Recent Posts

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Tis the Season for Cupcakes

 Nothing makes us happier than seeing the faces of our customers when we deliver their Holiday Pack! Happy holidays and many sweet wishes for the new year!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Our Sweet Spot for SweetSpot


Cupcaketionery was featured on SweetSpot.ca! Yay!

Monday, October 12, 2009

"Inglourious" Cupcakes

We had a little bit of fun with Seamus' left over birthday cupcakes. We spelled: Hire Me, Bastards. But since we were putting them in 6-packs to share with co-workers the next day, we had to cut it down to six letters.

It spawned laughter and a philosophical conversation regarding Quentin Tarantino's latest flick: Inglourious Basterds. It's one of his best films, if you ask me. And I don't mind the creative ending. Brad Pitt performed his part well, and I was glad the film wasn't all about him. The guy who made the movie what it is is the actor who played Hans Landa. A Nazi who is suave, urbane, cultured, and multilingual, he could have chosen to do a variety of things, but here he was, a "Jew Hunter." Hope he gets nominated and wins an Academy for his performance. Anyways, I digress! Enjoy these Inglourious cupcakes!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Birthday Cupcakes!

Isata celebrated her 30th birthday on October 10th at the Empire Lounge with friends and with Cupcaketionery cupcakes. Thank you, Isata, for giving us the privilege of being a part of your celebration!

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough hope to make you happy, and enough money to buy a house in Rosedale!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, SEAMUS!


Seamus celebrated his 1st birthday on October 4th with cupcakes, of course! Beautiful and delicious Double Decadence and Madagascar were his choice flavours. He ended up trying Madagascar for the first time ever, and here are the photos to show how our budding cupcake aficionado demolished his first cupcake!

 
Contrary to what you folks say, I can have my cupcake and eat it, too!

Hmmm, what's this?

I'm gonna give it a try.

Yummy!

Squishy and yummy...just how I like it!

Tastes like...agave nectar. Yes, that's it! Agave Nectar!

 
Ooh, it's soooo good! Can I have seconds?

OK, Mom. I'll finish this one first...

All gone! Now where's the Double Decadence?

Cupcaketionery at the Crooked Star on Ossington





We're very proud to have been a part of Gail & Jason's Baby Shower at the Crooked Star on Ossington last Sunday, August 30th. Cool joint. Hip folks. Love the vibe. Here are our cupcakes on 2 silver tiers: Double Decadence, Simply Carrot, and Anti-Oxi. Congratulations to Gail & Jason!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

SHOWSTOPPERS!




If I were a man, I wouldn't wear anything else but the creations of British Fashion Designer, Sir Paul Smith. His designs encompass the classic and the quirky, all beautiful pieces that afford a fashionably confident guy a sense of fun, without sacrificing a sense of style.

See below the Paul Smith Men's Multi-Stripe sock that inspired the cupcakes for Sir Paul Smith's namesake in Toronto: Paul Edward Smith who celebrated his birthday with friends on September 19th.




Underneath the beautiful exterior are rich flavours: Double Decadence (Chocolate Cake + Dark Chocolate Ganache) and what we fondly call Maddie (Madagascar: Vanilla Nectar Cake + Dark Chocolate Ganache). As we were featuring our organic fair trade chocolate in this particular project, we didn't top Maddie with her partner,Vanilla Bean Frosting.

Don't even ask how long it took to fashion these couture cupcakes from design concept to execution to placing them at the party venue to be oohed and aahhed over. It hurts me to remember! But seriously, lots of planning and time went into making these babies, as well as labour and most of all, L-O-V-E.

Cupcaketionery Cupcake Stylists rock!!!

Wouldn't you love to have these cupcakes on your birthday?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fair Trade Series




Many of the historical and current trading relationships between producers in the global South and consumers in the global North (the First World, or industrialized countries) have been and continue to be characterized by exploitation of Southern producers. According to David Ransom writing in the New Internationalist magazine, Ever since industrial trading empires began, in the seventeenth century, natural resources and wealth have been extracted from the South and built up in the North. There’s nothing very different about globalization today—except that the empires are run not by nations but by corporations. They fix rules so that ‘free trade’ is a game only they can play on what they call a “level playing field”—which in reality slopes ever-more steeply in their favour. Fair Traders, North and South, are trying to turn the process around.

