I'm a Parade.com columnist

On Valentine's Day, my new weekly cupcake column debuted at Parade.com. I get a little bonuses for good traffic, so please check it out. I will of course still be blogging at Cupcakes Take the Cake, and am looking forward to trying more cupcakes in the UK when I'm there in two weeks. If you ever have any cupcake-y goodness to share, email us at cupcakestakethecake at gmail.com - I am trying to get back to my formerly prolific cupcake blogging, along with everything else. One day at a time, baby.

Why The Office's Mindy Kaling no longer eats cupcakes

Find out at Cupcakes Take the Cake in a hilarious excerpt from her chapter "The Day I Stopped Eating Cupcakes" (and, favor, if you like it, please pass it on). I'll have a proper review of her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) soon; it's funny and definitely worth checking out and, for me, the Matt & Ben part took me on a major nostalgia trip back to one of my most important relationships. I'll have to check but I'm pretty sure we saw Matt & Ben at PS 122. I have a horrible memory so I don't actually remember. To refresh (much more background in the book), but here's the New York Times review:

Finally it's both refreshing and absolutely delightful to hear insults delivered to real people -- especially those people who have been wildly overpraised and overpaid -- without apology. ''Matt & Ben'' names names, and we can be grateful to Ms. Kaling and Ms. Withers for undermining their own careers in Hollywood for our benefit.

10 Cupcakes Take the Cake posts you should read

Cupcakes Take the Cake is my blogging pride and joy, my baby, the longest project I've worked on continuously, not counting this blog (and will outlast my previously held longest job), and it's funny because as I'm brainstorming pitches, cupcakes leap out at me at every turn. We will celebrate our 7th anniversary with a party in December (stay tuned!), are heading to New Paltz on October 22nd, I'm going to Scottsdale to judge Cupcake Love-In at the end of the month, and next August we'll be hosting a Cupcake Cruise. All very exciting. Cupcakes Take the Cake is also a large portion of my income, so if you like the blog, I'd love it if you'd pass it on to someone, Tweet it, like it on Facebook, etc. We are also on Tumblr. And if you have a local bakery that would like some postcards of ours, email me at cupcakestakethecake at gmail.com with "Postcards" in the subject, how many you want, and where to send them (US only), and I'll get them right out.

I love that my favorite new local cafe, where I've been working a lot, asked me to help them find a cupcake supplier. Cupcakes have taught me so much and while there is much to learn about how to blog better and more often and more successfully, I want to remember how much the blog, the umpteen people I've met because of it, and the neverending source material, mean to me. Yesterday I spent seemingly forever writing one little erotica story, which turned out to be not so little. I have no idea if it works; that'll be for my publisher to decide, but by the time I got to the end, my brain was tired. My brain gets excited about cupcake blogging, and while I don't have time to post all the ideas I have, it's not exhausting in that same way.

So, I present you with 10 recent cupcake posts I think are worth your time:

RIP Steve Jobs: Apple, iPod touch and iPhone cupcakes


Owl, dinosaur, bird, turtle, Hello Kitty and other cute cupcake toppers from Etsy


The cutest Cookie Monster cupcake I've ever seen


Cupcakes in A Very Babymouse Christmas (I cannot possibly recommend the Babymouse series more, and it's my go-to gift to every parent of young children I know. Also, there's Hannukah in here too!)


Cupcake violence captured in photographs


My friend Rebecca's adorable 3-year-old daughter celebrates her birthday with cupcakes


Halloween cupcake cuteness alert: mummy, zombie and vampire cupcake toppers on Etsy!


Rubik's Cube and Angry Birds cake pops


Halloween monster cupcakes


Henna-inspired wedding cupcake tower

Obsessed and The Lost book party photos

More photos soon! Thank you SO much to Tied Up Events, Fontana's, Caridad , Logan Belle and Emerald as well as everyone who showed up to last night's book party for making it such a fun event! Extra special thanks to Treat for the amazing, beyond delicious cupcakes. I asked for "chocolate" and got this amazing chocolate/vanilla swirl that basically replicated chocolate/vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream in cupcake form, with incredible glittery edible soft book covers. Loved them! See the official Obsessed site for more on the book.

