Super delicious birthday cookies

These cute tiger cupcakes, with hand-painted fondant toppers, are by PJ'S Baby Cakes in Lincoln, Nebraska, via Flickr. Visit pjsbabycakes.com for ordering information.



And unrelated but beautiful love cupcakes:

Please note that all these job listings are from online sources - we cannot vouch for their accuracy nor answer any questions about them. Contact the bakeries directly. For the Craigslist ads, clicking on the title of the job listing will take you to the original Craigslist post. If you are a bakery and would like to be considered for this sporadic Cupcakes Take the Cake feature, email us at cupcakestakethecake at gmail.com with "Job Listing" in the subject and either a link to your ad or full details for us to post.

On a personal note, I love that there's a job called "Icingologist" - see Cupcakes Divine below!

California

Kara's Cupcakes- Palo Alto Retail Cupcake Ambassadors! (palo alto)
Date: 2011-02-08, 3:35PM PST
Reply to: job-mtft3-2204328717@craigslist.org

Sweet Opportunity at Kara’s Cupcakes for
Retail Cupcake Ambassadors!

Your opportunity is here to join the team of Kara’s Cupcakes, a highly successful company that creates the Bay Area’s best gourmet cupcakes. If you seek a positive work environment built on strong values and principles this may be an ideal opportunity. We’re looking for enthusiastic, detail oriented, cupcake ambassadors who have a passion for exceptional artisan treats and customer service.
Ideal candidates are highly motivated, pro-active, and always ensure the highest quality. Excellent customer service skills are essential to this role!

RETAIL JOB REQUIRMENTS
• Must be available to work weekday and weekend shifts
• Must be able to communicate clearly with managers, kitchen and retail personnel and customers.
• Be capable of processing sales transactions through a point of sales system
• Be able to reach, bend, stoop and occasionally lift up to 50 pounds.
• Willingness to take direction, ability to perform closing and opening shifts duties, ability to multi task, including managing daily orders and deliveries, restocking and serving customers in a fast paced environment.
• Must be able to work in a standing position for long periods of time (up to 8 hours).
• Candidates must possess strong customer service skills, positive attitude, friendly and upbeat personality and a love of cupcakes!

HOW TO APPLY:
• Email your resume to the above email address
• In the subject line, indicate which store you are applying for
• Include in the body of email why you are interested in working for Kara’s Cupcakes


Velvet Cupcakes - Hiring BAKERS!! (Valencia, CA)
Date: 2011-02-05, 2:33PM PST
Reply to: info@velvetcupcakes.com

Velvet Cupcakes, Santa Clarita's premier cupcakery, is looking for bakers to join our growing team!!

Job Duties include, but are not limited to:
-baking and decorating cupcakes
-making frostings
-cleaning the kitchen
-washing dishes
-receiving, putting away and organizing deliveries
-taking out the trash
-preparing custom & pre-orders

All ideal candidates MUST:
-LOVE cupcakes and love baking
-enjoy repetition
-acquire great attention to detail
-have high standards of cleanliness
-be able to lift up to 50 lbs.
-have a positive attitude
-have a flexible schedule - available to work early mornings, nights, weekends and holidays

We are a high volume cupcake bakery so you must be able to work well under pressure and in a fast pace environment.
Professional kitchen experience or culinary school grads preferred.

If you meet ALL the requirements above, please send your resume and a short note on why you would be perfect for the job to info@velvetcupcakes.com with "I WANT TO BAKE FOR VELVET CUPCAKES!" in the subject line.
Please NO phone calls.

http://www.velvetcupcakes.com

* Location: Valencia, CA

Massachusetts

Sweet Cupcakes in Search of Sweet Supervisors (Back Bay/Newbury Street)
Date: 2011-02-04, 3:02PM EST
Reply to: job-smxfg-2197292455@craigslist.org

Sweet Cupcakes is a boutique bakery providing the most amazing cupcake experience possible in multiple retail locations. Ready-to-eat seasonal specialty flavors, special decoration, and limited edition cupcakes are made, served, and delivered with care. Members of the Sweet team are passionate about their products and service.

