Free Cookie or Cupcake at Lola's!

Sorry for the late posting on this, but if you're in the Leesburg area and have never tried Lola's Cookies & Treats, then this is the perfect opportunity! It's Lola's 3rd Anniversary and they're celebrating by giving their customers some free baked goods! Just right click the coupon below and save the picture to your computer. Print it off and take it into Lola's for a free cookie or cupcake! Only good through the end of Saturday - so hurry up!

Halloween Cupcakes

Tombstone & Spider Web Cupcakes available at Thyme Out - call for availability!

Martha Stewart Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Looking for a Pumpkin Cupcake recipe this fall? Here's one from Martha Stewart! For a gallery of other Pumpkin-flavor dessert recipes from Martha, click here!

Ingredients

Makes 22
1 sugar pumpkin, (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and seeded
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree, or canned pumpkin puree
1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 seven ounce packages almond paste
Gel food color, orange, brown, and green

Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin tins with paper liners. Grate pumpkin in a food processor or on the large holes of a box grater (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Transfer to a medium bowl, and add pumpkin puree and pecans.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves; pulse to combine. With machine running, add oil and eggs; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add pumpkin mixture; pulse to combine.

Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into each cupcake liner. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Make the marzipan pumpkins: Tint two-thirds almond paste orange, adding food color a dab at a time until desired color is reached. Tint a quarter of remaining paste brown and the rest green. Shape into leaves, stems, and pumpkins (see instructions below).

Decorate cupcakes with frosting and marzipan pumpkins. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days

Marzipan Pumpkin How-To: Using a small rolling pin, roll out green almond paste about 1/8 thick; use a leaf cutter to cut out leaf shapes. Roll brown into small ropes; cut and shape into stems. Using the palms of your hand, shape orange into three-quarter-inch globes. Use a toothpick to poke holes in tops of pumpkins and to press creases from top to bottom. Attach leaves and stems to tops with a bit of frosting.

Halloween Cupcake Products II

And here are some Wilton Halloween-themed Cupcake Products to follow up the most previous post on products from Fancy Flours. These are all pretty much out of stock online, however I know for a fact they are in stock at Michaels stores, and I've even seem them at my local Target!

Halloween Cupcake Products

Since I did a post yesterday on Halloween Cupcake Decorating Ideas, I thought I'd do a post on some products that could help you get that festive look on your Halloween Cupcakes this month. All of the Halloween-themed products in these pictures are available at Fancy Flours!

For a gallery of Halloween-related products from Fancy Flours, click here!

Halloween Cupcake Gallery

I'm sure lots of people will be making Cupcakes for Halloween parties this year, so I went through some Google Images and gathered up a bunch of cool Halloween Cupcake decorating ideas!

YoCake Montgomery Mall

I walked through the eatery at Montgomery Mall for the first time in I'd say about a month, and saw this new place called YoCake. They had TONS of cupcakes - has anyone tried them?? I'm on a strict diet so I can start trying on wedding dresses soon, so I refrained from buying one, but I'd love to know what anyone else thinks?

The flavors I saw: Pecan Hazelnut, Amaretto Chocolate Ganache, Amaretto, Chocolate Chocolate, Vanilla Vanilla, Chocolate Coconut, Red Velvet, Vanilla Chocolate, Coconut, Triple Chocolate, and Pecan Hazelnut Chocolate Ganache. There were a few more but I can't remember them!

Their website is still under construction, but you can access it by clicking here.

Creepcake Cupcake How-To

Martha has some fun Halloween Cupcakes this year. To make cupcakes like the ones pictured below, you can follow these instructions!

Spider Creepcakes

Make a vanilla or chocolate cupcake recipe, pouring batter into 2 1/2 mini muffin tins with paper liners. Ice mini cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and coat icing with black sanding sugar. Use cinnamon candy for eyes. For legs, attach 8 pieces of black licorice. For fangs, cut out tiny cone shapes from a marshmallow and attach.

Tentacle Alien Creepcakes

Spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream tinted with a few drops of green food coloring. Cut strips of green taffy and attach around top of cupcake. For eye, slice a yellow gumdrop in half and press into top of cupcake. A piece of black licorice attached in front the gumdrop completes the creepy gaze.

Big-Eyed Alien Creepcakes

Spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream tinted with a few drops of green food coloring. For small eye, attach a mini marshmallow and create pupil by painting on melted chocolate (microwave 1/2 cup chocolate chips for 1 minute). For large eye, push chocolate chip, tip down, into regular size marshmallow, then cut gummy tape for an eyelid. For teeth, place 5 mini marshamallows along the bottom of cupcake.

Mummy Creepcakes

Spread cupcake with a thin layer of buttercream. Add jelly beans dotted with melted chocolate for eyes and red gummy candy for mouth. Using a ribbon tip (such as Ateco #44), pipe bands of buttercream.

Brain Creepcakes

Use a medium round tip (such as Ateco #12) to pipe a mound of Vanilla Meringue Buttercream in the center of cupcake, then outline and pipe a brain design over it.

Decorating Techniques

To decorate, use marshmallows and candy-coated chocolates for whites of eyes; jelly beans or gumdrops for peepers with an eerie glow. For pupils, paint on melted chocolate (microwave 1/2 cup chocolate chips for 1 minute). Or use candies whole: candy-coated chocolates will stick to marshmallows sliced to expose their stickiness; for our aliens' eyes, we pushed chocolate chips, tip down, into marshmallows, then made a hole in the other side with a toothpick and inserted a licorice lace. Cut gummy tape for an eyelid. Sandwiched between halved gumdrops, marshmallows form a toothy grin; snip irregular pieces for fangs. Bend licorice or gummy rings into grimaces, or cut taffy tape for a tongue or tentacles.