To take cocoa as an example, 43% of the world’s cocoa comes from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa. There have been ongoing reports of child slavery on cocoa plantations in this region. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of West African children (between the ages of 9 and 12) work in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms. Many of these children work because the price paid for conventional, non-Fair Trade Certified cocoa is so low that farmers cannot afford to send their children to school. Cocoa farmers live in such poverty compared to Canadians that many have never even tasted the finished product of their labour – chocolate.

Many other consumer goods that we in the global North take for granted—for instance, coffee, sugar, tea, bananas, rice, flowers, wine, sports balls and cotton—involve similar stories of exploitation, poverty, and hardship experienced by Southern farmers and labourers. As a result of many factors, which range from historical trade inequities and the influence of international economic institutions like the World Bank and the IMF to global fluctuations in prices for commodities like coffee and cocoa beans, farmers and workers in the global South experience poverty and hardship.

Stay tuned for Part II...


(Excerpt from "What In the World Is Fair Trade?" from Cocoa Camino: http://www.cocoacamino.com/en/cocoa_educate.php written by Clay McLeod.)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Perfect Boob Job

A dozen boob cupcakes packaged in two white window boxes tied with black satin ribbons, and finished with Cupcaketionery gift tags - a perfect presentation for such delectable beauties, folks! You are not imagining twins, I mean, things! These are the boob cupcakes we made especially customized for a client's bachelor party!



Tuesday, September 1, 2009

SPICE GIRLS




We use spice in our cupcakes. They not only make cupcakes taste better, they're actually good for you. They're antioxidants, to say the least. So the next time someone accuses you of pigging out while you're devouring a 6-pack of our Chai Latte Cupcakes, tell them to go away and stop eating factory-farmed animals. You're far too busy boosting your cognitive function, and liberating yourself from dependency on animals and animal products, and healing the environment! In short, you're doing something important, like, changing yourself, and the world, one cupcake at a time! Cupcaketionery- style!


Can Spices Improve Your Brain Power?
By Dr. David Eifrig Jr.

Try these simple spices in your food regularly. Just maybe we can avoid the predicament (memoryloss) altogether.

One spice, Cinnamon powder or sticks, is especially powerful. It affects several physiologic functions of the body. Cinnamon kills bacteria and yeasts that cause stomach ulcers and urinary-tract infections, and even helps the body regulate blood sugar. But for me, the most important benefit of its consumption is increased brainpower. A few years ago, it was discovered that just the smell of cinnamon could improve cognitive function. In that study, it was true that either tasting (technically it was chewing) or smelling cinnamon worked to improve brainpower.

From http://www.morethanalive.com/

Stay tuned for our Spice and Ingredient Benefits Series!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Health Benefits of Matcha

The health benefits of matcha tea exceed those of green tea because when you drink matcha you ingest the whole leaf, not just the brewed water.
One glass of matcha is the equivalent of 10 glasses of green tea in terms of its nutritional value and antioxidant content.

Matcha Tea – A Nutritious Beverage
  • Rich in Antioxidants and Chlorophyll

  • Contains Catechins Only Found in Green Tea

  • Naturally Mood Enhancing

  • Zero on the Glycemic Index - will not raise insulin levels

  • Sugar-free, High in Fiber
Matcha Tea – For Antioxidants
Exponentially Higher in Antioxidants than Blueberries and Spinach

Green teas contain a high amount of antioxidants, chemically compounds known to forestall aging. Antioxidants are found in many fruits and vegetables – even chocolate. A testing method known as ORAC – short for oxygen radical absorbance capacity, evaluates the antioxidant levels found in food. According to research done by Tufts University, the ORAC capacity of matcha green tea is exponentially higher than other foods known for their high antioxidants levels such as blueberries and spinach.
The ORAC rating of matcha is 1300 units/g, compared to 105 units/g for pomegranates and 91 units/g for wild blueberries.

Matcha Tea - For Renown Cancer Fighting Catechin EGCg Renown Cancer Fighting Catechins are Only Found In Green Tea

Not all antioxidants are created equal. Antioxidants are found in many foods including fruits and vegetables. There are many types of antioxidants, however, the class known as catechins are only found in green tea, and these maybe the most potent of all. And of the catechins, EGCg (epicgallocatechin gallate) is the catechin with broadest and most potent cancer-fighting properties. Sixty percent of the catechin content of matcha tea is EGCg. One gram of matcha contains 105 mg of total catechin content, or roughly 61% EGCg.


