Skull and Crossbone Cupcake Tattoos Win CQ Over!

I found a fantastic new product at Michael's last week: The Duff (Ace of Cakes) Goldman Collection that features more than 70 products, including fun decorating supplies like fondant, frosting, baking pans...and wait for it...cake tattoos!!!

That's what the skull and crossbones is from...edible tattoos...you can see that Layla was intrigued!


You can find all of the great "Duff" products at your local Michaels store. Go there. The online version doesn't do it justice!



The tattoos were very easy to work with...you can use them on cakes and cupcakes and templates are provided.

Layla says go there now!!

See you soon!

CQ and Layla
p.s. CQ Meets Ace of Cakes...when he visited the University of Maryland.

Skull and Crossbone Cupcake Tattoos Win CQ Over!

I found a fantastic new product at Michael's last week: The Duff (Ace of Cakes) Goldman Collection that features more than 70 products, including fun decorating supplies like fondant, frosting, baking pans...and wait for it...cake tattoos!!!

That's what the skull and crossbones is from...edible tattoos...you can see that Layla was intrigued!


You can find all of the great "Duff" products at your local Michaels store. Go there. The online version doesn't do it justice!



The tattoos were very easy to work with...you can use them on cakes and cupcakes and templates are provided.

Layla says go there now!!

See you soon!

CQ and Layla
p.s. CQ Meets Ace of Cakes...when he visited the University of Maryland.

Pink Cupcakes...

Ordered came from anne for her niece... she wanted a pink set (like the cc that I used to make long time ago).. but this time the color didn't turn out well... but I hope she will like it..

Chocolate Cupcakes...

Ordered came from Raihan (Triang)... she wanted 25pcs chocolate cupcakes for her sister's engagement... Hope I met her requirement coz this is d design she wanted on the cc...

Today I went to....

Buttercup Cake Shop....aren't they lovely!! I think this is my favourite shop in London

We had banoffee, vanilla purist and chocolate purist - I resisted the temptation to get a sticky toffee one but they do look like they're missing one don't they!

As usual the frosting was melt in your mouth and the cake/batter was soft and yummy.

Any excuse for a cupcake!!

or two!

It was my friend Kevin's 40th birthday on Saturday so I popped to Primrose Bakery to get him a cupcake and couldn't resist picking up a few for myself and Manny and a couple of little ones for my friends Grey and Dawn.

I also had a coffee and a melting moment biscuit in their little coffee area - however it wasn't the lovely relaxing cup of coffee I was hoping for, nor was it particularly welcoming, with staff chattering over my head, and seeming perturbed at their conversations being interupted to serve myself and others that came in. One of the owners was in there when I went in and when I said "hello" (as you do when you go into a shop...or is it just me?) - I got a grunt and a forced smile - mind you I didn't take it personally after seeing their pic in the Mail.

Therefore I think this might be my last visit to the shop, which is rather unfortunate as their cupcakes are really nice and I really love the little shop with its ultra cute little cafe bit but I don't like to visit places where you are made to feel like your interrupting their day - don't run a cafe if you plan to make people feel like they've invaded your front room is my personal opinion!

I particularly found it rather perturbing that when you buy a load of cakes they don't offer a bag- not a problem to me as I always carry bags with me but the woman in front of me who bought a whole cake and a big box of cupcakes, at the cost of over �40, and wasn't offered a bag before the girl just wandered off to continue her conversation seemed rather pi**ed off - not a way to get repeat business I'd say.

Like I said the cupcakes were absolutely gorgeous - the frosting's very nice and the cakes are always fresh tasting - so at least their attitude doesn't curdle the cupcakes. Alas it does put me off visiting! There are enough other places in London that make lovely cupcakes without the attitude.

The Sweet Spot....drools!

I spend waaaaaay too much of my time looking at Etsy at work (Shhhh don't tell anyone!), mainly for cupcake stuff as you can imagine!

Lots of people seem to sell baked goods on their as well as the usual cute cupcake goodies and I couldn't resist posting some pics from the Sweet Stuff store - seriously dulce de leche cupcakes sound like HEAVEN to me! I adore that stuff - its just soooooo yummy! It sounds like the sickliest thing in the world but its like ambrosia on my tongue :)

Also their chocolate butter cream cupcakes look like Manny's idea of bliss!!

Wonder if they'd ship to the UK?? And would the cupcakes survive the journey?

This cupcake is hiding a very bizarre ingredient

Frozen mashed potato!! That's correct - inside these rather tasty looking cupcake are discs (!!?) of frozen mash!!!

These have been causing a bit of a stir in the UK as part of Delia Smith's "How to Cheat at Cooking" series on the BBC (including, of course, the obligatory book tie-in). These were featured in Sainsbury's magazine (A favourite of mine!) in their April issue (where I have borrowed the pictures above from) and I can't say that I'm that keen to try the recipe which can be found here) - apart from the mash, there's also condensed milk in them - surely its simple enough to follow a basic cupcake recipe without resorting to adding mash and sugar laden fat?

The fact that Giles Coren, food critic describes his taste of these cakes (as made by Aldo Zilli) as follows:

These were beyond horrible. They had the sheen of a freshly laid dog turd - and the consistency, with that potato in them ... Ugh. No resistance, no bite, nothing. Just an injection of sugar. It's not hard to make a fairy cake, for Christ's sake. Five-year-olds do it with their mums. Dismal.
Appearance 0 stars Taste 0 stars

kind of puts me off - although he does loose some brownie points for calling them fairy cakes, but he's a man so we'll let him off! All in all not something I'm keen to taste! I think I'll leave my mash (homemade NOT frozen!) to go with sausages and gravy or such like and my cupcakes to remain potato free!

Her name was Lola....

And she wasn't a showgirl, BUT she did make exceedingly good cupcakes! I honestly didn't mean to eat these many cupcakes in a week BUT I had an impromptu days leave last week and decided to go to shopping up town. This led to me walking for MILES hrough crowds of irritating people and finally after the hell that is Primark at lunchtime I NEEDED to go somewhere lovely and peaceful, and that place was the food hall in Selfridges, where I stumbled upon Lolas. Okay, I knew it was there and it was my very reason for going there but like I said I needed something nice after Primark!

I got myself a vanilla (insisting on pink - the girl serving wasn't one of the usual nice staff and seemed perturbed I specified what frosting colour I wanted..pshaw she obviously did not fully comprehend the significance the colour can make!) and Manny a chocolate. I resisted the urge to get two each so we could try the lovely looking Pistachio Cupcake (current flavour of the month - check here for all available flavours). I also resisted the urge to eat them on the way home and instead waited patiently till I was in the house, before scoffing mine with a cup of tea. I was drooling while taking the pics - aren't they just stunning looking! It was worth the wait, all vanilly goodness with frosting you want to drown yourself in, and you very nearly could - look how thick that frosting is!!! I then had to further avoid temptation as Manny was at the forge blacksmithing and his cake was calling me from the kitchen..however I was a good girl and made do with my own one! Greed is a sin you know ;)