Homemade cupcakes, recipes, reviews and more!
Steelhead Studio celebrated it’s 100th anniversary by making 100 different cupcakes… all decorated as a different game! Some are board games, video games, hand games, mind games, group games, card games, old school and new games! Visit their site to see them all and see how many you can name!
Rock Paper Scissors was one of my favorite games to play with my brother growing up!
This Legend of Zelda cupcake is my husbands favorite game!
Everyone loves Monopoly!
Hello!!! My name is Betsy and I’m a lover of cupcakes! I’m also a 30-something Army Wife and Mommy, recent college graduate, and an avid Dave Matthews Band Fan. I live in Tacoma, WA with my husband, daughter and two kitties! I’m a stay at home mom, baker, best friend and music lover!
Currently, my family is in the middle of surviving our second deployment. My husband is in Baghdad, Iraq serving his country, protecting our freedoms and my right to bake cupcakes! 
My daughter, Emily, she’s 10 years old and is full of life! She’s definitely a “pre-teen” and has an opinion about everything! She’s my angel though and I love her more than life. She’s my reason for everything!
This is my cupcake blog!! I share photos, recipes, my successes and my failures all revolving around cupcakes cupcakes! When I’m not sharing my own cupcakes and recipes… I’m sharing photos, tips and stores about cupcakes from all over the world!
You can also read more about me on my personal blog, Tales of a Firedancer, where I share my life as an Army Wife, Mother, Friend and Daughter.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me at betsy@javacupcake.com. Thank you!
| Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade JavaCupcake.etsy.com |
By chance I found this ETSY shop with the MOST ADORABLE handmade felt cupcake magnets!! They come in various colors, but I thought this Valentine’s Day one was the cutest!
ETSY Shop: Color Creations by Danielle London
I’m sure you’ve probably seen this everywhere by now, but since it was part of mine and hubby’s homemade Christmas gift baskets this year, I couldn’t post about it until now or I would have spoiled the surprise! When I first learned how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract though, I was so excited. It’s much cheaper than buying it in the store! And since I was about three months away from Christmas at the time, I knew they would make perfect gifts as well. I’ve been using the homemade vanilla extract in my baking ever since, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to store-bought!
Here’s what you’ll need:
Drop the vanilla beans into the bottles. Mine held about one cup of liquid each, so I put in 3 vanilla beans per bottle. Fill up the bottles with the vodka. And, that’s it! Store the bottles in a cool, dark place for about three months before using, making sure to give them a shake every once in a while. The picture below was taken about a week and a half after making the extract; it’ll get even darker over time.
JavaCupcake side note: As a part of my goals for 2010, I wanted to create a signature cupcake. I’m hoping that this recipe (in three months!) can be used as a part of it! Thank you Tracy for this great recipe!!
3/19/2010 Update: My vanilla extra is READY and I”ll be using it in all my upcoming recipes!
I’m not a huge fan of resolutions. I feel like when I make them, I always fail at them. So this year, I’m setting some goals for myself and this blog that I feel could be obtainable. In no particular order of importance, here’s the list!
1. TAKE BETTER PICTURES
I have plans to get a really nice camera this year and I’d like to learn how to photograph my cupcakes better. I’ve seen some really awesome shots of cupcakes that are as beautiful as they are artistic… and I’m jealous. So, this goal is to learn to take better pictures of my cupcakes!
(Photo: Trophy Cupcakes)
2. FOCUS MY BLOG ON MORE THAN JUST MY CUPCAKES
I have learned this year that it’s not realistic for me to think I can bake a new cupcake every week or even every month. Sometimes, I just don’t have a reason to make them or I’m just not feeling baking, so I’d like to give myself permission to write about more than just my recipes. I’ve been doing that a little more lately, but I’d like to incorporate other peoples recipes, guest bloggers, posts about cupcake merchandise, etc etc. I known there are a lot of other blogs out there that do this, so I’ll keep my main focus on my cupcakes as much as possible.