We are seeking outgoing, happy and super-friendly keyholders/supervisors to join the team at our Back Bay and Newbury Street locations!

All Sweet Staffers duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Showcasing exemplary customer service through a customer’s whole Sweet experience
• Knowledge of cupcake flavors and ability to communicate effectively to customers
• Working knowledge of our cash register to accurately ring through orders
• Ability to work independently

The supervisor is responsible for all aspects of operations at the retail location while the manager is off-site, including, but not limited to, facility upkeep and maintenance, customer service, human resources, and marketing. The supervisor is expected to do all of the duties of the Counter Staff. Additional duties include, but not limited to:
• Knowledge and ability to work all shifts and perform all tasks and duties of the store, including special orders, opening and closing
• Daily leadership by example
• Ordering and maintaining inventory levels
• Maintaining appropriate staffing levels in accordance with traffic and business
• Maintaining improvements on all systems and procedures
• Liaising between staff and manager to proper support and communication of goals, procedures, and necessary changes


Required Skills:
• Experience in retail/hospitality/customer service
• Exemplary phone manner
• Willing to be part of a growing organization (flexibility)
• Professional, creative, hands-on attitude with good follow through
• Excellent communications skills both written (e-mail and fax) and verbal
• Excellent organizational skills
• Computer skills
• Commitment to high standards
• Patience and genuine enjoyment for helping people – a sense of humor a plus
• Zeal for community building through commerce

Must be available to work evenings and weekends.

Please reply with availability, resume and cover letter.

* Location: Back Bay/Newbury Street

New Jersey

SWEET FREAKS REJOICE!! CRUMBS BAKE SHOP IS HIRING!! (NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT, NJ )
Date: 2011-02-08, 9:59AM EST
Reply to: careers@crumbs.com

CRUMBS BAKE SHOP has "baked" its way to NEWARK LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!!

So, if you love cupcakes (and other yummy desserts) and making people happy this is the place for you! We want really nice, super-friendly, punctual, responsible, positive, multi-tasking, neat-freaks who know how to have fun!!! We are seeking some amazing people to join our team and help us take-off in Newark!


WE ARE CURRENTLY SEEKING:

CUPCAKE ASSOCIATES -- **non-seasonal (LONG TERM) part-time and full-time -- prior retail/customer service experience preferred!!**
• YOU view customers as your future friends and strive to build lasting customer relations.
• YOU are passionate about cupcakes and all things carbohydrate, and you know your stuff inside and out.
• YOU work well by yourself and just as well as in a team.
• YOU are more than happy to make your store proud by keeping it shiny and clean (never afraid to get your hands dirty!), meeting sales goals, and completing all necessary tasks with finesse


TO APPLY:

Please email us your resume (copy and paste style) AND a short note as to why you’d be perfect for the role!

Email address: careers@crumbs.com

Subject of the email should be: NUTTY FOR NEWARK CUPCAKES!!

THANKS so much for applying! If we see that your qualifications match our needs we will contact you. Best of luck! : )


CRUMBS is an equal opportunity employer.

* Location: NEWARK LIBERTY INT'L AIRPORT, NJ

Texas

Cupcakes Divine Now Hiring several positions (Stone Oak at 281)
Date: 2011-02-11, 9:37AM CST
Reply to: job-mg3ry-2208808254@craigslist.org

We are in the process of hiring for the following positions:
1 fulltime baker/cake artist
1 part time baker
1 fulltime shift manager (SM)/"Icingologist"
2 to 3 part time "Icingologists"

Icingologists are like a barista but for cupcakes. Icingologists ice/fill/top the cupcakes to the customer's request and at times run the cash register. We are a cupcake bar not a cupcake boutique. Internships for culinary/pastry arts students are also available, however these are not paid internships but, if you do well you could be promoted to full paid hired status at the end of your internship. Shift manager will assit owners in running the front of house activites. The Icinologists will answer directly to you if owners are not present. Food establishment management experience is mandatory for the SM position. We are looking for bubbly over the top personalities. Drama and performing arts students welcomed!

