All-You-Can-Eat Chocolate!

As an early birthday present to my mom, I treated her to a night at the Cocoa Lounge at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, CA. For only $18, you have access to an all-you-can-eat chocolate buffet. Amazing, right?!

Just imagine a room full of delicious chocolatey treats, all yours for the taking. This was my second year of attendance, so I knew what to expect. I ate a small dinner before so I had plenty of room to indulge.

Round 1: At first I thought the chocolate-covered bacon was just for display because they were stood up in a flower vase. Maybe they were for display, but I took one anyway.

Round 2 included several kinds of mousse too. I loved all the different ways you can incorporate chocolate (or white chocolate) into so many types of desserts: tarts, cake, cupcakes, mousse, cake balls, bars, cookies, etc. 

Round 3: The white chocolate lemon bar was my favorite of the night! Normally I go for the real chocolate, but this dessert just had the right mixture of flavors.

My mom and I were stuffed by the end of the night, but that didn't stop us from sneaking a few pieces of chocolate-covered bacon in our purses. What can I say?...it was the perfect snack when my stomach got some more room again.

The Cocoa Lounge is open for two weeks every February. This was the fifth year of the event. I will definitely be attending at least once next year. I can't wait!

My Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe it's been a year since my baby boy was born. Yes a whole year has gone by and we celebrated his first birthday last week.

My handsome boy LOVES dogs, so we decided to have a dog-themed birthday party for him. I asked Kristin of Meringue Bake Shop to make the smash cake and cupcakes for the guests. Desmond's cake turned out awesome!

Desmond loved that everyone was watching him as we sang "Happy Birthday." But like most one-year old kids, he didn't quite know what to do with his cake. He touched it a few times and I tried feeding him frosting, but he was still unsure of this strange food.

He had better luck with the cupcakes, which were Sweet & Salty (vanilla cake with salted caramel buttercream) and Birthday Cake (vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream). The cupcakes went fast, as the guests loved them too.

As much as I don't want him to grow up, I love every day with my boy and look forward to all the fun things we can do in the future. Happy Birthday Desmond!

Cupcake Gifts

One more post from my birthday coverage. Being The Cupcake Activist means lots of cupcake-themed gifts from friends and family. This gift bag contained cupcake socks, a cupcake necklace, cupcake band-aids, and a cupcake pen. Love my friend Kelly!

Looks Good Enough to Eat

Continuing with my birthday coverage...

My sister gave me the yummiest-looking birthday gift! At first I thought it was a cupcake in a jar, but upon closer inspection I saw that it was from Bodacious: A Unique Bath Boutique. What?!

"Decadent cupcake layers are the perfect two-in-one shower companion. Mango butter, sunflower oil, and crumbled brown sugar exfoliate and nourish while sweet icing softens and repairs." Are you sure I can't eat this?

Bodacious, a one-of-a-kind bath boutique, features soaps, bath fizz, and other pampering products inspired by your favorite treats! It's located in Sandy, Utah.

Check out all of these cupcake...bombs! Not edible, but so cute!

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Last Monday was my birthday. As I mentioned last week, my birthday came the day after my Ironman race. My birthday wish was to complete my Ironman. Turns out I was lucky this year and my pre-birthday wish came true. I am officially an Ironman!!

Since my husband had to get back to work, we spent my birthday driving home from Arizona. I was super happy to find this special surprise on our garage as we drove up. My friends are so wonderful!

But that wasn't it. There was also a box of cupcakes from Casey's Cupcakes on my front porch. How spoiled can I be?! I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and sampling each cupcake. Delicious! I can't wait to do an official review of Casey's Cupcakes soon. All in all, it was a great birthday! One I will never forget.

Happy Birthday to an Ironwoman?

Today is my birthday! But more importantly, I'm hoping it's my first full day as an Ironman. Yesterday I competed in my first Ironman race and I hope I completed it (I wrote this two days ago). I have been training for this race for the past 6 months. I've devoted time every single day to making sure I'd be ready for this race. I want nothing more than to finish all 140.6 miles. Let's hope my pre-birthday wish came true! Either way I'll be stuffing my face with lots of cupcakes today.

Turning 30 with Cupcakes

Next week I turn...................30! I can barely say it.

I'm scared. Scared of being considered old. Scared of being a new mom. Scared of not knowing how we will survive without me working anymore. It's all 30's fault.

All I can hope is that my birthday is filled with lots of cupcakes and sweets.

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And my favorite...

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An Early Birthday Present

Although I would like to forget that I'm almost one year closer to being 30 (ahhhh!), my birthday is approaching. Since I will be out of town on the actual day, my family threw me a birthday party last night. My mom gave me a lot of cupcake-themed items, perfectly appropriate for The Cupcake Activist, including this adorable apron that she made! I love it and can't wait to wear it soon. Thanks Mom!

Cupcake Flavor-Strips in Birthday Card

First glance, this looks like a cute cupcake birthday card. Nothing more. But I'm so wrong.

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American Greetings has introduced a new concept for greeting cards. Tasties, as they are called, come with a dissolvable flavor-strip sealed inside the card. Each card has a different flavor-strip that corresponds with the card. The flavors range from donuts to margaritas. This birthday card encourages the recipient to eat cake and the flavor-strip included tastes like a vanilla cupcake.

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Fun idea! The greeting card industry is definitely in need of something to persuade people to buy greeting cards again. This might do the trick.