I've never seen Star Wars, hate weddings and love America

Okay, not really, though I've never seen Star Wars and I'm not a fan of the marriage industrial complex but am excited for my cousin's wedding in March.

I did write my first piece for Slacktory called "I Only Know the Super Bowl, Star Wars and Settlers of Catan Through Cupcakes" and it'd be awesome if you clicked and liked and passed it on cause I'm proud of it and got tons of great art (Yo Gabba Gabba cupcakes, anyone?) and, um, I make fun of myself. Wayne Rooney, eat your heart out.

I know sports exist, but in a vague, very peripheral way. If it makes it into the gossip pages, then I’ll hear about it; I know of David Beckham, but mostly in the context of him being married to Posh Spice. I don’t know when the Super Bowl, Wimbledon or World Cup fall, and only because March is in its name do I know about March Madness. It’s not even that I don’t like sports, I’m just ignorant.

Read the whole thing

Seattle cupcaking and tonight's the big night of Gotta Have It hotness

Conveyor belt cupcakes at Blue C Sushi! I couldn't believe it.


The divine s'mores cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes, who put my face on cupcakes last year!

And here's the Cupcake Royale lineup at tonight's Gotta Have It fun, free reading (do tell anyone you know in Seattle, I promise hotness):

Rachel Kramer Bussel, Shanna Germain and Naked Girls Reading at Babeland! (no need to RSVP but that links through to Facebook where you can easily pass this info on)

June 27, 6-8 pm
Babeland
707 E. Pike Street
Seattle, WA (Capitol Hill)

Join Gotta Have It editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, contributor Shanna Germain ("Genesis") and burlesque performers Jesse Belle-Jones, Polly Wood and Heidi Von Haught from Naked Girls Reading for a fun, fabulous event at Babeland Seattle for short, sexy readings from Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex, plus free cupcakes! Free EdenFantasys tote bags will be given away.

Cupcakes will be 5 dozen mini cupcakes by Cupcake Royale, also in Capitol Hill. Flavors:

Baby raspberry rhubarb (rhubarb cake w/raspberry cream cheese frosting)
Baby gay (vanilla funfetti cake w/vanilla buttercream and rainbow sprinkles)
Baby peppermint on chocolate
Baby salted caramel
Baby triple threat

Cupcakes and toner and writing goals and belated sex diaries links

Crazy busy these days but you can always keep up with me at Cupcakes Take the Cake, and on Twitter and Tumblr. If Blogger worked on the iPhone...well, who knows? I'm not holding my breath.

I found cupcakes at Sweet (see below and stay tuned to CTTC for a review) this weekend in Cambridge and Boston. And at Lush, where I got the incredible toner you see below; I guess by now I expect, somewhat, to turn around in a store and see cupcakes but it's still a bit surprising, like they are following me or something. I am normally a take-it-or-leave-it toner girl, but my skin is really dry and this feels super refreshing. One of my will-finally-feel-like-a-real-writer goals is to break into the journal Brevity, where all the cool kids are published. It's, perhaps, a slightly petty goal, but fuck it: I'm petty. Full disclosure. I've also decided that in light of last week's awfulness, I'm gonna write whatever the fuck I want, and if you don't like it, I really don't care. That might sound bitchy but it's either that or carry around so many fears way heavier than my bags will ever be. I'm so over that. I'm also planning to submit to Salon's excellent Mortifying Disclosures section, where Lena Chen wrote "I was the Harvard harlot" and Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who I can't believe I haven't been keeping up with (Google News alert was immediately activated after a search of her, who I remember from back in her Mediabistro days, and her excellent essays, who wrote, "Tales of a recovering blabbermouth."