Vote for Halloween Cupcakes at Lola's!

Lola's has two ideas for Halloween cupcakes and can't decide which decoration they prefer. The cupcake on the left is Chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Halloween-themed sprinkles, while the cupcake on the right is a version with chocolate sprinkles and a tinted white-chocolate pumpkin on top. Click here to cast your vote and help them choose!

Along with Halloween Cupcakes, Lola Pumpkin Cupcakes are back! These moist pumpkin cupcakes are iced with pumpkin buttercream and topped with a candied pecan. I've never tried them, but apparently they're a must have!

News From Cupcakes Actually

Just a reminder for all you Northern Virginia Cupcake Lovers - Cupcakes Actually has new extended hours AND curbside pick-up!

They started their extended hours last month, with the shop now being open on Friday and Saturday evenings until 11:00pm. Curb side pick-up has also been in effect since September! So if you need your cupcakes in a hurry, be sure to utilize this service! It will be available Thursday-Sunday and may extend through the week once the holiday season starts. All you need to do is call-in your order, pull in to the front of the shop, and they'll run your order out within five minutes.

And also, incase you didn't know, if you use your College ID at Cupcakes Actually you can get 15% off your entire purchase! This offer goes through the fall season, and you MUST have your ID present to receive the discount.

Express' Best of 2009 Competition!

Tired of looking at these "Best Of" competitions and seeing Cakelove round the top 3? Me too! Does it confuse and anger you? Me too! So don't forgot to check out the Best of 2009 Competition and vote for your favorites! (Most importantly, your favorite cupcake spot and favorite bakery).

From now through Friday, Oct. 16, you can vote for your favorite D.C. area people, places and things in more than 100 categories; the finalists in those categories were chosen by Express readers last month. You can (and should) comment, too -- they want to hear why you love what you love. The winners will be announced Friday, Nov. 6, in a special issue of Express.

The finalists in the Cupcake Category are: Baked & Wired, Cakelove, Georgetown Cupcake, Hello Cupcake, and Red Velvet Cupcakery.

The finalists in the Bakery Category are: Best Buns, Cakelove, Firehook, Le Pain Quotidien, and Sticky Fingers Bakery (Best Buns and Sticky Fingers both serve up cupcakes).

Go Vote!!

New Hello Cupcake Flavor!

I just noticed a new flavor on the menu at Hello Cupcake, although it's been a while since I looked so it might not be that new! It's Gianduja - a Nutella-like Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcake topped with Hazelnut Chocolate Ganache and Caramelized Hazelnut Crunch. Has anyone tried it???

Gianduja is served up on Tuesdays and Fridays, which means Tuesday is now my favorite Hello Cupcake day since I can get both Gianduja AND Velvet Elvis. MMMMMmmmmmmmmm!

Pumpkin Spice at Georgetown Cupcake

Pumpkin Spice is back at Georgetown Cupcake, and available Tuesdays - Sundays for the month of October!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcake; picture via Georgetown Cupcake's Website

Chocolate Orange and Halloween Cupcakes will also be available this month! You can call the store at 202-333-8448 to inquire about store availability.

Halloween Cupcakes, picture via Georgetown Cupcake

Neiman Marcus Cupcake Car

In case you haven't seen this by now, I just had to post it. Neiman Marcus released their Christmas Book this week, and right in the front of the Fantasty Gift section - a Cupcake Car! So if you have an extra $25,000 laying around and are interested in purchasing a car that reaches top speeds of 7mph, then this is the gift for you. It even comes with a matching hat.

As ridiculous as it is, admit it, you know it's cute!

Taste of Georgetown

Baked & Wired and Georgetown Cupcake will be two of the 26 restaurants at this weekend's Taste of Georgetown.

Drop by the Baked & Wired and Georgetown Cupcake tents this Saturday, October 10, between 11am and 4pm on Wisconsin Ave & M Street NW. Entry into the Taste of Georgetown does not require a ticket, but tasting does! You can buy your tickets Online (1 Ticket for $5 or 5 Tickets for $20) or the day of the event in the Eagle Bank Parking Lot.

Cupcakes For the Cure at Lola's!

During the month of October, you can satisfy your sweet tooth for a good cause! All this month at Lola Cookies & Treats the Vanilla Cupcakes are dressed in pink. Scoop one up and a portion of the purchase is donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation!

Also currently available at Lola's, Apple Spice Cupcakes!

This Week at Cupcakes Actually

Take a look below at the flavors available this week at Cupcakes Actually in Fairfax! (Not pictured are their tasty fall flavors: Pumpkin Harvest, Caramel Delight, and Apple Streusel.)

For the month of October, 30% of all their sales for their featured Pink Ribbon Cupcake (Strawberry Fields) will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Additionally, Cupcakes Actually will be selling Halloween Cupcakes this month. You can choose from a 3-D witches hat, a 3-D ghost, or a black cat!

Vanilla Bean

Strawberry Fields

Simply Red

Italian Stallion

Actually Dipped Chocolate

Flourless Chocolate

Black Forest

Actually Dipped Black & White