ask all my readers....what makes you the happiest? I'd love to see your thoughts in the comments below.

Cupcake Camp Seattle- Recap blogs

It was a sweet day at CupcakeCamp Seattle! Here are a few recaps from Bakers, Judges, and cupcake-loving attendees. Thank goodness for all these lovely people who were able to catch all the wonderful moments and communicate in a sweet play-by-play.

Cakespy
Kelley Moore Creative Media Group
Delicately Sweet Confections
All Recipes
All Things Cupcake
Captivating Cake
Lindberg Family
Not Just a Mommy
Bella Bella Cupcakes
Java Cupcake
Little Birdie Secrets
Patisserie Natalie
Wasabi Prime
My Happy Little Things

If you have photos or a blog to share from CupcakeCamp Seattle; please feel free to send the link to carrie@bellacupcakecouture.com. We'd be happy to share. Thanks!

1st year + Raised $5,276.50 = HUGE Success!

Words can not explain what occurred Saturday April, 10th in Seattle at 415 Westlake!

Bella Cupcake Couture had an AMAZING response to CupcakeCamp Seattle— nearly 1000 people showed up, 70 bakers with 5,000 cupcakes AND 3 incredible quick cupcake eating contestants; all to raise $5,276.50 for the Hope Heart Institute (and of course for the love of cupcakes).

For our first year we estimated maybe we would have about 300 people attending. We were blown away by the response and already planning to make it bigger and better.

It was such a huge response that we ran out of cupcakes almost 2 hours into the event. We saw people with plates full– even when we tried to plead to share with those waiting…we could tell people just did not want to give up their coveted petite sweets. We sadly had to turn several people away. Next year we will definitely have a better strategy in place to ensure everyone gets their own share of cupcakes.

Here are some recap photos below: For a complete view visit HERE Interested in purchasing photos? Please let me know.

Video of Cupcake Eating competition HERE

We are in the process of creating a blogpost of the Cupcake Competition with winners details and photos. Should be ready in the next day or two. Thank you again for your participation and support of CupcakeCamp Seattle and the Hope Heart Institute. We look forward to bringing you more sweetness in 2011!

Carrie Middlemis; Owner of Bella Cupcake Couture

Baked with LOVE and a lot of (Hope) Heart!

Bella Cupcake Couture owes the biggest thank you for the success of our first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle has to go to all the fabulous bakers who participated in the first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle. Nearly 70 bakers donated 5,000 cupcakes to feed the hungry Seattle crowds. For all the details about how much we raised and additional event overview, visit HERE.

We were very impressed by some very creative and beautifully designed cupcakes on display. Here is a breakdown of the competition winners, some honorable mentions.

PROFESSIONALS:
Most Unique Ingredients

1st: NY Cupcakes / Limoncello with Raspberry drizzle.
2nd: Rocket Queens /"War Pig" Chocolate cake, smoky chipotle, bacon; topped with white chocolate buttercream and candied bacon.
Honorable mention: Kimm of Spitfire- Kimm-chi (Korean pickled cabbage) with grated carrot, zucchini and ginger frosting. Sweetened with agave nectar.

Best Seattle:
1st: : Bella Bella Cupcakes / Pacific NW Sustainable Granola NY
2nd: NY Cupcakes /Orca Whales and salmon
Honorable Mention: Rocket Queen Cupcakes / Unhappy Hipster



Healthiest:
1st: Immortal Bakery / Banana with Honey and Cinnamon
2nd: Kimm of Spitfire / Vegan delight Banana-Orama (not pictured)















Amateur
Most Unique Ingredient
1st: Tina Campbell / Strawberry Pop Rock
2nd: Ronnie Porter and Nicole Lucas / The TCB Velvet Elvis (currently not pictured)
A banana, chocolate chip cupcake with peanute butter frosting and a slice of bacon on top. A treat the King would have surley loved.
Honorable Mention: Anisha Hathiramani, Rootbeer Float

Best Seattle:
1st: Ani and Amber Butler / Uptight Seattleite
2nd: Melynda O'Brien Captivating Creations/ Ferry, Orca, Seattle scene
Honorable Mention: Vicki Bushnell / Destination Seattle

Healthiest:
1st: Teigan Walker / Red Goat- Chocolate beet cake with goats cheese frosting and candied beet.

2nd: Jana Bailey-Bailey-Hessler (The Cake Diva) / Vegan Chocolate Mocha

YOUTH
Best Tasting/Design Kids
1st Choice: ? Unknown, Space Needle with Whale;
2nd Choice Tie between Jazzmyn & Tycie Engberg

So many great cupcakes, it was very difficult for the judges to choose. Other cupcake flavors included: Tree Hugger Apple (JavaCupcake), Caramel Popcorn (TheCupcakeAddict.com), Lemon Kelley (Kelley Brackett), Caramel Snickerdoodle (Devon Bushnell), Mexican Hot Chocolate with Fresh Banana and Vanilla Caramel (Goodies Bake Shop), 5-Spice Parsnip (Heidi Phillips), Savory Breakfast with bacon and truffles (Marian Macapiniac), Brown Butter Bliss (Deb Vasseur), Cupcake Pops (Confection Concoctions) and so many more. Photo of: Old Time Mariners- by Justine Bushnell

The Most Adorable goes to.....

Our wonderful CupcakeCamp Seattle judges (Jessie Oleson of Cakespy.com, Melody Biringer of CRAVE Seattle, Keren Brown of Frantic Foodie, Jackie Shaffer of CakeCentral.com, Kelley Moore of Kelley Moore Creative Media and Sue Keller, Hope Heart/Dietician), the Trophy Cupcakes skirt model, and our three fast eating cupcake contestants (Gergo the Great, Jeannette the Crumb Crusher and Billy the Fridge (Champion: ate 6 cupcakes provided by Wink Cupcakes in 1 min 30 sec).

Bella Cupcake Couture thanks you again for participating in the first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle. We hope to be a part of your beautiful cupcake creations in the future. See you next year. Cheers! Carrie

To view more CupcakeCamp Seattle photos visit:

Barbie Hull Photography: HERE
username: cupcakecamp
password: 10107