The Details:

• Email your photos directly to janna@thecupcaketower.com
• OR post your photos on Facebook and tag the photos with The Cupcake Tower
• Deadline: All photos must be received by Feb. 20 by noon to be entered to win. (The winner will be announced later that afternoon.)
• Photos don’t have to be of a Superbowl party. Any appetizer displays (using The Cupcake Tower) are eligible.

Reviews online have been mixed but essentially people like it. It’s 24.99 plus shipping and as an added bonus: it comes with a supply of sticks as well.  The ‘formula’ for the cake pop itself definitely strays from the original idea of mixing frosting in with the baked cake mix but if you’re not married to that particular taste these are great.  Check out the website for tips in the reviews on how to get them baked to perfection.

Just last week I saw this ‘As Seen on TV’ Bake Pop maker.

These are pans that you will bake in your own oven, also only utilizing cake mix rather than mixing it with frosting.  Running $19.99 + $7.99 S&H these seem like a great deal as they come with not only a package of sticks but a booklet with decorating ideas, 2 squeeze bottles and some wraps with ties. Not to mention that according to the website you can buy one set and get one free.  With one pan set making 18 cakes that means you can make 3 dozen at a time.

One of the booths that drew an incredible amount of attention at the All Things Baking conference we just attended was the Cake Ball Roller by Heavenly Cake Pops.  This product doesn’t take you through the baking stage of the process but rather ensures that your cake balls are perfectly round.  For the serious baker or bakery owner (the product runs $269.99 plus shipping) who already has the perfect tasting formula down for their cake pops, this is probably the product for you.

They even have a You Tube video!

Do you have any of these products? If so what do you think? If not, are you interested in getting one of them?  Which one and why?  Perhaps Santa will be good to you this year

Now, would you like to know what these sisters have been up to lately?  Well, nothing short of one of the most exciting (or scary depending on how you look at it) things we’ve attempted as a small business thus far – the ‘All Things Baking’ expo in Schaumberg, Il in early October.  That’s right, we rounded up the grandparents to watch our herd of kids, shlepped our dozen suitcases or so with husbands in tow to Schaumberg via the FABULOUS city of Chicago and took a chance on our very first trade show.  At the time I had visions of blogging all day long with no ‘typical’ daily distractions but alas I was oblivious to how busy we would be every day from start to finish!  The response was phenomenal and our booth was hoppin‘.  We had a blast and loved meeting everyone!  One of our favorite parts was meeting loyal customers who stopped by to say ‘hi’.  Being a ‘cyber-business’ this is something we typically miss out on so it was a huge treat.

The jury is still out on whether this will be an annual undertaking but for what we will now call our ‘first’ show, here are some highlights:

Here we are setting up.  This was no small undertaking.  We displayed 7 Towers which equals about a bajillion cupcakes to place.  All in all though it’s not a bad days work hanging with your sister in a room immersed in the scents of ‘all things baking’…i.e. donuts, cupcakes, cookies, the list goes on.

The ‘cornerstone’ Tower was the wedding Cupcake/Cake Pop Tower that we’ve done in the past for Photo Shoots.  We used Navy ribbon with black and white liners and the result is nothing less than striking:

The square Tower was a surprise HIT.  We don’t sell nearly as many square as we do round but there’s just something about it that really grabbed people’s attention.  The set up was the ‘as seen everywhere’ owl theme that I just couldn’t resist.  It fits perfectly into fall/winter and once I came across the mason jar owl here on Hostess with the Mostess I was smitten and the wheels started turning.  We are always wanting to show how The Cupcake Tower can display any of your treats so we alternated with mini brownie treats sprinkled with powdered sugar and a ‘dollup’ of frosting.

Isn’t he CUTE?

I wont dwell too much on this next Tower since Halloween is ‘so 2 holidays ago’ but I have to show off this cute little Tiny Tower anyway.  The Peeps were inspired by this debut of The Cupcake Tower in Parenting Magazine (I’m just a teeny bit proud

Of course we couldn’t leave out the ever popular crowd pleasing Pinkalicious Tower.  Enough said.

This next Tower was largely inspired by our current addiction (seriously people…hard core addicted) Pinterest.  We wanted to do a Winter/Christmas themed Tower and LOVED these powdered donut snowmen we found as well as the ‘North Pole’ cupcakes.  The Cake Pops were provided by The Lollicake Bakeshop (as were all the Cake Pops in this post) and quite honestly drew in a HUGE chunk of the traffic (thanks again Kerry!).

I’m sorry but is he not the most adorable little donut you ever did see???

Next was our Jungle Theme Tower and for obvious reasons, was the most popular.  Again, the Cake Pops provided by Kerry were too cute for anyone to just pass by.  Our Cake Topper was provided by another awesome customer and award winning bakery Bleeding Heart Bakery.

Again a HUGE thanks to everyone who stopped by.  We had so much fun and were really proud of our hard earned success.

