Cupcake Camp

So after a night watching 5 episodes back to back of Cupcake Wars last night you think I'd be all cupcake'd out, but no, I'm sitting here with my thinking cap on wondering what I can make for Cupcake Camp on October 31st.

Cupcake Camp was started in San Francisco but has since gone global and the first one is coming to the UK on Halloween, organised by Daisy Coole to raise funds for the North London Hospice who lovingly cared for her late father

I cannot emphasise enough the difference between a hospital and this wonderful hospice. They were caring and supportive to both him and my mother and me, offering cups of tea and a shoulder to cry on as we sat with Dad for between seven and 24 hours a day. The nurses were amazing.

When Dad died I never got to say thank you to our nurses. This is my way.

The event takes place at Proud Galleries in Camden from 2-5pm and there will be lashings of cupcakes provided by amateur and professional bakers. You can sign up to bake for Cupcake Camp here, and you can also choose to enter your cupcakes in the competitions taking place with categories like Halloween inspired and Most unique ingredient. The competition will be judged by the ladies from the Primrose Bakery and the wonderful Ms Cupcake.

If you don't want to bake you can always come along on the day and scoff some cupcakes - tickets will be available for £1 each which will get you one cupcake. So you can grab yourself a cupcake bargain and help a good cause.

I hope to see you there!

Eating cupcakes for Charity

I didn't eat a single cupcake for a whole month! Yes that's right from the 25th of December till the 25th of Jan I was cupcake-free! So after some thought I decided to end my cupcake-fast at Lola's cafe in Selfridges (somewhere I've been meaning to visit for ages!) with a couple of their charity cupcakes.

I previously blogged about Lola's Kiss it Better cupcake, and Manny had expressed an interest in their Hazelnut Vanilla cupcake after I mentioned it on here. Since blogging about it, Lola's had announced that 100% of the retail price from their nutella cupcake was going to survivors of the Haiti earthquake - so we were not only stuffing ourselves but doing our bit for charity too.

The cafe is very small, with only enough seats for about a dozen or so people, and as its in Selfridges and looks rather inviting, its difficult to get a seat. This was my 3rd try at a sit down cupcake experience in Selfridges and we got lucky - grabbing a table being used by a member of staff, who kindly took her laptop elsewhere :)

We ordered our cupcakes and a cappuccino for me, mocha (with whipped cream) for tubby Manny. Firstly the coffee, provided by Vida e Caffe is amazing, some of the best I've tried - really flavoursome and well made, and they came with a little square of Lindt dark chocolate which made Manny even happier as he now had something to dunk in his whipped cream. I had seen him eyeing my flake and was guarding it from him.

So, the cupcakes. Last time I tried Lola's Christmas cupcakes I was a little over-whelmed by the amount of food colouring and a lacking of vanilla flavour, however there were no issues with these, they were wonderful. The base of mine was soft and flavoursome and the frosting was very tasty indeed. The smarties and flake worked really well - and I loved the fact that it was designed by a 4 year old - it looked and tasted like something a 4 year old would love! Having said that the 37 year old me loved it too, but then I'm a child at heart, especially when it comes to food! Manny's nutella frosting was fantastic (I took a little smidgen to try it). Oh and as well as the lovely cakes, you get proper mini-cutlery to eat your cupcake with, which is ideal as sometimes wooden forks impair the taste of your cupcake!

I'm not sure if you can still get these cupcakes in Lola's as tomorrow is February but I urge you to pop along and see - the money is going to good causes, and the cakes are definitely worth trying.

Kiss it better

January is a month when people usually start cutting back on sweet treats due to the excesses of the festive season, however if you fancy a cupcake and are looking for an excuse to indulge, here you go;

LOLA’s has teamed up with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to develop an exclusive cupcake for the charity’s Kiss it Better appeal.

The delicious LOLA’s Kitchen Kiss It Better cupcake was hand-crafted in LOLA’s bakery by former patient, four year old Jessica.

Jessica’s scrummy cupcake creation has a light and fluffy vanilla sponge made using the finest Madagascan vanilla pods, which is bursting with chunky chocolate chips. This latest LOLA’s flavour is finished with a heavenly butter cream icing, cheekily sprinkled with bright miniature Smarties™ and topped with a Cadbury’s chocolate Flake™.

Priced at £2.50 each, 30% of the retail price from the charity cupcake will go straight to support the Kiss It Better appeal - a national campaign to raise money to fund research into the causes and treatment of childhood cancer, one of the biggest diseases affecting children today.

A really pretty cupcake for a really great cause! You can order them online, or buy them in store at Selfridges and Harrods. I shall be popping along to one of the stores to buy a couple next week, diet be damned!

Send a virtual cupcake

When you send a virtual cupcake to a friend or loved one this February, Electrolux will donate a $1 to The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (with a minimum of $25,000 and a maximum of $30,000) as part of its $500,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer.You choose the flavor, decorate it, and add a personal message. Then email it to anyone who deserves a little treat, or save it to your desktop to brighten your day.And, to encourage people to help spread the word, everyone who logs on to the site and sends a virtual cupcake will be automatically entered for a chance to win a stylish new front-load Washer & Dryer in “Red Hot Red” from Electrolux. How sweet is that?

Further information here.

Cupcakes to Kiss it Better

From Lola's website...

LOLA's is working throughout February to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital's Kiss It Better Appeal, which helps fund research into causes and treatment of childhood cancer. The children at Great Ormond Street have created a scrumptious Kiss it Better cupcake. A gorgeous freshly baked vanilla cake swirled with a raspberry-ripple centre in a pink case. It is topped with a deliciously creamy buttercream icing and sprinkled with frosted hearts. This special cupcake costs £2 and has been released just in time for Valentine's Day. LOLA's will be donating 30% from the sale of this cupcake to the campaign. You can order a whole box or we can include the KIB cupcake in any of our cupcake boxes throughout February. To order, visit our online store. For further information visit http://www.gosh.org/kiss-it-better/get-involved/kiss-it-better-on-the-high-street/lolas-kitchen/.

I shall definitely be heading over to Lola's at Selfridges to buy a couple of these, they not only look fantastic but are for a great cause.

Thanks to Lola's for the pic

Yummy cupcakes - new goodies from Shana Logic

More yummy goodies arrived in my in box today from Shana Logic AND they have introduced a new Fashion Fundraiser section which will donate 10% of proceeds to a different charity every season!

Starting a week ago, 10% of the proceeds from the Fundraiser section of the site will go to the amazing ASPCA which helps prevent cruelty to animals!

The happy pin set is part of the Fundraiser section, so you can buy those and do your bit, and treat yourself to the mirror too in honour of doing your good deed for the day :)

And I know they're not cupcake but HOW cute are these?? Talk about cute overload!

Saving the earth one cupcake at a time

Sounds like a FANTASTIC plan to me, so its more the pity that I don't live near a Sprinkles as they are donating the proceeds from their vanilla cupcakes to local tree planting and environmental care groups in celebration of Earth Day! What better excuse for stuffing your face with cupcakes than saving the world!

If I was a superhero could I be Captain Cupcake??? Although having seeing Captain Cupcake's outfit (above) I'm not too sure! Wonder if Mrs Cupcakes outfits nicer?

Further information on locations offering this wonderful offer are available here. PLEEEASE hurry to London Sprinkles so I can help save the earth quicker!