Giveaway Winners

So we ran two giveaways this past week and it's time to announce the lucky winners!

I found it fascinating that the majority of you preferred the paperback cover of Baking Cakes in Kigali to the hardcover! Applause goes to the designer of that whimsical cover, Terri Nimmo!

The three winners who will each be receiving a paperback copy of Baking Cakes in Kigali are:

1. Margaret
2. Yael
3. Amanda

So, has anyone been working on entries for the Read Women of Philadelphia competition? I don't know if I have the chops to do it, but I look forward to what others come up with!

The three winners who will each be receiving a package (an apron and product vouchers) from the Real Women of Philadelphia are:

1. Jonnie
2. Carolyn
3. Rebecca

Congratulations and thank you to everyone that entered! The six winners, please check your inbox for an e-mail from me! I will need your mailing address to have your prizes sent to you.

Happy reading and happy cooking everyone!

Reese Minis Giveaway Winner

Hello there! I'm here to announce the winner of the Reese Minis Giveaway. When I was tweeting about this contest, a few of you responded to the question on twitter. So I counted those as entries too (being nice). However, random.org came up with the number 18, so the winner is...

Amanda! Congratulations, you will be receiving some yummy Reese Minis soon (check your inbox for an e-mail from us).

May we suggest these peanut butter chocolate cupcakes? =)

We also recommend the ones that Naomi from Bakers Royale made (looks exactly like what you're looking for), Jessica from How Sweet It Is made, or the ones Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker made. Decisions, decisions!

New Owners of Our Favourite Cookbooks

Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a very nice holiday and rang in the new year with cheer!

It was so nice to sleep in and eat out for a week. And did we eat! Howard and I tried many desserts in Las Vegas and gave ourselves a dinner at Bouchon for Christmas. When we came home, we were met with many lunch and dinner get-togethers with family and friends. On New Year's Eve, I still remember that the last item I ate was a piece of cantaloupe and Howard's was a slice of cucumber with five cheese dip (we never did finish that fruit and veggie platter as we watched the countdown on TV). It wasn't until the day before work started that we actually ate at home! I guess we may have gotten plumper.

Before the holidays, we ran our Favourite Cookbooks Giveaway. We promised to announce the winners today, so we used Random.org's List Randomizer to generate them.

Aren't the covers and back covers of these cookbooks appetizing? The two lucky winners are announced below:

The winner of The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Occasion by John Barricelli is:

Congratulations Ceri Marsh! Ceri shared What to Cook and How to Cook by Jane Hornby with us. Thank you! We hope you enjoy creating yumminess like this:

Next, the winner of Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes by David Lebovitz is:

Congratulations Sara! Sara shared Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It's actually quite puzzling as to why we don't have this cookbook yet! Please enjoy the scrumptious creations:

Ceri and Sara, please e-mail info@abakedcreation.com - we will need your mailing information in order to ship you your cookbook (d'oh! I forgot to ask for e-mails again).

Thank you to everyone for entering and we wish you a delectable and delicious 2011!

Hello Cupcake

Look what came in the mail for me today!
(Isn't it so stylish?)

From Madalina at www.duhlicious.com (check out her amazing site).
This is the first time I've won something from a blog contest I entered!

The subtle "Hello Cupcake" is engraved on the ring.

This just reminded me of Karen Tack and Alan Richardson's book, Hello, Cupcake!

I have been meaning to share this for some time now! I got a BLAD (Basic Layout And Design) of their upcoming book, What's New, Cupcake? from an author (<-- yes, shameless plug, click it!) in January. She picked it up for me at the ALA (American Library Association) Midwinter Conference in Boston.

There's only a couple of pages in the BLAD, but I am excited for this book! Plus, I need it to accompany Hello, Cupcake! - it makes me sad when a book is missing it's companion! There are two excerpts from the book on www.amazon.com (the apple and koi fish cupcakes).

P.S. Thomas Allen & Sons Ltd. is currently holding a cupcake decorating contest (deadline is on May 1, 2010) for your chance to win a copy of What's New, Cupcake?

Cupcake Couture Contest Winner

Thank you for entering the Cupcake Couture Contest! I said we would be announcing the winner today, so without further delays, *DRUM ROLL* please!

The winner of the Cupcake Couture class is MEAGHAN S!

Meghan's told us that the Royal Treatment class is on her wish list
and she did the bonus entry - adoring Lisa's oh baby cupcakes:

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the workshop!!
Thank you again to Lisa Bugeja and Scott Bradley for this generous giveaway!