Have you ever been to one of these expo’s either as an attendee or an exhibitor?  What’s your thoughts?  Did you consider it worthwhile?

What’s a summer picnic without watermelon?  These creations by Natalie’s Cake Pops are too cute:

I happen to have a summer birthday and personally I will take ice cream over cake 100 times over (did The Cupcake Tower lady really just say that???) but these cake pops ‘appear’ to be the best of both worlds and just might sway me:

I found them on Design Eat Play.  Crissie is a fabulous photographer (jealous) who devoted one of her posts to bragging about her sisters cake pop skills.  She also included these apples

and a different version (equally adorable) of watermelon cake pops

Anyone up for camping?  Or perhaps just a firepit in the backyard? Just a Bite Cake Pops created these S’mores Cake pops that appear to me to rival the real deal

I couldn’t complete this post without including these darlings from the original Cake Pop Queen herself Bakerella.  It just wouldn’t be a summer BBQ without bees and burgers!

What is your summer specialty (either cake pops or cupcakes)?  Do you have any pics of your summer creations displayed on your Cupcake Tower?  Share them here on our Facebook page.

And here she is in all of her Cake Pop glory with Monster Pops:

Here’s a little ‘behind the scenes’ shot:

But I’ll be honest, this is a little too ‘neat’.  That’s not reality…here’s the behind the behind the scenes shot that truly depicts the chaos of the day:

Yep, that’s more like it!  Thank goodness our Photographer Jamee was a saint and the madness of the day was completely worth the results.

Navy is hot this year so we wanted to incorporate it into our wedding Cake Pop tower.  We also wanted to demonstrate the Tower’s versatility showing off how you can flip the circles and use one layer for Cake Pops and the next for Cupcakes.  A bride shouldn’t have to decide!

Here’s Joy setting up the ‘Pinkalicious’ Tower:

Dar-Ling:

Dont want the height of a tower?  No problem, use just one of the circles with or without the base as a Cake Pop stand (these pictures just make me giddy!)

All Cake Pops provided by The Lollicake Bakeshop.  Monster cupcakes provided by The Bagel Bakery in Brighton.  Chaos provided by our 4 youngest children, Grace, Sara, Jack and Ellie

When thinking about how we’ve watched Jack’s personality emerge over the past year I couldn’t help but remember how one of the first ways he used to communicate with us was to growl. Hence, ‘Our Little Monster’ – done!  And the decorating madness ensues…

We greeted guests with a fair warning:

and once they entered it was ‘monster cuteness’ overload with favors that I got from Oriental Trading.  Beach balls, little stuffed animals, squeaky monsters…I could hardly stop myself!

We wanted the message to be clear

Of course we needed clever bags for the kiddos to take home all the goodies, Grace even helped me make these! (‘Okay honey hand me a ‘grrr….now a big eye…now a little eye…’)

The bags were filled with the monster goodies:

and of course I made everyone give me their best monster face for a photo op:

Even the birthday boy participated with his cousin’s encouragement (very, very briefly I might add!)

Here’s the little guy’s ‘Monster Throne’

I HAD to recreate this crazy cute monster melon that I found here on Juicy Bits blog (another fantastic monster party with some great ideas for slightly older kids, LOVE the monster piñata!)

Makin’ Mud Pies also provided inspiration for much of our party such as the ‘googly’ eyes you see throughout the photos and the idea of Monster Fur, like you see here on the Cupcake Tower:

Now you may think that the only thing that’s unique about this particular Tower is the trim I chose to use in lieu of the traditional ribbon.  Well you’re wrong!  This just so happens to be the first photos of our Cake Pop Towers in action!!! How fabulous is THIS:

The Cake Pops (quite possibly the most adorable things I have ever laid eyes on) were made by The Lollicake Bake Shop.  The cupcakes and topper by The Bagel Bakery in Brighton.  Feast your eyes:

Jack cooperated and dug right in to his cupcake, even double fisting it at one point:

Mom!  Enough with the camera already!

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet boy. We love you.

Let me start off by saying you guys did NOT make this easy, we agonized over which submissions to choose as the winners!  We each had our reasons for our favorites (and fought hard for them) but at the end of the day we agreed, Renee Daly of ‘The Cake Fairy‘, Teresa Da Ponte Cunha and Robin Fairfield Daniels of ‘Cakes by Robin‘ will each be receiving a carrying bag for their submissions, thank you ladies for the FANTASTIC photos of your Cupcake Towers.

We hope that you all had as much fun as we did looking at the plethora of amazing and inspiring photos that were submitted for this contest.  Such creative genius out there I tell ya! We hope you keep them coming…and keep an eye out on the blog where I will be using some of our other favorite shots in my future posts.

Congratulations again to…

Renee Daly who created this Super Mario Bros Tower for her sons 6th birthday (how cute is he???):

Teresa Da Ponte Cunha (Completely worth checking out her Facebook Page, her work is jaw-dropping!):

and last but certainly not least we were taken by the color combo and sheer elegance of this tower by Robin Daniels (clearly ‘The Knot’ agreed!):

Thank you again to everyone who participated!  Tell us, which was your favorite Cupcake Tower photo?

