The Cupcake Dance!

A few weeks ago, a dream of mine came true.

I opened my cupcake shoppe!

And it isn't just any cupcake shoppe.

It is my vision.

A home for my cupcakes.

I call it The Cupcake Mansion because it should be a destination.

A place for people to fill their bellies (and mustaches, hair, skin!) with sugar and frosting and sparkles.  But also a place with purpose, a place that fills you up with happiness like when you were a little kid.  

This is the action. My friends & I preparing the cupcake mansion for lots o love. We were GLITTERIZING the wall in the shoppe. Yes, just throwing sparkles at the wet wall. (People asked how we did it.. we painted the wall with clear glaze and threw glitter all over it while it was still wet. Lots and lots of glitter!)

When I say this place has purpose..

it is more than just about making people happy.

I'm on a mission to use my God given gift of cupcake making to change lives :).  

(which you may or may not have already known, but now I'm announcing it loud and clear!)

(cupcake skirt with glitter hearts!)

I painted some lives with delicious dreams a few days after my successful grand opening!

I hosted a cupcake *surprise* party at my mansion for the New London Girls Dance Team.

22 girls who had just found out they were on the dance team.  Their coach surprised them with a trip here ♥. And the girls thought they were going bowling!   I can't even imagine what a  wondrous shock it was when we threw glitter at them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the Cupcake Mansion!" when they walked through the door! ! ! !

my adorable assistant Billie who helped me throw glitter on the girls!

I taught them how to make rainbow cupcakes and how to make edible gems out of delights like m&ms, peanut butter cups, and Hershey kisses. ♥  I even prepared 22 edible words and ballet slippers out of pink candy melts so their cupcake could dance!

Some of their creations ♥

While I was teaching cupcakes in one room, my fairy godmother (Jane) taught the girls how to make ribbon headbands that they could wear.  (So the ribbons would move with the girls when they danced)!  

♥

An adorable dance team/exchange student from Germany exclaimed the cutest thing ever: "I want to take my cupcake back to Germany!

There was one rule at this party.

If you stepped on the rug in front of the counter of goodies..(inevitable!!) you absolutely had to DANCE ♥♥♥!!

I asked the girls to make up a "cupcake dance".  As I recall it involved a mixer..and the motion of eating a cupcake ♥ Hmm I am thinking cupcake dance flash mob in the near future?! Or a visit from Ellen Degeneres (it is STILL my goal to dance with her and eat a red velvet vegan cupcake with her and her audience)!

Glitter, smiles, sugar, music, dance, cupcakes.

"A laugh is a smile that bursts."

..or so I have heard!:

Sparkly tutus!

Our "toast" to sparkly marshmallows and hot cocoa.

My Irish fairy godmother's sparkly marshmallow and hot cocoa toast:

An Irish Toast to Liars, Cheaters & Stealers:

May you lie your life down for family and friends,

May you cheat death & dishonor at every chance

And may you steal the hearts of those you love all life long.

The girls enchanted by her Irish toast ♥.

During the party I stepped back for a second to watch everything happening. And that was just it. This dream of a cupcake mission was "happening."  My glittery cupcake heart was being shared with 22 amazing girls.    

Their completed cupcakes on the cupcake skirt♥

Wrapped up in that little cupcake liner was a memory of a lifetime. D

Learning all about Amanda Cupcake ♥ on my wall of fame :)

Maybe you should make a wall of fame.

It really highlights all the wonderful people & experiences you meet when you take on life's adventures, no matter what they are!    Do you have any idea of how rewarding it is to use all your seconds and minutes in life to do good for the world..and then sit back and watch it all unfold!? (or perhaps,  watch it dance in this case). 

It's Friday the 13th!!

It isn't often that Friday the 13th comes around. And it is even less often that a friend of yours turns 50 on Friday the 13th!  Blame it on cupcake destiny..or a full moon (not sure if there was one last night, I've been working in the kitchen so much that all I see are cupcake stars!)... I was asked at the very last minute on Thursday to make these Over The Hill Friday the 13th Cupcakes ♥

The Grim Reaper is just here for the Cupcakes.

I guess he likes Red Velvet & Chocolate.

My inspiration for the cupcakes:

Dark, but light.

Serious with a smile.

Nightmares that turn into good dreams.

Black and white with a splash of a red candy skull.  Marshmallows dipped in black candy melts as cupcake toppers.  The candles sort of remind me of beetlejuice. ♥  Handcrafted black sparkly cupcake wrappers to bring the dead to life again ♥ (glitter tends to do that).

Oreos dripping in dark chocolate.