And I owe you a post highlighting the individual sex diaries, but I'd love for you to click on over and check them out (one is coming today, in lieu of yesterday). Some I personally relate to more than others, but they are always an interesting look at someone's sex life in an unfiltered way that stirs up discussion. Working on them has made me realize how rarely many of us get to have those discussions. I'm lucky in that I have them with my close friends and once in a while with strangers, but I too have plenty of things I feel fearful or ashamed of or confused about regarding my sexuality. I'm excited to return to writing fiction after a way-too-long-lazy-loser hiatus. I feel plenty ashamed about that and am hoping this is a productive week; it better be with two books do and submissions flooding in!

The sex diaries run every Monday and I'm the editor and the info is at the bottom of the diary but if you know a New Yorker bold enough to anonymously document their sex life for a week (and get paid for it), have them email me at sexdiaries at nymag.com with their basic story.

Royal wedding cupcakes!

We've got lots and lots of royal wedding cupcakes for you over at Cupcakes Take the Cake, with more coming. This is the new "cupcake holiday" between Easter and Mother's Day!

5 other desserts on top of cupcakes - combating the "___ is the new cupcake" food writing trend

How I fight back against silly food trend stories like the ubiquitous "____ is the new cupcake" - see my latest Cupcakes Take the Cake post (and, if you want to be super awesome, Tweet it, link to it, pass it on): "5 other desserts on top of cupcakes: macaroon, whoopie pie, cookies, donut, pumpkin pie"

I took this photo at Frosting Bake Shop in Walnut Creek, which I hope to return to next time I'm in the Bay Area:

Cupcakes and Cocaine - a different kind of mommy memoir

Actually, I don't know what it's like yet, but how could I not purchase a memoir called Cupcakes and Cocaine: From Being Perfect to Being Real? It's by Brienne Joelle, and I found it on Amazon looking up cupcakes. Just ordered it, though realized I should've gotten the cheaper $9.99 e-book edition, but noticed it too late. Keep forgetting I have Kindle for iPhone. Guess what? It's, separately, also the name of a Tumblr blog.



Here's the official description from cupcakesandcocaine.com, which sounds like it should be some sort of delivery service:

In her poignant and honest memoir, Brienne shares the story of her real-life journey through the pressures of parenthood and into the darkness of drug addiction, the shame and guilt of divorce, and eventual rehabilitation.

As she accepts the gift of cocaine with the hope she will gain energy to propel her through the hectic days, Brienne narrates how she soon found herself on a painful roller coaster ride that took her from the depths of hell to a new path where she learned to embrace her imperfections, build her self-esteem, and heal her emotional wounds.

Passion reading photos!

Check out the entire set from last night at WORD by Laura Boyd on Flickr.


L to R: Sarah MacLean, Donna George Storey, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Emerald, Monica Day



Kumquat Cupcakery made me cupcakes to match my book cover and the peppermint ones were SOOOOO good. It tasted like the inside of a York peppermint patty in frosting form!



I actually really like the black and white ones:

Central Park cupcake picnic June 12th!

Make sure to join us for one of our funnest events of the year...

What: Cupcake Picnic At Central Park

When: Saturday, June 12, 2010 2:00 PM

Where:
Cedar Hill in Central Park
79th and 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10001

Hello Cupcake Meetup Members,

For those of you who have been dying to share your cupcake creations with everyone, this is the meetup you want to attend.

Cupcakes Takes The Cake will be celebrating our 4th annual picnic at Central Park. We will be at Cedar Hill which is near 79th Street and 5th Avenue on the east side of the park. Take the 6 to 77th Street and walk west to 5th Avenue.

Bring homemade or store-bought cupcakes to share. Or bring picnic stuff (blankets, napkins, knifes, water)

Picnic starts at 2PM and ends at 4PM unless it rains.

Kids are welcome! Dogs and loud music are not.