Happy Birthday Elvis! Now Eat a Cupcake

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Elvis Presley was born 75 years ago on January 8, 1935. Did you know that two of his favorite foods are peanut butter and bananas? That's why cupcakeries like to serve special cupcakes in honor of The King. Where can you find one?

The Perfect Circle Cupcake
Banana cake with creamy peanut butter frosting
Available today (January 8) only


Sprinkles
Banana cake with cream peanut butter frosting
Available today through Sunday


Crumbs Bake Shop
Vanilla cake filled and frosted with banana cream cheese frosting, topped with creamy peanut butter frosting and edged with peanut butter chips
Available all month long (January)


Sweet Tooth Fairy
Blue Suede cupcakes
Available today only


Let me know if you see any other cupcake shops selling cupcakes to celebrate Elvis' birthday.

Swirls Desserts at My Birthday

Yesterday I told you about the birthday cupcakes I received from Kristin at Meringue Bake Shop. You would think I was spoiled enough to get those! But the cupcake goodness didn't stop there.

(Me and my hubby)

Remember Swirls Desserts? I reviewed their cupcakes back in July. At the time, Swirls (Cupcakes) Desserts was a gourmet cupcake company that catered special events and delivered cupcakes to businesses. Last week Swirls Desserts expanded their business. They now have a store open at Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks. Congratulations to them!

Back to my birthday. Swirls Desserts sent me some cupcakes in honor of my birthday. If that doesn't make me feel special, I don't know what will!

Flavors:
Red Velvet
Chocolate Decadence
Strawberry
Marble
Banana
Apple Cinnamon

These are some of my favorite flavors from Swirls. I was so excited! That night I was able to eat a Banana and Apple Cinnamon cupcake. The next day I snuck a Chocolate Decadence in before I left for work. Yum!



I had to include this last picture because it shows the cute necklace that my friend Kelly from Just Spotted gave to me. From all of the cupcake-themed gifts I received, you would think that I liked cupcakes or something like that. My friends sure know me!

My Birthday with Meringue Bake Shop

I celebrated my birthday a little over a week ago. My husband (the nicest guy in the whole world) threw a birthday party for me. Nothing makes you feel like the most special person in the world than when your friends and family gather together in honor of you! A HUGE "Thank You" to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I had a great day!

That being said, what could possibly have made my birthday even better? Cupcakes, of course! Kristin of Meringue Bake Shop so kindly delivered cupcakes to me for my birthday! What a sweetheart!

FLAVORS!

A Kid Again: yellow cake filled with cookie dough topped with peanut butter buttercream

AFCB: yellow cake filled with caramel and peanuts topped with chocolate buttercream and drizzled with caramel, chopped peanuts, and a sprinkle of sea salt

Stuffed: pumpkin cupcake filled with pecan pie topped with cranberry buttercream

The Great Pumpkin: pumpkin cupcake filled with caramel topped with cream cheese buttercream

Snowball: spice cupcake topped with coconut buttercream

Sunday Morning: yellow cupcake filled with maple syrup and bacon topped with maple buttercream

I knew these cupcakes would go fast, so I hid them for most of the night. Eventually I brought them out and they were gone in a flash. If you were lucky enough to try one, you were in heaven! I got to try three of the flavors (Stuffed, The Great Pumpkin, and Sunday Morning) and I was so happy! I especially loved the cranberry buttercream frosting on the Stuffed cupcake.

Meringue Bake Shop is a custom cupcake company based in Orange County. I would highly recommend Meringue to anyone who is looking to order cupcakes for a wedding, birthday, baby shower, Christmas family party, whatever! You won't be disappointed!

Thank you Kristin!

Happy National Vanilla Cupcake Day!

Sometimes I wonder who makes up these crazy days, but today I will be happy with National Vanilla Cupcake Day. Vanilla cupcakes are usually last on my list to eat because they seem so blah to me, but sometimes a good vanilla vanilla cupcake will hit the spot. One of my favorite birthday desserts growing up was funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

Speaking of my birthday, I'm still trying to determine where I want my birthday cupcakes to come from next week (November 19). Someone suggested that I have a cupcake potluck and have everyone bring their favorite cupcakes. I'm liking this idea!

My Birthday Wish

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As much as I'd like to not have any more birthdays and not get any closer to 30 (ahhh!), I would love to have a cupcake party for my birthday this year. My birthday is only a few weeks away (November 19) and I would love to put together a cupcake party. I thought about doing this last year, but I just didn't get around to it. That's the problem with having a birthday during "the holidays."

Cupcake Project recently posted about "How to Host a Cupcake Party." All I will need is:

• Several flavors of mini cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, funfetti)
• Cupcake Stand
• Frosting (chocolate, vanilla, cream cheese, strawberry, and maybe something unique)
• Toppings (sprinkles, chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, fruit, etc.)

I think I can pull this off! Happy future birthday to me!

Happy Birthday Sushi-Loving Husband

In honor of my husband's birthday today, here are some sushi cupcakes I found on flickr. Before I met my husband, I had never eaten sushi before. My first time meeting his dad was at a sushi bar. I managed to not gag in front of him. His dad said that I would love sushi in six months. Over five years later, I am still not a fan. But I do love edamame and crunch hand rolls. Maybe I could trick him with these cupcakes!

My husband still loves me in spite of my sushi dislike. I like that. Happy Birthday honey! (Indulge me by checking out these pictures of my hot husband)