Dark on top of Dark ♥
The mood enlightened with edible glitter.

Not your average black & white cupcake.

Red and black gothic roses.

♥

A beautiful (and yummy) cupcake brightens a dark world. ♥

 

Do you want S'more?!

Can you tell I keep coming back for S'more?

This is the Amanda Cupcake S'more Hall of Fame:

(I can't believe I did all this in a year....)

The S'more Sparklette.

Summer Nostalgia in a cupcake. ♥

See the recipe and try it here.

The Inverted S'more Pop.

(A Marshmallow Stuffed with Chocolate Cake, Hershey Bars, dipped in chocolate, sparkling with graham cracker crumbs).

The Jelly Belly S'more Cupcake.

Inspired by Jelly Belly's Cupcake Contest.

Toasted with marshmallow Jelly Belly Beans♥

See the story here.

  

I find it awesome that I sent out 15 S'more Sparklette Cupcakes in a jar to my friend in Texas last year. ♥

And now I have created a new S'more thrill.

S'mores on a stick♥

Yes, there's so much love in between these graham crackers that the marshmallows are spilling out the sides. ♥ This much sticky mushy wonderful love cannot be contained.

Unspoken S'more Code:

It's okay to get sticky.

It's all part of the process.

S'mores don't need to be perfect, they actually taste better when they are a beautiful disaster.

I broke my graham crackers into little vertical squares and placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.   I topped the graham crackers with mini marshmallows because I figured the regular marshmallows would practically explode once I put them in the oven. The future s'more pops bake in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes, or until the marshmallows start to fluff and turn golden brown on top. ♥

Curiosity killed me. There is something really fun about seeing marshmallows fluff up to XXL size.  So I also made some s'more pops with regular sized marshmallows.  This is how puffy the marshmallows are after being in the oven for just 5 minutes! ♥

I immediately insert a lollipop stick into the warm marshmallows.

I smoosh the marshmallow between 2 graham cracker squares on the pan and let them cool. ♥  The sticky-ness of the marshmallows is like glue. The stick and the graham crackers will all stay together once the s'more pop cools. 

I dip my s'more pops of love into melted dark chocolate candy melts and sprinkle them with disco dust sparkles.  As you can tell, this s'more pop was made using one of my giganto marshmallows.  ♥ it.  If you really want to have fun like the big kid that you are, use the regular marshmallows and make a mess!

Sticky Gooey Sparkly Chocolatey.

The way S'mores started.

On a Stick♥.

What have you been thankful for this year, my cupcake friends?

I am thankful for the glitter that gets stuck on your lips after you eat my cupcakes. ♥

I am grateful for the sparkles that remain stuck on the counter at Cronie's, and people all over town tell me that I am "the girl that leaves glitter all over Cronies coffee shoppe."  After all, if I am going to leave a trail of something behind..it might as well be something happy.

I am thankful for all of you who visit Cronie's, and meet up with me to eat cupcakes and share your lives with me.  You've made me realize this year that cupcakes are my calling.  Not just because they are cupcakes. But because you are eating them with me.  Kind of a huge deal.

I am thankful for cupcake breakfasts with you on Fox 11.   As you can see by the look on my face, I am more than thrilled to share the early morning cupcake sunrises with you. And I'll do it again. ♥

I am thankful for over the top cupcakes like my S'mores Sparklette, and for the website Cupcakes Take The Cake who featured the recipe here. I've met so many cupcake friends because of Cupcakes Take The Cake.

(my dad "my biggest fan" and me)

I am thankful for home, and family. (It was a big choice to move back from Orange County, California to Waupaca, Wisconsin last year).  Wisconsin never would have embraced cupcakes in the sparkly happy way they do now if I wouldn't have moved back. See the article in the Waupaca County Post here.

I am thankful for the opportunity to teach new friends cupcake skillz. Girl Scouts, Waupaca High School, students at Fox Valley Tech.  I love to teach you.  I never knew how much I loved to teach until I was given the opportunity to teach you.

(Turkey Cake pops created by Fox Valley Tech College student Brenda Buettner in my cake pop class!) ♥♥

(honored as a celebrity judge at the Iron Cupcake Madison wearing a one and only sparkly Mir Tutu that I bake and dance in). 

I am thankful for Lucille Ball. ♥.  A fiery redhead who somehow makes a mess in the kitchen turn beautiful! There's just something about her that makes me want to be ... her. She is one of my inspirations.

I am thankful for crazy dreams that you never thought could come true.. but if you work hard enough at them.. they do. ♥

.I am thankful for what's to come, and that you are going there with me ♥