Nothing says lovin' like Funfetti

Ann Arbor Dennis came to visit briefly at the weekend and he was upset he couldn't find me Cupcake Pebbles so he brought me some Funfetti Valentines mix instead :) I'm not really a fan of cake mixes (the Sprinkles ones were such a nightmare - again bought by Dennis who always describes it as "the most expensive flour he's ever bought") but I'm a huge fan of the Pilsbury Dough Boy and I've always thought Funfetti looks fabulously cute so I shall be giving them a try. He didn't bring me the frosting (he was worried if he had it in the house before flying here he'd have scoffed the lot like he used to as a kid) but I can easily make some pink frosting and mix some pink sprinkles through them myself.

While nosing around the Pilsbury website I noticed they even do frosting in a tin!

If you'd like to see the Dough Boy in funfetti action click here.

Percy Pigs

I love Percy Pigs, but I've not tried the Percy Pig cupcakes from M&S as they just look wrong and going on previous M&S cupcake experiences I won't like them. However this Percy Pig cupcake kit could be a cute little gift for a little girl to try and get them into baking - although you could be cheaper to buy the ingredients and do it yourself - it's £7.50 for a cupcake mix basically!

Cupakes make the doughboy v.happy

via Serious Eats...a cute little video featuring microwave cupcakes (eugh) and showing us how the Pillsbury Doughboy makes croissants...I think they may be saying French food is crap!

More Halloween Treats!

When I met Dennis and got all the gifts below, I also met the lovely Helen and she too brought me more cupcake goodies! This time a Halloween Cupcake Mix by Doctor Oetker.

I also got 2 fairy cakes from Dennis - by Fiona Cairns, he got a giant box in Fortnum and Masons for us and we took home 2 for myself and Manny - they got a bit squished but tasted good :)

Pumpkin-tastic cupcake finds

To Halloween - one of my favourite times of the year. Firstly its my wedding anniversary and secondly I love all the spooky stuff that appears in stores around Halloween! Although we're nowhere near as obsessed with it as they are in the US (I MUST go there one year for Halloween!) or even Berlin, where they had some fab stuff in the stores when we visited!

Anyways whilst doing my monthly browse of Williams-Sonoma, following a conversation on the phone with Dennis, my Sarah Palin loving friend, today, I spotted these fab Halloween cupcake items! I want!!!

I really love the pumpkin moulds, how cute and the Sprinkles Pumpkin Cupcake mix sounds yummy! I really must make my Sprinkles mixes that Dennis bought me soon - maybe this weekend?

I wish we had Williams-Sonoma here - I CANNOT wait to go to NY!!!!

Baking cupcakes...Donna Hay style

So Donna Hay is the Australian Queen of Cupcakes and some time ago I bought a couple of her cupcake mixes. Today, while mooching around the house I decided to make the Lemon and Coconut one - and although they don't look as great as the pics, they taste fab! The icing is a bit too buttery, even though I used the amount stated, I think maybe I've not blended it enough or something, or maybe they have more buttery cupcakes in Australia?? Who knows - all I know is that they are absolutely scrummy and I'm having to use a great deal of willpower to stop myself from walking to the kitchen and scoffing them! I added my own little touch with some neon yellow glitter to them! You can see in the last pic how shiny the frosting is - it's like its pure butter or something - I'm letting them "set" a bit to see how they go! Don't think I'll be using my icing pump thing again either - I could've made them prettier without it! And I definitely need a bigger baking tin!

I really like the coconut lemon base of the cakes - will definitely be checking her magazine (I read it in Starbucks/Borders when I go there for my monthly read of glossies I don't want to buy!) and her books for the batter recipe!

And next time I'll be making my own cakes from scratch - I was going to today but at the end of the month I cant' really justify spending £7 on vanilla extract!

Dennis is a menace!

After popping into my local Asda today to pick up a few groceries I was chuffed to see this cute little cupcake covered gift bag (£1.28) and the matching wrapping paper with tags (57p). I also got my chum Dennis a Dennis the Menace cupcake mix (a bargain at 93p) - I'm not sure how they'll taste but it'll encourage him to use his oven - which I'm not even sure he's aware he owns!

Donna Hay cupcake set

Just when I thought I couldn't cram anything else cupcake into my weekend I popped into our local Sainsburys and lo and behold fancy cupcake mix by Donna Hay! There were two flavours, chocolate and lemon and coconut! Not wanting to be greedy I just bought one for now but will be going back next weekend to get the choclate one I'm sure! I've had a look on her website http://www.donnahay.com/ to see if there are any other flavours but unfortunately it doesn't have any info - so I've mailed Sainsburys..me obsessed??!

I shall try and resist making them till the end of the month, when my self-imposed cupcake ban is over, and post pics once I've done them - hope they look as cute as on the box! I love the tag-line on the box "cupcakes that are as cute as a button"...aren't ALL cupcakes cute though??