Once again, here are the details of the prize:

Class: Cupcake Couture
Date: Sunday, February 21, 2010
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Location: Flour Confections, 1750 Plummer Street, Unit 19, Pickering, Ontario (Google Map)
Description: Join Flour Confections for this fun hands-on workshop. The cupcake trend is here to stay, and really who doesn’t like a cupcake? The class instructor will demonstrate proper mixing, baking and portioning as well as piping techniques and decor. Each student will take home their custom creations to admire and devour! Students will learn about flavour pairing, how to measure and bake cupcakes properly in order to yield consistent and fabulous results. You will learn different icing techniques as well as finishing details to help embellish your cupcakes for the added “wow” factor.
What to bring: All tools, supplies & pre-baked cupcakes will be provided. Please bring an apron.
Conditions for the class are as per Flour Confection's registration policies can be found here.

Even if you didn't win, I would still encourage you to visit Flour Confections (they are a very friendly bunch and will answer any questions you may have). Sign up for a class, the beginning of the year is always a good time to start!

Here are some fun tidbits from the giveaway:

Top Classes at Flour Confections that are on your wish list:

1. Airbrush Basics

2. Cookie Couture

For those that included their bonus entry, favourite cupcake creations by Lisa Bugeja are the following (click on the images to see more on Lisa's flickr account):

Amazing gravity defying cake with a "cupcake" on top!
I actually saw this cake during my visit at Flour Confections! =)

Adorable little bows!

Awww baby bear!

These are just darn cute!

Great colour combo here! I love the use of the silhouettes.

Happy New Decade

Happy New Year everyone!

2010!

I want to apologize for this late post. I had said January 1st and now it is the 3rd - but hear me out, I had a good reason! The first two days of 2010 were painful... I somehow caught a stomach virus! I'm feeling much better today, so here is my post:

We have entered into a new decade and my blog will be featuring some new changes. First, I will try to blog more! Yay! So expect more updates from me. The new aspect is that there will be more posts about things I want to share or talk about. Basically, not every post will be a new cupcake or cake creation. Don't worry, there won't be a drastic change. =)

Another resolution, I will try and do more recipe testing and tutorials - I have a feeling that you like them. *grin* Perhaps some more giveaways too... I have another AWESOME one lined up - so stay tuned!

Thank you for listening, that's all for now!

Oh wait...

Were you expecting another announcement? Say... perhaps the winners of the 100th Post Giveaway Contest? Pshhh, you probably already scrolled down and took a peak, as if you read anything I wrote above!

But I would like to say, I was blown away by the entries! After the first three entries, I knew it would become a random draw. I just can't believe that so many people know our creations so well and passed this scavenger hunt with flying colours! The answers were:

image #1
Totoro Dust Ball Cupcake
The cute little dust ball from the film, Totoro.
Everyone got this one correct!


image #2
Vanilla Milk Cake with Pink Cream Cheese Frosting
Delightful! The pretty cake during a frightfully cold winter day.
Everyone got this one correct!


image #3
Happy Groundhog Day
A small tribute to the groundhog in my life - Howard!
Only one person didn't find this one. =)


I hope you had fun and drum roll please!

The first random name for a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes is Suellen L!
The second random name for a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes is Avanika K!
The third random name for a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes is Christina M!

Congratulations to Suellen, Avanika, and Christina! I will be e-mailing you a confirmation and to get your mailing address. I hope you enjoy the prize - it will be mighty hard to keep any healthy resolutions you made. I am simply a bad influence! ;)

Drumroll Please!

How has the New Year been so far? Have some of you already broken the New Year's resolutions you told us about? Tsk! Well, we bet you're excited about this post. So excited that you're probably going to skip down to see the results, so there's no point rambling or stalling here. Well? Go ahead!

New Year's Resolution Giveaway Contest

And the Winners are...

#125 Karema: Congratulations!

#42 Ann: Thanks Ann!

#225 Marleen: Good luck keeping things organized!

#94 Andrea: Hahaha your comment made us laugh!

#226 Claudia: Now after experimenting, you can show off your baked goods in these lovely cupcake wrappers!

#23 Amy: Congratulations! #9 and #2 seem to be very popular with everyone!

#312 Jennifer: You'll definitely learn something new with this book!

#280 Cyndi: We had the exact same thought while making that little dude.

#5 Jill: Best of luck staying organized!

#142 Teresa: You can get up in the middle of the night to read this book now...

#121 Ashley: Now, you can bake something new every week from this book too!

#145 Veronica: Thanks for the lovely comment! Good luck with your resolution and have fun entertaining with this cupcake stand!

Thank you all for entering! We had fun being a guest-blogger and reviewing all the entries! Have a great year spreading cupcake joy! Stay tuned for future giveaways (like say perhaps... Valentine's Day)!

Once again, we must thank Melissa from HarperCollinsCanada for If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, Lisa from Cupcake Wraptures for her beautiful cupcake wrappers, Jessica from Chronicle Books for Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, Anna from Hachette Book Group for Confetti Cakes for Kids, Lindsey from Da Capo Books for Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and Diana & Karen from Wilton Industries for the 19 Count Party Stand! Thank you so much for ringing in the New Year by providing great prizes! Please read our reviews for some of these books here.