Elmo's World

Elmo from Sesame Street is apparently a favorite character for a little one's 1st birthday. Who wouldn't love him? He's cute, cuddly, red, fuzzy and don't forget ticklish! Well I guess he's similar to most one year olds! Elmo is one of my favorite characters to make on cupcakes! Here's a look at my friend Lindsey's twins 1st Birthday Party that I made Elmo cupcakes for!

I love Elmo's large eyes and huge nose!

Here's a closer look:



The happy family of five celebrating Gavin and Nolan's 1st birthday!

Best way to celebrate is with cupcakes and lots of presents!



Here's a look at the birthday boys!

Gavin loves his Elmo!

Nolan looks like he likes picking Elmo apart!

First birthday parties are the best for cupcakes, may it be a giant cupcake for smashing or a regular cupcake, just the perfect size for an individual birthday cake! They are adorable and yummy!

I loved this picture from their party also so I had to add it, they grow up so fast!

Happy 1st Birthday Gavin and Nolan!

Cupcakes Take Over VAmpire Academy Book Signing

Paranormal Books have taken over. They are the most popular books on the market right now, which is fantastic for me, a paranormal book lover. One of my favorite authors is Richelle Mead of the Vampire Academy series. I wanted to do something fun and special for the book signing that was held at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Dec. 10th during her Last Sacrifice Tour. So I made some vampire bite cupcakes, and cupcakes with a Vampire Academy flair.

This series follows a character who is a dhampir named Rose Hathaway. Rose is a strong and powerful female character, who knows how to kick some serious Strigoi, a group of 'dead' vampires, butts! She has promised to protect the Moroi, a group of 'alive' vampires, from the Strigoi. With each kill and battle she faces she gets a new tattoo. The three tattoos mentioned in this series are as follows: The Promise Mark, the Molnija, and the Zvezda.

Jessica, Tracy and I with Richelle Mead!

Here's a look at the cupcakes!

The Promise Mark: Place on the back of the neck, for each graduate, who promises to protect the Moroi and uphold the most sacred saying... "They Come First."

The Molnija: This tattoo is placed on the neck as well, it symbolizes a Strigoi kill.



The Zvezda: This means star in Russian, it is given after a battle where the Strigoi kills are too high too count.

All these cupcakes are made of Red-Velvet and Cream Cheese frosting....this is one of my favorite combinations!

Then of course I made the signature Vampire Cupcakes.... my Red-Velvet Vampire Bites Cupcakes, with Raspberry blood oozing out! Here's a look at all four cupcakes and my completeVampire Academy collection, all signed by Richelle Mead!

Cupcakes and books, my two favorite things to do!! Check out Richelle Mead's Young Adult series Vampire Academy, or her two Adult series, which are also amazing- Georgina Kincaid Series and the Dark Swan Series!! Also, look out for her new VA spin-off series coming out in 2011- Bloodlines!

Here's some action pictures from the book signing!

Richelle Mead reading a passage from the sixth and final VAmpire Academy book, Last Sacrifice.

Discussing my CupcakeBug business with Richelle, while she signs my book!

Jessica and I supporting Arcane Vault with out Molnija t-shirts!!

Love. Read. Bake.

-this is my new motto...

Happy Thanksgiving... Let's Celebrate with Turkey!

A time to give Thanks to all those people and things in our lives that make them better. God, family, friends, and cupcakes rank high on my list! Thanksgiving a.k.a. Turkey Day is filled with lots of turkey and desserts. My personal favorite part of the big dinner is the dessert, and my favorite dessert at this time of year is pumpkin pie! I can't get enough of it. Many people think the large and delicious turkey is the best part. So to compromise between the two parts of the Thanksgiving dinner I made 'Stuffed Turkey' Cupcakes.

Nothing's better than a perfectly 'Stuffed Turkey' for Thanksgiving! Gobble, Gobble!!

Talk about having a perfectly caramelized turkey right out of the oven! YUM!

Here's a look at the turkey that hung out at my house this season!

This is my Turkey Cupcake, I named him Burt....



My friend Erin gave him too me as well as my spider, George. I love these Cupcake Trinket Boxes by Ganz.

Thanksgiving 2010 was a wonderful time this year, spent in great company! Here's a look at my family Thanksgiving, Hope you enjoyed yours!!

My adorable and sophisticated Sister-in-Law, Lisa Anne.

My cousin Emily and I with little baby Iris.



The Osterhage Clan- Lisa Anne, Noah, Me and Laura Beth.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Vampire Bites & Camp Out S'more Cupcakes

The Twilight Saga has swept the nation. I have been a paranormal fan most of my life, so when the books first came out I was instantly a fan. Then making a movie about this fabulous YA Paranormal Series, made it even better! My girlfriends and I have a Girl's Night every time the movies come out to theater and on DVD. This is a look at the Eclipse DVD Party we had. The theme for this party was the 'Camp Out' before the big battle.