We also offer custom cakes as well, hence the need for another cake artist other than the owner. Must have fondant, gumpaste, modeling chocolate, airbrush, and 3D cake skills. Do not apply if you just finished a Wilton course. Visit our parent company website for skill level expectations: www.cakes-divine.com

Please submit a resume for the SM or baker/decorator positions.
No experience necessary for part time icingologists positions, we will train!
Shop tentative opening end of March, early April, however training will beging 2 weeks prior to opening, 3 to 4 weeks prior for SM position. We do pay for training hours.
We only hire non-smokers. If hired, you must pass a drug screening and background check.
Confidentiality agreements are also a requirement of hiring.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE! Submit inquiries via email only!

* Location: Stone Oak at 281

What's Up, Cupcake? via Facebook (Keller, Texas)

We are seeking part-time help, currently for Wednesdays and Saturdays, but could be more days later. Duties would include working the counter and icing cupcakes. We would like someone with experience using a piping bag, but would train the right person. If interested, please drop an email to info at whats-up-cupcake.com.

Washington, DC

Lead Baker & Assistant Bakers needed for DC's newest Cupcake Company! (Washington, DC)
Date: 2011-02-10, 12:45AM EST
Reply to: job-en6gq-2206616900@craigslist.org

DC's newest cupcake company is looking for creative, passionate team members to form our baking team! ALL EXPERIENCE LEVELS ARE WELCOMED! We have part time and full time positions available. We are looking for team members that have a desire to learn new skills or sharpen thier existing skills and experience. We have a great, very unique employee benefits and will offer competitive pay for quailty work. We are very flexible and welcome those with and without experience. Training will be provided. Creativity, vision, innovation, and a passion for baked goods are our only requirements. Serious inquiries only.

If you are interested in joining our team for a very unique and rewarding experience, please send your resume or short bio to the email provided with "CUPCAKE BUGGY APPLICANT" in the subject line. ALL EXPERIENCE LEVELS ARE WELCOMED! Full and Part time positions are available. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE.

We offer cupcake catering and special delivery services and operate a mobile cupcake truck in the Washington, DC metro area.

WWW.CUPCAKEBUGGY.COM

* Location: Washington, DC
* Compensation: $15+/hr / Full Time positions also available
* OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities

Kickass Cupcakes of Somerville, Massachusetts (via Facebook) is catering to the cynics of the world on Valentine's Day with these "I Hate You" and other Valentine's Day cupcakes...we'll obviously be bringing you lots more Valentine's Day cupcakes on this big cupcake-related holiday, but thought we'd share these too. Visit www.kickasscupcakes.com for more information.



And for the more traditional romantics, here are some of their Red Velvet, Champagne Bubbly Cupcakes and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries cupcakes:

A heads up: The Cupcake Diaries: Stories, Memories, and Recipes from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcake by the stars of TLC reality show DC Cupcakes and sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne, will be out in November from HarperOne (via Amazon). That's all we know for now but we'll keep you posted!


puzzle image via TLC, where you can do online cupcake puzzles

We can tell you that a little sooner than that, in May, a totally unrelated series of kids' books under the series name The Cupcake Diaries by Coco Simon will be out. According to publisher Simon & Schuster, the first one is called Katie and the Cupcake Cure and is about:

This first book in The Cupcake Diaries is told through the perspective of Katie Brown. We find Katie miserable on the first day of middle school. Her best friend Callie came back from camp boy-crazy and part of a whole new group of friends. When it's made clear that Callie is in the PGC (Popular Girls Club) and Katie is not invited to join, Katie suddenly feels incredibly alone. Katie realizes if she's going to survive middle school she needs to seriously regroup and find some new friends. But how? She bites into the cupcake her mother packed her for lunch and for a second closes her eyes. The sweet treat makes her happy—finally something goes right! Looking around her table, Katie notices the other students seeming a bit lost, as well. Which gives her an idea...With three new friends Katie forms a club as a way to spread the cupcake love and earn some cupcake cash.