(Photo: JavaCupcake)
3. PERFECT MY FROSTING SKILLS
I make a pretty damn good buttercream. I mean really, it’s amazing. But, I haven’t perfected the art of using the pastry bag and those little tips that make cute shapes. I want to explore the art of frosting and come up with a signature frost for my cupcakes. My goal is to practice, practice, practice until I can come up with a dozen perfectly frosted with a tip cupcakes.
(Photo: Two Parts Sugar)
4. MASTER THE BASIC CUPCAKE FLAVORS
I’ve made almost 20 cupcake flavors this past year that I’ve never made before. None of them I’ve completly perfected. I’ve found two recipes which I consider to be EXCELLENT in their flavor, but I have yet to make them the ultimate cupcake. My goal for 2010 is to perfect my Super Moist Chocolate cupcake and my Vanilla cupcake and to have the perfect “Go-To Recipe” that I know will always be a hit!
(Photo: JavaCupcake)
5.SLOW DOWN
Cupcake baking is not a race! Sometimes I just get so excited to be baking that I hurry up and the end result isn’t the perfection that I want it to be. I need to do a better job at slowing down, breathing, taking my time and enjoying every step of the cupcake baking process.
(Photo: JavaCupcake)
New Year’s Eve Cupcake Collar – 2010
Originally uploaded by Chica and Jo
Happy New Year 2010
Originally uploaded by cathy_somos
Happy New Year 2010 cupcake
Originally uploaded by cathy_somos
TrophyNYECharlieB
Originally uploaded by Trophy Cupcakes and Party
TrophyPinkNYE
Originally uploaded by Trophy Cupcakes and Party
TrophyCupcakesNewYearsCupcakes02
Originally uploaded by Trophy Cupcakes and Party
WM-6-13
Originally uploaded by Life Abundant
Happy New Year
Originally uploaded by Anita Jamal
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Today is my niece Ashley’s 8th birthday party and she has requested for me to make her cupcakes!! She picked out these yummy looking Oreo Cupcakes from a book I got for Christmas for me to make! So, of course, I had to put my own spin on them!! Here’s what I came up with! Enjoy! [Read more...]That’s right!! JavaCupcake has a fan page on Facebook!! If you haven’t already “Become a Fan” click here to go to the page and become a fan! I welcome all my fans to share their cupcake stories by posting pictures and recipes, failures and successes! Leave a comment if you find some great cupcake items while you’re out shopping (I just did a blog post about this too!!) or upload pictures of your latest creations! Post feedback to my blog posts, recipes and let me know more of what you’d like to see from JavaCupcake!
My hope is that Facebook will allow me a more direct interaction with my readers and lovers of cupcakes and blogging!! So… with that said… I’m really looking forward to hearing from you!! Let’s get this cupcake conversation going!
I was at TJ Maxx and Target tonight and ran into some of the cutest cupcake stuff!! One serving/display dish for cupcakes, a cupcake plate and these adorable ceramic cupcake dishes with lids!! So cute, I had to take pictures of all of them to share with you! Enjoy their deliciousness!
These little cupcake gems were from a little coffee cafe in Stevenson, WA when I was there a couple weeks ago for a retreat! So cute!
I got some great cupcake things for Christmas this year!! I can’t wait to try out the recipes in the book and to use the cupcake carrier to take them to a party and the stand to display them!! Thanks to @cupcakes for the fun lotions!!
This video is so hilarious… I just had to share it!!
I was inspired by my friend on Twitter (@JavaCupcake) to create a holiday cupcake, recipe and all. So I decided on a peppermint bark brownie cupcake, I think they look really really really good.