Matcha Tea – For Cleansing the Body of Toxins

Rich in Chlorophyll, A Renowned Detoxifying Agent

Chlorophyll, the pigment which gives leaves their green color, helps to remove heavy metals and chemical toxins from the body. Because matcha powdered tea is fully ingested when consumed, unlike tea leaves which are infused then discarded, and because matcha is shade grown, a process which increases the chlorophyll content in the leaves, matcha tea is a chlorophyll rich food.

Matcha Tea – For The Amino Acids

Naturally Mood Enhancing Matcha contains L-theanine, an amino acid known to relax the mind. For this reason, matcha is also known as a mood enhancer. Buddhist monks drank matcha to assist in meditation, as matcha’s amino acids, combined with caffeine, offer a sustained calm alertness over time. Amino acids are also what gives matcha its distinctive taste. They contribute to what is known as the fifth taste, or umami, characterized by a rich creamy mouth feel. Kama matcha, the ceremony grade tea, made from the youngest, tenderest leaves, contains the highest levels of amino acids. The delicate flavor profiles of Kama Matcha and Morning Matcha are best observed when prepared in the traditional style, with a bamboo whisk and whisked in a matcha bowl.


Matcha Tea – Suited for Meditative Practice

Create Your Own Ceremony and Relieve Stress

The Japanese Tea Ceremony known as Chanoyu is a highly ritualized practice of drinking matcha tea. The Zen monks were the first to introduce matcha to Japan, and their influence is seen throughout the ceremony. Most notably is the emphasis on a calm mind, serene settings and awareness of nature. Drinking tea alone will not convert you into a Zen monk, but adding a tea ritual to your day, however you choose to create it, will increase the possibilities for calm and serene experiences in your life. For inspiration we recommend the Tea Ceremony by Sen’o Tanaka with detailed descriptions of Chanoyu rituals, artifacts and philosophy.

(Source: http://www.matchasource.com/)

So, how about that? There's no better time than now to have an Anti-Oxi Cupcake or for a double dose of matcha, have Matcha Matcha Cupcakes!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Why cupcakes trump wedding cakes pt. 1


Find conventional wedding cake to be ho hum and predictable? A “cake” created with tiers of artfully adorned cupcakes will surely have guests oohing and aahing. These petite treats have risen to star status by cupcake loving celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Oprah and Martha Stewart, and cupcakeries are popping up across the country. Cupcakes are festive and fun, decorating options are endless and they’re a great way for a couple to show off their style and originality. A wedding cupcake tower can be topped with a small cake for the happy couple to cut, or – even more romantic -- they can feed each other a shared cupcake. More reasons to love those little cuties:

Edible aspect:

Wedding cake can look better than it tastes and much tends to go to waste. “After dining, drinking and dancing, many guests forego dessert,” says Stoyer. “But charming cupcakes are less intimidating so guests – even those watching their waistlines -- can’t resist eating them, or taking them home.”

Color coding:
It’s not a hassle to serve several cupcake varieties -- color coded by liners and toppings -- so there’s a flavor to please everyone in your wedding crowd. “Adorn simple toppings like chocolate glaze, fondant icing or butter cream with elegant accents like monogrammed candied hearts, candy seashells, fancy chocolates or large silver nonpareils,” suggests Stoyer. Another dress up touch is to garnish the tiers of a cupcake stand with leaves and edible fresh or candied flowers that mimic the floral theme of the wedding.

Fuss free:
From a baker’s viewpoint, whipping up wedding-worthy cupcakes is labor intensive, but they are much easier to transport and assemble on site than huge layers of cake. Servers and guests benefit because they needn’t fuss with knives or forks or cake slicing time; people can even pluck their own portion from a cupcake tower.

Budget biter:
Wedding cupcakes, which are about 50% larger than usual, can start as low as $3, then fillings, special toppings and ornate designs can add a few dollars to the price. Nonetheless, cupcakes generally don’t require as much time and TLC as a multi tiered cake -- which can run you $6-$12 per slice – so they end up costing considerably less.

(Article by By Wendy Korn Heppt of WeTV.com)