Other titles in the series include Mia in the Mix and Emma on Thin Icing.

At least once a week, I see an article or blog post proclaiming that something is "the new cupcake." It's ridiculous, and kindof dumb, because why does something have to be "the new" anything, other than to draw traffic and make up crazy food trends?

Also, cupcakes are not in competition with other baked goods. Lots of us like them all! So to prove that all our desserts can get along, here are five photos of cupcakes with other desserts on top of them! And, incidentally, a lot of these desserts (hi macaroon and whoopie pie!) happen to be ones that are constantly pitted against the cupcake.


mini coconut macaroon cupcakes by obliviousfire on Flickr:
"White mud and raspberry cupcakes with raspberry-cream cheese frosting and mini coconut macaroons"


a mini whoopie pie on top of a cupcake by baking blogger The Lone Baker via Flickr, inspired by this painting


two kinds of cookies in one, plus a Valentine's Day theme! These are by the wonderful Etsy custom cupcake maker death by cupcake via Flickr

And with these you get a bonus, because they are actually filled cupcakes:




mini donut on a cupcake - I took this at Frosting Bake Shop in Walnut Creek, California, it's their Homer Simpson cupcake!


mini pumpkin pie on a cupcake, by blogger The Frosted Cake N Cookie, via Flickr: "pumpkin spice cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese icing. fondant pumpkin pie slice."

Fresh off their win on Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, Old Towne Orange, California bakery The Perfect Circle Cupcakery is baking up some Valentine's Day cupcake flavors. Images via their Facebook page, where you can go to learn more about their holiday offerings, including red hot velvet. Click here to check out their other seasonal offerings, so you can be ready when they serve Caramel Bordeaux and Tiramisu cupcakes.





White chocolate raspberry cupcakes: "White cake with a fresh raspberry surprise inside and white chocolate frosting with fresh raspberries drizzled in white chocolate on top!"


Coconut bliss cupcakes


Buttercup cupcakes: "Decadent Peanut Butter cake studded with chocolate chips with rich Valrhona chocolate frosting and topped with a Peanut Butter Cup!"

The Perfect Circle Cupcakery
165 N. Glassell St.
Old Towne Orange, CA
714-997-CAKE
info at tpccupcakery.com

Always innovative Rutherford, New Jersey cupcake bakery Sweet Avenue Bake Shop is baking up one-day-only cupcake flavors of the world. See them all on their Facebook page and get details, hours and ordering information (they also do custom cupcakes, including photo cupcakes) at sweetavenuebakeshop.com.

This is today's special cupcake, for sale today only (all descriptions via Facebook):


Persian LOVE cake♥♥. Lemon and cardamom infused cake filled and topped with rosewater-saffron frosting and chopped pistachios.

And two previous cupcake flavors of the world:


inspired by Japan - MOCHI MOCHI!! Green tea cupcake topped & filled with sweet red bean frosting. Then it's topped with a mochi (sweet rice ball).


Bésame Mucho is a caramel dulce de leche cake, filled with caramel sauce, and topped with whipped cream frosting and a cinnamon sugar churro.

These cupcakes are by Sale, UK's Jellytots & Dollymixtures via their Flickr account. You can also find them on Facebook.


"A vanilla cupcake filled with a bavarian cream centre. Topped with a chocolate fudge frosting, a bavarian cream filled shoux pastry profiterole and dark chocolate drizzle."


blueberry waffle cupcake

And we couldn't forget Valentine's Day - here are the special cupcakes they're offering, including on spelling out "I Heart You:"




a closeup on this chocolate one! "a rich chocolate cake filled with delicious caramel. Topped with a chocolate fudge frosting, a single Rolo and chocolate curls!"

Jellytots & Dollymixtures
185 Cross Street
Sale, United Kingdom, M33 7JG
louise at jellytotsanddollymixtures.co.uk
Phone: 0161 637 2199

Last Thursday, we had a meetup at Everything Frosted in Chinatown (105 1/2 Mosco).  To celebrate Chinese (Lunar) New Year, there were special flavors including green tea, taro, black sesame and red bean. Chef/Owner John Wu studied under White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. He was kind enough to save some cupcakes for us and take a picture with the group.



