Happy Sunday! Now that the holidays are past there will be little family gatherings over the next few months along with the holidays of Valentine's and Easter. Cupcakes, like the lemoncurd buttercream topped goodies pictured above, will be on a lot of our tables. Cupcakes are mini works of art as well as being self contained bites. They are easy for kids to eat by themselves as well as easy enough to put on a plate and eat with a fork for the more adult in your crowd. 

But how to serve a cupcake has come a LONG way in the past few years. Presenting your little treat has just become more elaborate and fun with all of the options you have now, even at your local grocery store! 

 How cute these little laser cut baskets would be for your Easter table. Just bake the cupcake in a plain or color coordinated liner and then add the frosting once you slip it into the basket.

 Themes have become very popular. Dress up your little one's Dino Birthday party with these themed liners! So cute!

But "cute" may not be what you are going after if you are making "Dinner Party Cupcakes". You can go very elegant instead with these black and gold liners. Top with white icing that has been sprinkled with large grain gold sugar and you have a very elegant cupcake indeed.

 Yup, I mentioned Valentine's Day too. There are so many cupcake liner options out there for you to choose from it was very hard for me to just pick one to share! Strawberry cupcakes with pink tinted frosting would be perfect!

 As you saw with my New Years Eve cupcakes, a foil liner is an easy way to give your cupcake a little glam without much effort. Foil use to be only available in silver but now it's in every color you can imagine!

 But colored foil isn't the most impressive innovation to come to light in the past few years. Cupcake collars are now the rage. These laser cut beauties add class to any cupcake creation. Bake in a plain liner, frost and then after the frosting has set up just wrap one of these around your cupcake and secure. Beautiful.

 The cupcake liner and wrapper industry are aware of the newest fad of cupcake towers at weddings. Each year they come out with new items specifically for weddings. So be ready to have to make some hard choices if you go this direction with your wedding!

This leads me to "Picks". These little plastic cuties are the easiest way to add a bit more punch to your cupcakes. These booties are just made for a baby shower!

But picks don't have to be cute, they can be elegant as well. These amazing butterflies would look gorgeous on a cake or on your cupcakes! 

The real beauty of picks is that they only cost a few dollars for 12. So you can add these cute little Easter picks to your cupcakes for only a few cents each!

 And you will be able to find them for any holiday or occasion! From Valentine's Day to Graduation to New Years Eve. You will be able to find a pick set that is perfect to embellish your cupcake.

I saved my favorite for last...I totally fell in love with these adorable little sea creature picks! Now I'm dying for an excuse to make blue and white frosted cupcakes just so I can use these cuties to decorate them!

The best thing about all of these is the cost. It really doesn't cost much more to have really decorative wrappings and toppings for your cupcakes than the tried and true pastel liners and sprinkles on top. I have a local "cake store" that I frequent plus Michael's Craft store and even my grocery store that I can shop in and find really cute cupcake stuff. But online I shop at Global Sugar Art for those items I can't find near me. They have a really extensive selection for cakes and cupcakes and chances are good that you will be able to find anything and everything you need for your next party!

I'm on "vacation" this week but promise to whip together something fun for next week to share. This is the time of year I get a break from cake work but also the time I have to play with new techniques! Make sure to stop by our Facebook page for daily tricks and tips! See you next Sunday!

Cat