Here is the recipe I used:
1 2/3 cup soft unsalted organic butter
13 ounces of the best organic bittersweet chocolate (I find everything at Whole Foods and Trader Joes)
6 large organic eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup organic sugar
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (organic of course)
1 teaspoon salt
You can pretty much alter any of your favorite brownie recipes or chocolate cake recipes with organic ingredients to make cupcakes/brownies and you can also add nuts to this recipe if you’d like, I chose not to but if I did, I’d probably use 1 1/3 cup chopped walnuts.
Preheat your oven to 350.
Melt butter and chocolate together in a large heavy pan.
In a bowl: beat eggs with vanilla and sugar.
Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.
Once the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a little before beating in the eggs and vanilla and sugar. Than add nuts and flour or just flour if you aren’t using nuts.
Beat until smooth.
I use an ice cream scooper to get the same amount in each cupcake paper. I also make sure the cupcake paper is sprayed with a cooking spray before filling them with batter so the brownies come out easily, if you are using a cake mix, you do not need to spray the cupcake papers.
Bake for about 25 minutes.
Since these are brownies and not cake mix, take them out when it looks dense and gooey because they continue to bake while they cool, if you bake too long you’ll get a dry brownie.
This is how they should look:
WOW!! What a great year this has been!!! Jan. 10, 2009 was my very first blog post here on JavaCupcake and I wrote about a Mini Cupcake Crawl my family and I went on in the Seattle/Tacoma area. What a great inspiration that was for me to seek out other cupcake lovers, try baking my own cupcakes, and then blog about my experiences!
In February I redesigned my blog to the current layout and I LOVE IT!! It’s been really great to have such a simple, cute, layout that made it easy for my readers to see what my blog was all about. The content on the side navigation bar has changed some over the year, but the content remains the same.
Over the past year, I’ve posted 17 different cupcake recipes! I can’t believe it!! I hope to get in at least one more before the year is over and then next year… shoot for 20 new recipes!!! Below, I’ve listed all my creations with a link to each post! It feels like such an accomplishment to see them all in once place!
This year has also brought me some recognition for my blog, which was totally unexpected and very humbling. I was nominated for a Love! this site award and my story as an Army Wife and Cupcake Blogger was featured on the front page of the Fort Lewis Ranger. I’ve also had my cupcakes featured on a few other blogs and have had many people use my recipes! Jessie at CakeSpy also featured my review of Retro Bakery on her site and I’ve had honor of being featured on several other sites!
Thank you for everyone who has shown me love and support on this cupcake journey of mine! It is you, my readers and friends, who have continuously encouraged me to blog and write, even when the people in my own life just didn’t understand. So… again, thank you!!
I look forward to 2010 and I can’t wait to see what cupcake adventures come my way!
I was recently interviewed by the local newspaper The Fort Lewis Ranger to discuss my role as an Army Wife and the success of this blog! The reporter, Melissa Renahan, met me for lunch and we talked all about JavaCupcake, it’s roots, it’s success and how it has helped me through this deployment! I think Melissa wrote a great article!! I never, ever thought that my blog would be so successful that a paper would write about it!!
Ideas for decorating Christmas Cupcakes!
My little Cupcake turns 10 years old today!! She’s the sweetest little thing that’s ever happened to me and I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since she was born!!
Happy Birthday Emily!!
I’ve had the pleasure of having a few email conversations with Jessie of Cakespy, but have never met her in person. I’m so excited to help announce that there will be a reception for Jessie and her art at Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle. (Thank you to the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog for the idea to blog and share this event!) I’ll be there and hope to finally meet Jessie! I wasn’t able to attend 
Here are the details from the Facebook invite:
Join us in welcoming back Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy!), our December artist. Jessie’s show featuring cupcakes hanging out all over Seattle was our most popular ever…so of course we had to invite her back!
Jessie is a triple threat: an illustrator, writer, and baker. These interests intersect oh-so-sweetly on her site, CakeSpy.com, a “dessert detective agency” where she reports on all things sweet, including bakery news, recipes, and baking lore, all accompanied by sweet illustrations. This show at Trophy Cupcakes is a collection of artwork featured on the site as well as several new original pieces. Though the artwork is very sweet, upon further inspection you’ll find it sometimes has edgy little details (cupcakes eating cake, anyone?), making these paintings not only sweet additions to the home but engaging conversation pieces as well! More of her work can be found at cakespyshop.com.