Learn more here:

http://www.meetup.com/cupcake/calendar/13542957/

Village Tart is my new favorite restaurant

I will post more later, but for now, I have to say that I cannot recommend the newly-opened Village Tart enough. If it weren't snowing, I'd go back again today, and I've been 4 times in a week. Three times I ate dinner there and once I took desserts to a comedy show. It's cozy, intimate, delicious and has stellar service and wonderful music. Note: Monday's dinner was comped for friends and family night. New dishes are being introduced and I will certainly be back to try them! See more photos in my Flickr set. And no, this is not really a "review" because I am not exactly a food reviewer, all I can tell you is I love everything about this place, from the food to the atmosphere to the vibe. I discovered it from hanging out at consulting chef Pichet Ong's former bakery, Batch, and then becoming a fan of Spot Dessert Bar. I'm coming back February 16th and hopefully before then too so expect more food porn photos and maybe even some proper foodie types to weigh in.

I don't have great photos, but the first night I went there I tried, among other things, the bacon/fig pizzette (yum!) and the pumpkin/ricotta pizzette (ditto!) and the melty, delicious, perfect caramelized pear and brie tart.

Savory:


My favorite dish: spinach and ricotta dumplings, which are not what you'd think of as "dumplings" but more like spinach, ricotta and spices bound by bread crumbs - but not greasy at all, just wonderful. These were so amazing, they melted on my tongue and I wanted to order a second one, but I resisted.


My second-favorite dish: wagyu in a blanket with the best mustard I've ever had, a very spicy Chinese mustard


Halibut with spinach

Something I didn't try, but want to next time, is the three mushroom tart.

Desserts:


Cupcakes and the Nutella skillet torte - all wonderful, the peanut butter cupcake is filled with jam, the stracciatella tastes like chocolate chip ice cream in cupcake form, is very sweet; the Nutella skillet torte is almost overkill after you've stuffed your face with food


Bring these chocolate chip cookies to a comedy show and everyone's your new BFF


pear croissant pudding


I'm not a huge tiramisu fan but my dining companion ordered this and basically devoured it

Village Tart
86 Kenmare at Mulberry
New York, NY
212-226-4980
info at villagetart.com

Haiti charity relief cupcakes

At, you guessed it, Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Interview with me about cupcakes and food at Svelte Gourmand

Check it out at Svelte Gourmand, where I answer questions like:

How many cupcakes do you eat a week? And when you do, do you always eat a whole? Any meal/time-of-day you tend to gravitate to/incorporate them?

When you’re not eating cupcakes, what are some of your other food loves?

You know you want to...

read my review of these new Magnolia Bakery s'mores and caramel cupcakes, that is.

Prove your love of cupcakes tomorrow on Twitter!

Join @cupcakeblog in our (okay, it's really my) quest to make #cupcakes a trending topic! As always, get your daily cupcake fix at Cupcakes Take the Cake. And don't hold my bad grammar against me - I meant "Get your Tweeting fingers" but my mind's been a little distracted.

Yesterday in cupcakes

Obviously you can always get your daily quote of cupcakes at Cupcakes Take the Cake (and I hope you visit often!) but sometimes I have photos that are too cute not to share here too. I had to get some last-minute cupcake eating in before Passover.


a chocolate ice cream cone cupcake from The Treats Truck



Congraluations to Marlo Scott and Sweet Revenge for winning this Eat Out Award:

Friday food lust: S'mores cupcakes with blowtorch

see more at Cupcakes Take the Cake; photo/cupcake by Provo, Utah's The Sweet Tooth Fairy via Flickr

Nichelle in a bathtub with cupcakes

How hot does my friend Nichelle Stephens look here? (via Flickr) The photo is by Matty Baker, aka The Drunken Photographer, and of course Nichelle is my partner in cupcaking at Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Am exhausted tonight; took the redeye, dropped bags at home, came to work, and have jury duty tomorrow! Slowly catching up on multiple projects and plotting promotional ideas (hopefully I will soon have promo condoms to give out at my events!).