Need a Gift for a Baker? Here Are Over 50 Ideas!

Are you looking for a gift for a baker on your holiday list?  I've got you covered!  Over the past year, I've curated a list of my favorite baking-related products on my Peek In My Pantry Pinterest board.  With just a few exceptions (that I indicate on the board), I've personally used and enjoyed every product there.  Peek In My Pantry contains baking basics, book ideas, specialized baking tools, totally unique food products (like miracle fruit and mastic gum), baking-themed jewelry, aprons, and more.  Peek in My Pantry and let me know which gifts you found for your favorite baker and what I left off.

Special Coupon for Cupcake Project Readers

Earlier this year, I told you about the Excalibur Dehydrator (I used it to make cupcake croutons).  Excalibur is offering a special 10% off coupon for Cupcake Project readers Dec. 1 through Dec. 15 - just enter the code 10DEC15 when you check out. 

How to Ship Cupcakes

It is notoriously hard to ship cupcakes.  When trying to ship cupcakes, there is that pesky problem of keeping the cupcakes from turning upside-down and the gift arriving as a frosted box rather than frosted cupcakes. 

So How Do You Ship Cupcakes?

Cupcake Necklace Giveaway!

Update: Comment number 140, Alanna, has won the pink necklace! Congrats, Alanna!! Thanks to everyone who entered.

My new advertiser, Dazzle & Chunk (look to the left if you aren't reading this in an RSS reader or by email), was sweet enough to send me one of her totally adorable cupcake necklaces. I wore it for the first time the other day and got tons of compliments on it.

Not only do I love the cupcake necklace, but Myles is quite interested in it as well.

Want one?

Dazzle & Chunk is offering a free cupcake necklace to a Cupcake Project reader! You can choose from blue, white, or the pink that I'm wearing in the photos. Leave a comment with your email address and which color you'd like and you'll be entered for a chance to win. I will randomly draw a winner on Monday, January 11th at 11:59PM CST. Good luck!!

Cupcake Gift Idea: Penguin and the Cupcake

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We spent it in New York. I didn't bake at all during the trip (hence the lack of posts). However, my mom made a cake out of my vanilla cupcake recipe. She used pumpkin yogurt instead of sour cream, which turned out to be a repeat-worthy seasonal modification.

Since I don't have a new cupcake to post and everyone's mind is on holiday shopping, I thought I would share with you my new favorite cupcake book - Penguin and the Cupcake. Let me start by saying that this is not a paid review. I did not even get the book from the publisher (I get lots of free stuff, but I'll always tell you when I do). This book was a gift for baby Myles from our friends Bryan and Anna.

Things I love about Penguin and Cupcake:

1. It's honest. Penguin says, "I decided to head north to find some cupcakes. When I was all packed up and ready to go, I spread my wings and took to the sky." The book then goes on to point out that penguins can't fly, he was lying, and he actually had to take an airplane (sure, penguins don't take airplanes either, but let's ignore that).
   
2. It's filled with environmental facts. Penguin goes to search for cupcakes because penguins are having trouble finding food due to over-fishing in the ocean.
   
3. It has things that are fun to say when reading aloud to a kid like, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
4. The illustrations are adorable. You'll have to buy the book to see them.
5. It's not girly. I am 100% positive that if we had a girl, people would have bought her tons of cupcake stuff (probably more than I would even want her to have). There is no reason why cupcakes have to be all pink and girly. Little boys can love cupcakes, too!
   
6. Penguin and his cupcake aren't on TV. I get tired of seeing kids' books based on TV shows. It takes the imagination out of reading.

Remember that bit above about full disclosure? If you buy Penguin and the Cupcake for the little someone in your life, please buy it by clicking on this link. That gives me a VERY small commission, which you can think of as your holiday gift to a cupcake blogger.

Thanks! You'll love it!

P.S. I baked today, so expect a new cupcake post soon!

Missouri Cupcake Soap by Irie Star

I usually try to keep this blog to cupcake recipes and ingredients and leave the posts on cupcake shwag to All Things Cupcake and Cupcakes Take The Cake. I'm going to choose to forget my failed campaign to sell Save the Cupcake products. Even the person who won my giveaway contest said she didn't want her shirt. However, a friend (who incidentally bought one of my cupcake t-shirts) gave me this Irie Star cupcake soap and it was so pretty that I had to let Jonathan give it its own special photo shoot.

I thought it posed quite nicely.

Irie Star is based in St. Louis, but they do sell their gorgeous cupcake soaps online. I can tell you that it smells great, but I can't report on how it works as a soap because I can't imagine ever actually washing with it.

Cupcakes and Crowns

I received an email from Gabriela, a blogger from Toronto, that included the following text:

"Cupcakes and crowns make a great combo when it comes to sharing good times with friends, family... They make a great party!"

While it is clear that cupcakes are a dessert worthy of royalty, I had never considered cupcakes and crowns as a combo before: cupcakes and milk, cupcakes and ice cream (maybe), but never cupcakes and crowns.

Upon further consideration, though, I realized that Gabriela had a great point. Why not honor someone on their special occasion with both a cupcake (created for them here at cupcakeproject) and a crown? If you are lucky enough to live in Toronto, you can take Gabriela's classes and learn how to make some amazing crowns. Regardless of where you live, you can buy her crowns on her Etsy Shop. These crowns are worthy of any prince, princess, queen, or king in your life.

To prove her dedication to the cupcake and crown combination, Gabriela has created some adorable Christmas ornaments using cupcake wrappers and photos of people wearing crowns, of course. What a unique and cheap idea for the cupcake lover on your holiday gift list!

More gift ideas will be coming to this blog soon... stay tuned.