Reception from 6-8, bubbles and cupcakes will be served!
And, from Jessie’s website, here’s what she has to say about the event:
Breaking Cake News! CakeSpy is having another art show at Trophy Cupcakes! The first one this summer was such a success that they have asked for more cupcake art to get them through the holiday season!
Please note that if you read the update about the show a week or so ago, the artist reception has changed. It will now take place at the following time:
Saturday, December 5, from 6-8 p.m.
at Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford, 1815 N. 45th Street in the Wallingford Center
There will be plenty of awesome artwork and of course a limited supply of free cupcakes!
There will be over 80 new paintings featuring cupcakes (and even some other foods!) in all sorts of sweet (and sometimes bittersweet) situations, and many illustrations including Seattle landmarks.
Of course if you can’t make the reception, the artwork will be up all month long in Wallingford, through January 2, so you can pick up sweet gifts for your friends, neighbors, family and maybe even your sweet self all December long!
Hope to see you there!
With Christmas right around the corner, I’ve started thinking about all the things on my wish list… and several of them were of course, cupcake related! Here are a few items off my wish list!
I’m in the process of creating a central website for my blogs… it should go live in the next 2-3 days!! I’m so excited about it that I wanted to give you a preview!!
A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in my spur of the moment Twitter giveaway!! For 10 minutes, I asked people to @reply me with their most creative cupcake flavors. At the end of the 10 minutes, I compiled a list and let my husband choose the winner…. all the way from Iraq!!
Dave chose the Eggnog Flavored Cupcake with Nutmeg Flavored Buttercream from @_Jodi. Jodi will win a Starbucks gift card as well as an original @Cakespy piece of art (the most adorable bookmark featuring Cuppie!)
Thank you again to everyone who participated!
Here are the cupcake submissions!
I know… I’m a bad cupcake blogger. I haven’t made any new cupcakes for you in a LONG time. I’m sorry. Maybe, a hot cupcake bath will help me feel motivated to bake again! Don’t these bath bombs look delish?
You can get bath bombs like these from my friends at Feeling Smitten.
I’ve been nominated for an award!!! See below and PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!!! Thank you!!!
This policy is valid from 26 October 2009
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Betsy at betsy@javacupcake.com.
This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.
The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
My 1 year Bloggerversary is coming up in February of 2010 and I wanted to do something special for it. So, I’ve decided to do a giveaway. I’ve started to collect various cupcake & coffee trinkets, jewelry, art, bags, a watch… you name it. If it’s cupcake or coffee, I’m collecting it! I’ve even got some CakeSpy goodies and a bath bomb given to me for the giveaway by Feeling Smitten.
I thought I’d put a call out to all of my fabulous cupcake & coffee friends to see if you’d like to help out with the giveaway!! Of course, I’ll give you full credit and props for your addition to the giveaway on my blog with links and I’ll Tweet about you on Twitter!!
If you’re interested in helping me celebrate my Boggerversary with this giveaway, please email me at betsy@javacucpake.com for details!
Thank you to everyone for your continued love and support of Java Cupcake!!
*Update* As more people hop on board to contribute, I’ll post them here!
1. Java Cupcake
2. Feeling Smitten
3. Oh So Sweet Treats
4. Cake Spy
I stopped at Safeway last night to pick up some fudge brownies they make in their bakery when I was stopped in my tracks by some super cute Halloween cupcakes! Now, I’m not usually a fan of the cupcakes that are lined up then covered in a blanket of frosting to create a cake-like feeling (I mean really, if I wanted a cake, I’d just make one, right?)… but these Halloween cakes, I mean cupcakes, were SO CUTE that I just had to take pictures and share them with you!!! Enjoy!!