So in honor of my very pregnant, incredibly busy, super-mom of a sister I decided a ‘Spa Night’ was in order. And so we begin with the invitation, my little play on the word ‘pamper’. I loved making these with some scrapbooking paper I already had at home using this template I found online:

My Mom just so happens to be an amazing massage therapist so I asked her to set up her chair for 10 minute massages.  As you can see…Grace was anxious to be her first client of the evening:

How lucky was I that ‘Hello Gorgeous’ (mobile mani and pedicure service) was ready to take on their first client right as I was planning this party.  They did such a fantastic job I would hire them back in a second!  Once again, first in line for services were Grace and Delaney:

Decorations were spa inspired and meant to help create a relaxing environment.  There were flowers and candles scattered throughout the house and lights were low whenever possible.

 I took the same shot glasses we used for the milkshake shots in my sister Jackie’s shower and found this recipe online for ‘Tiny Tomato Soup Shots with Grilled Cheese Croutons’ – I love these shot glasses!  You can bet you’ll see them again in future posts! 

Also on the menu were these super cute Fruit Roll Sushi (beware, although delicious these are not as easy to make as one would think…spread the ‘rice crispy’ mix ASAP before it starts to harden!).  YUM!

Of course there were cutie oranges…does anyone else crave these like mad when they are pregnant or is it just us???

I decided to dress up The Cupcake Tower with some pretty scrapbooking paper for a change.  Love the versatility…!

After we were sufficiently pampered and fed it was time to open presents.  What could be better for pampering Mom than a Cupcake Bath Bomb?

Check out this homemade hat from Aunt Melanie…AH!  So cute I can’t stand it.

Here’s Mom and Big Sister Delaney, pretty girls!

How cute is she????

Does that picture look familiar?  If you read the posting on my baby shower here’s why:

AWWW!  I love you sister.  You are such an inspiration to me.  You are a fantastic Mom and I’m so grateful to be Auntie to your beautiful kiddos.  I am so grateful that we are raising our babies together.  On that note…a big HUGE welcome to Eleanor Sue, born December 30th, 2010.  LOVE HER (photos by Briony Hope Photography):

I researched a dozen or so recipes and finally settled on this recipe by Alton Brown on the Food Network.  I was sold with the addition of a pinch of cayenne pepper, a favorite combo of mine ever since falling in love with the idea watching ‘Chocolat’ (or perhaps I really just fell in love with Juliette Bioche and Johnny Depp and the chocolate chili combo is just a delicious consequence).  Anyway, the recipe is fabulous as is but I admit that I also added a pinch of cinnamon as well and topped with marshmallows.  It sounded like filling the mug half full with the mix was too much but I tried it with less and it just tasted too watery so in this case the recipe is dead on.  My little ‘sous chef’ performed quality assurance and as you can see from the look on her face as well as the chocolate ‘joker’ smile – it’s DELISH!

 Now I couldn’t just line these up on the table now could I?  Of course not.  Enter the Cocoa Jar Cupcake Tower.  This little Cupcake Tower of ours us just the handiest display I tell ya:

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Tell us, how did you use your Cupcake Tower this Holiday Season?

 
Knowing the little punkin is a boy, we chose appropriate colors and enhanced the decorations with some teddy bears.

Joy made these super cute name tags for each of us in her fancy shamncy handwriting:

The favors were sugar cookies in the shape of milk jugs

Inspired by other bloggers who threw showers with the same theme, we served strawberry, chocolate and plain milk in caraffes.  They were a HIT

particularly with Sara

We saw a few different blog posts with milk shooters and cookie chasers but we wanted to add our own little twist to it so we made milkshake shooters instead. Y-U-M.

 Being adorably pregnant is just one of Jackie’s many attributes.  She’s an insanely good artist and equally talented with her cooking.  That being said, the food needed to be just as delicious as it was aesthetically pleasing.  We served two different mini grilled sandwiches (cucumbers, goat cheese, walnuts with spinach/ham, cheddar, pear with dijon mustard) a spinach salad with pomegranates and feta, a cheese and winter fruit plate, mini caprese skewers and for dessert (besides the milkshake shots) gluten free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and homemade chocolate truffles displayed on none other than The Cupcake Tower.  Looking back, the milkshake shots would have been cute on the Tower too…hmmmm. Good stuff!

With our bellies stuffed it was time to open presents.  We made a ‘clothesline’ to display his new duds

This homemade teddy bear might have won for the most ‘oohs’ and ‘awwwws!’

But my personal FAVorite was the homemade mobile that her friend Janae made. I informed her that I had just recently seen a site where homemade mobiles were selling (like hotcakes I might add) for $75.  Go into business Janae! 

 Well Jax, you are officially the proud owner of an abundance of precious little things to swaddle, cuddle, carry and dress your little man.  Now we just wait – AH I can’t wait!