The Vamp-tastic Candy Bar

Erin and I taking full advantage of the candy first!

Pin-the-Lips on Jacob or Edward

Here's a look at the Vampire Bites Cupcakes and S'more Cupcakes as the party centerpice. This is also a great view of my new Cup-cak-elabra (new word I just made up, very technical).



These were fang-tastic Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting and Raspberry blood oozing from the bite marks.

These Scrumptious S'more cupcakes had a Graham Cracker Crust bottom, moist Chocolate Cake center and Marshmallow Cream Cheese frosting on top. A little graham cracker crumb and hershey for garnish. They are perfect for all your camp-out needs!

The party was fun, all the food was delicious and the company was the best.

Now we have to anxiously wait for Breaking Dawn! November 2011 is too far away. Guess I'll have to make more cupcakes to tie us over in the mean time!

Happy Cupcake-o-ween!

Halloween was a little busy this year. Lots of things to do, not enough time to do it in. So I made some basic cupcakes for work to bring in. Sometimes simple cupcakes are the best. You know they taste just as good!

Boo! Written in white chocolate so it pops up off the cupcake. Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate icing with orange sprinkles.

Simple, yet YUMMY!

Here's a look at the Halloween Cupcakes I had around my house!

My Halloween Cupcake trinket box was something my good friend Erin B. gave to me last year. The spider is so cute!!

The best way to celebrate Halloween is by carving pumpkins. So what's the best way for a cupcake enthusiast to celebrate?

By going pumpkin picking and carving a cupcake in it! I traced the cupcake outline in colored sharpie. I thought the pumpkin could use a little extra flare with a cherry on top!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, filled with sugary sweets!! Can't wait to post some fall and Thanksgiving cupcakes!

Viennese Cupcakes and a European Road Trip

Back from our European Trip, I can finally share the cupcakes we found! I looked in every city we went to, trying to find european cupcakes. Can you believe it, I only found them in Vienna, Austria. We were walking in Vienna one afternoon on our way to Stephen's Domplatz and passed by this gorgeous bakery called Gerstner's.

This is their fabulous cupcake display! We had to go in and see if they were as delicious as they looked!

They had a good assortment. The flavors were as follows: Lemon Drop, Peach Cobbler, Chocolate Hazelnut Delight, Vanilla Bean, Nutty Pistachio, Very Strawberry, and Vibrant Violet.

Of course they had an amazing assortment of other treats as well. I love the Sushi Pastries in the bottom right corner!

I choose the Very Strawberry cupcake to go.

The verdict is delicious! The strawberry frosting was extra creamy and smooth. The cupcake itself was vanilla and very good!

We did get to go into a store called Kaufland, it's like a mini wal-mart. I found the baking isle and was interested in their cupcake selections. These are some cupcake paperliners.

Let's take a look at some of the dessert adventures we had:




Me enjoying some cinnamon roasted almonds, or as the Germans call them Gebrante Mandeln. 



Noah is going to attempt to eat this giant marshmallow, chocolate wafer!



The Original Hobrauhaus Restaurant in Munich, Germany. This was the first Apfel Strudel in a long line of taste testing them through Europe!



Here's one at the restaurant in our hotel in Salzburg, Austria- Hotel  Stiegl Brau.



This is me eating the giant marshmallow bon-bon from the Oktoberfest in Munich, that was smashed in transit. Still tastes just as good!

Amazing cherry cake we picked up at a local bakery in Salzburg.

Noah loves his sweets just as much as me!



World's second best Apfel Strudel found in Melker Stiftskeller restaurant in Vienna, Austria.



Mixing it up, decided to get a chocolate mousse crepe in Prague, Czech Republic. Fantastic idea, extra creamy and oh-so-good!



We didn't actually get one of the XXL donuts but these were insane! This is a stand at Berlin's Festival of Freedom celebrating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.


Here's a brief look at our adventures in Europe:

Oktoberfest 2010, me in my dirndl!

Giant gingerbread heart necklaces.

My husband, Noah, and I in the Paulaner beer garden at Oktoberfest. Enjoying a liter of bier!

Noah and I up at the top of  Berchtesgaden. Hitler's hide away in the mountains of Bavaria Germany.

Noah and I before going into the Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves in Austria. Up in the mountains, 700 steps up and back down!!

Romantic dinner at Melker Stiftskeller wine cellar.

Schonbrunn Palace, the summer palace for the Hapsburg's, Vienna, Austria.

Noah and I on the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River looking at the Prague, Czech Republic Castle.

We had an amazing and memorable trip this year. Here's all the places we went: Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich and Berlin, Germany; Salzburg and Vienna, Austria ; and Prague, Czech Republic.

Now I can't wait to take our next trip and hopefully find that the joy of cupcaking is spreading around the world!