Check out this ADORABLE Halloween Cupcake shirt I ordered today!! It’s on sale for $10 at Woot! TODAY only!! And overnight shipping is only $5!
Go get yours!!!
Starbucks posted this on Facebook and I had to share!! My two favorite things…. Starbucks and Cupcakes, together in perfect harmony!
To see the article, go here.
Ingredients:
2 packets starbucks via columbia {i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, if you’re supposed to cook with wine you’d drink, shouldn’t that be the same for coffee? }
3/4 cup coffee flavored liqueur
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the starbucks via with the coffee liqueur and stir until disolved, set aside. in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisk together the egg whites and sugar until the sugar is dissolved, and the mixture is warm to the touch, about 2-3 minutes.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg white/sugar mixture on high speed until sift peaks have formed, about 6 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment and with the mixture on medium to low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. beating well after each addition. continue beating until smooth and fluffy. {the frosting might appear to separate but keep beating until smooth.} with the mixer on low speed, add the coffee and liqueur mixture until smooth. {again the frosting might appear to separate, especially at this addition, but keep beating until smooth.} beat on the lowest speed to remove any air bubbles, about 2 minutes.
Uploaded on September 28, 2009 by
Jamie at Starbucks from jamie of all trades
Yes… It’s been a over a month since I last blogged and even longer since I’ve made cupcakes. But, with one month down of this deployment, I was feeling like I could get back into the swing of things again. My friend Heather and I decided to get our kids together to make cupcakes… and with her favorite food in the world being cookie dough, I came up with this recipe!
Click on image above for recipeHey everyone!
Thanks for all of the wonderful love I got last month from the Secret is in the Sauce ladies! I wanted to post a quick update on what’s been going on in my world and why there has been a lack of frequent posts.
Earlier this Spring, my husbands unit got his deployment orders to Iraq, 10 months sooner than originally planned. At the time, I was very close to finishing up my degree from UW and my daughter was finishing 3rd grade. Since thing, I’ve graduated and my daughter started summer vacation… and of course, I’ve been spending as much time as I possibly can with my soldier. We took a vacation to Las Vegas
(where of course I visited Kari at Retro Bakery), have gone to a bunch of movies, dinners out, day trips to Seattle, and most recently a weekend at the Gorge for the Dave Matthews Band concert.
Next week, my husband will board a plane to begin his journey to Iraq, his 2nd tour there in 3 years. I’m dreading the day he leaves and until then, I plan to spend as much time as I possibly can by his side.
So, this is why I haven’t been posting very much and why I don’t know if I will be posting much again soon. I anticipate that after he leaves and the initial shock has lessened, I will feel like baking again. So… until then, thank you for your continued loyalty and support.
Happy Cupcakes.
Betsy
Blueberries are in season here in Washington and my husband let me buy A TON of them!!! First, I made blueberry muffins and then… then I found a recipe from one of my favorite cupcake shops for a Blueberry Cupcake!!!! Mmmm I couldn’t resist!! The recipe for Blueberry cupcakes with Blueberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream is from Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle and can be found here. My mother-in-law is in town and it happens to be her birthday so I made here these delicious treats to celebrate!
Here is a photo journey of the cupcakes that turned out to be a big hit with my family!
Enjoy!
Yes, I know… these aren’t quite cupcakes. But they are in the shape of a cupcake… so that totally counts, right? It’s blueberry season here in Washington and they blueberries are everywhere. Plump, juicy and full of delicious flavor. I bought four giant pints of blueberries at the market this weekend and knew I had to do some baking with them. My first attempt are these Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins with a crumbly sugar and butter topping… the recipe comes from Bakerella. (Click HERE for the complete recipe)
I’m not sure if I browned the butter correctly… my daughter said it smelled like grilled cheese while I was making it. I may have burnt it just a bit. Next time, I’ll watch it closer… like the recipe said to. *Ooops* The batter was perfect for 12 muffins, full of blueberries… and the crumbly topping was a perfect addition to add some crunchy texture to the muffins.