Everything Frosted doesn't have any seating but it is right across the street from Columbus Park in Chinatown, which is perfect for a spring day. Check out the Facebook Page for Everything Frosted.

I have a thing for cupcake cakes. Even when you can't tell there are cupcakes underneath, knowing they are there, smushed together by icing, artfully designed into fun shapes, just makes me happy. It's like taking all the fun of a well-decorated cupcake and multiplying it. So I wanted to share these cupcake cakes by Polkatots Cupcakes in Pasadena, California, via their Flickr account (see more examples here). I think their appeal is also that you know these were custom-made, that they're unique and special, and memorable. Note to self: have party for no reason whatsoever (my birthday's not til November) and get a cupcake cake! Order yours or get more info at polkatotscupcakes.com, and you can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.













And last but not least, a cupcake-shaped cupcake cake:

Special for Valentine's Day, from Vero Beach, Florida's Classy Cupcakes, via their Facebook page, come their Stud Muffin cupcake:



"This is a sweet and salty cupcake filled with marshmallows, walnuts and chocolate chips... then topped with a dark chocolate ganash and pretzels!"

Today's other flavors are: Cinnamon Pecan Crumb Cake, Lemon Sunshine, Strawberry n Cream, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Strawberry, Classy Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Marble and Red Velvet.

And on February 20th, they're hosting a special event from 4 to 7 pm:

Classy Cupcakes will be creating an incredible display of cupcakes for the reception... A Sea Turtle cupcake cake surrounded by individual cupcakes with other sea life and coral reef! You must buy tickets in advance at Majestic theater or online at www.cinemaworldonline.com $25 adults and$10 for kids under 18! This fundraiser will benefit the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Research Development Fund! Hope to see you there!

Classy Cupcakes
712 21st Street
Vero Beach, FL, 32960
classycupcakes at comcast.net
772-563-0110

A new cupcake bakery has opened: Little Pearl Cupcake in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can also find them on Facebook and @lpcupcake on Twitter. Photos via their Facebook page.







They started out doing custom cupcakes. According to yesterday's article at WZZM 13:

Little Pearl Cupcake opened for the first time this morning on Northland Drive. The owners say about 50 people came by on the first day.

Little Pearl specializes in gourmet cupcakes and was originally created online by two friends.

Co-owner Emily Martins says, "We knew that we wanted a storefront, something a little boutiquey and something people could come in and look at the product before they bought it. It's kind of taken off on the internet so we thought we'd put up a storefront and see what people thought."

Little Pearl Cupcake
5260 Northland Dr. NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
616-363-2700
littlepearlcupcake at hotmail.com

I'm a little late in posting some of these, but wanted to share these cupcake designs from Chicago's Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique, via their Facebook page. They have special flavors each week, so follow them there or on Twitter or sign up for their newsletter for the latest updates at sugarblisscakes.com. I don't know for sure if the Chinese New Year ones are still available, but you can always call and ask (that goes for any bakery - why not?).






Chinese New Year cupcake: "Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting topped with gold sprinkles and a 'Congrats and Prosperity' logo."

In my opinion this press release went a little overboard with the trademark symbols, but I'm always happy to share news about free cupcake giveaways!

From PR Web:

Cupcake Lounge™ is making its first appearance in Westhampton, NY for Cuptail™ Hour. Cupcake Lounge™ is the latest cupcakery throwing its cuptails™ into the mix. Cuptails™ combine cocktails with cupcakes, resulting in a thirst-quenching snack for adults. Committed to a healthful method of baking, Cupcake Lounge™ uses substitutions for fat and sugar, lowering the overall calorie count.

The offering includes such cuptails™ as Banana Foster, The Bourbon Pub, and Piña Cupolada. Both frosting and cupcake are infused with alcohol. Also available are favorites such as Red Velvet and Carrot Cake. Cupcake Lounge™ will be hosting a tasting on February 12th, from 3-6pm at Hamptons Wine Shoppe, 62 Sunset Avenue, Westhampton, NY.