They were so good, I ate two just as they came out of the oven. Shoved them in my mouth while dripping crumbs all over the sink. Totally worth the mess. This morning, I’ve got my cup of coffee and have devoured two more muffins… a bit slower this time though. Delish.
PS… the muffins taste nothing like grilled cheese either
I spent last week in Las Vegas, NV with my husband and I *KNEW* that one stop that needed to be made was at Retro Bakery. Boy, did it NOT disappoint!Just about 20 minutes from The Strip in Vegas, Retro Bakery is located just off the highway in a quaint little shopping center. I was greeted by a super cute, super friendly bundle of joy named Kari. I had tweeted to her (@RetroBakery) earlier that morning that I was going to be stopping by that day, but I wasn’t sure if she had checked her Twitter or not, so I didn’t mention right away who I was. But… eventually it all came out who I was and how I came to land at the Retro Bakery that day!
Ok… now the cupcakes. I should have taken a picture of the display case. There were so many delicious cupcakes to choose from, it was very hard to pick. My husband and I decided we’d each pick two.
I chose the 
Peanut Butter Cup (Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream and dark chocolate shavings) and the 
Cinnamon Toast (vanilla cake topped with cinnamon buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar) cupcakes while my husband chose the 
Cotton Candy (Vanilla cake topped with pink cotton candy buttercream and blue glitter sugar) and the 
Creamsicle (Vanilla cake topped with a vanilla/orange swirl buttercream).
The tag line on the bakery’s business card is “It’s All About the Buttercream” and they aren’t kidding!! The buttercream on these cupcakes was TO. DIE. FOR. Creamy, flavorful, smooth… it just rolled across my tongue with each bite. Each buttercream flavor was distinctly the flavor it said it was going to be. So when I bit into the peanut butter… it actually tasted like peanut butter. Most suprpisingly, the cotton candy buttercream tasted exactly like cotton candy!!
As I look back, I wish I would have tired one more cupcake with a different base flavor. We had three with vanilla and one chocolate. The chocolate was so delish… most and chocolatey!! Yummm!! I gotta give it to the vanaill though… because it was by far the BEST vanilla cupcake I have EVER tasted! It was dense, but not mushy, springy and moist, full of flavor and baked PERFECTLY. I could have eaten those vanilla cupcakes alone if the buttercream had not been so heavenly!
So thank you to Kari for being so sweet when we came to visit!! And thank you to Retro Bakery for making such delicious cupcakes!! I can’t wait to get back to Las Vegas to try four more flavors!
What an honor!! I’m being featured on the amazing site “The Secret is in the Sauce” today!!! So WELCOME to my cupcake blog!!! If you’d like to read more about me personally, check out my other blog: Tales of a Firedancer. Thanks for stopping by!!
Hello All!!!
I know I’ve been MIA lately with the posts. Life has been a whirlwind lately and it’s not over yet. This week, I’ll be posting about my trip to Retro Bakery in Las Vegas and the opportunity to meet the owner Kari! What an honor that was!! So… stay tuned for photos and my thoughts on this lovely little bakery!
I’m hoping to get back to baking here in late September… so THANK you for you loyalty and support during this time!!
Love you all lots!
This weekend was a good one. Yesterday, my husband and I had the whole day to ourselves to do anything we wanted. On the list was to go to the West Seattle Summer Fest and eat a cupcake from Cupcake Royale.
Let me tell you… the cupcakes we devoured did not disappoint. I enjoyed a “Triple Threat” chocolate cupcake and my husband had a “Salted Caramel” cupcake. Both most, delicious, and divine. If you get a chance… visit one of the Cupcake Royale’s in Seattle… it’s a MUST DO on any trip to the city!! (PS, Cupcake Royale is on Twitter too!)