Cupcake Lounge™ was launched in December 2010. Their cuptails™ and cupcakes are available online. All cupcakes are made to order from scratch. Shipping is available within the United States. Cupcake Lounge™ and cuptail™ are trademarks belonging to Cynthia Sachs.

And more info is available at the official
Cupcake Lounge™ site, where it also says their cream cheese frosting is low-fat and contains 50% less sugar than typical frosting. Flavors include The Bourbon Pub (chocolate cupcake with pecans and a shot of whiskey topped with a nightcap of smooth Bailey's cream cheese frosting), Cupjito (vanilla cupcake mixed with the island flavors of fresh mint and rum topped with a hip-shaking vanilla rum cream cheese frosting), Frankie + Hazel (chocolate espresso cupcake mixed with Frangelico, toasted hazelnuts, and chocolate chips topped with a light and silky Frangelico cream cheese frosting.), Mocha Buca (chocolate espresso cupcake stirred with kahlua topped with Sambuca cream cheese frosting and a chocolate covered espresso bean), Cupcake Royale (vanilla cupcake kissed with pink champagne and a berry surprise topped with Chambord cream cheese frosting and pearls) and others. You can see photos and learn more on their Facebook page.



Cupcake Lounge™
phone 631-517-0343
fax 360-248-6608
contactcupcakelounge at gmail.com

*When you buy 2, at Patty's Cakes & Desserts in Fullerton, California, who put this ad on their Facebook page as an enticement to customers. What a fun way to get your exercise and sample a few cupcakes!

One of the best things about being a cupcake blogger is that you start to notice that cupcakes are everywhere, not just at bakeries. They're at the movies and at theaters. One of the worst things is when you find out too late that you've missed a cupcake opportunity. I skipped the concession stand when I was at Berkeley Repertory Theater recently, and therefore apparently missed out on the cupcakes they sell. From their blog, in a post called "Confessions of a concessionaire: a delicious dilemma" by Kate Vangeloff, in which she opines on the cupcake options provided by local bakery Love at First Bite (which I have been to):

We received a new shipment of cupcakes in which there were two, yes, two cupcakes that would have fulfilled my own personal visual requirements to earn a “Cookies & Cream” flavor designation. This new development shocked me, as I was unable to identify the new cupcake as anything other than “Cookies & Cream: Version 2.0.” Being inquisitive by nature, I did some internet sleuthing, and I am proud to announce that I have solved this cupcake mystery.

On the left of exhibit A, you will find the true Cookies & Cream cupcake, notably marked by its rakish, Oreo-crescent chapeau. On the right, you will find what Love at First Bite calls their “Mud Pie” cupcake—a devil’s food chocolate cupcake topped with whipped mocha frosting and Oreo crumbs.

Here’s to knowledgeable cupcake consumption for all!


photo via Berkeley Rep blog

It was my first visit, and I loved the design of the theater (I was there to see The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, which I highly recommend), so I will definitely be back, with my first stop being the concession stand!

XO cupcakes which will be for sale, along with 7 special cupcake flavors and other Valentine's Day treats, by Sugar Mama's Bakeshop in Austin, Texas, via their Facebook page. They're open 11-7 on Valentine's Day too for your special sweetheart cupcake needs. See sugarmamasbakeshop.com and follow @SugarMamas on Twitter for more information, such as news of their peanut butter and honey cupcake.

We told you about the iPhone app by Denver bakery Happy Cakes Bakeshop, and the one from Cake Love, as well as iCupcake, and now Sprinkles Cupcakes has launched its own free iPhone app.

From the Sprinkles Facebook page:

Our free app dishes out free cupcakes, one-click menu access, virtual cupcake gifting, a memory game, a bakery locator and more!

It's pretty easy to use, and tells you flavors, specials, locations, has a cupcake memory match game and allows you to email a virtual cupcake via email or Facebook. A few screenshots from my iPhone below: