THE ICING ON THE (CUP)CAKE!

The holidays have been an amazing time for us at the Cupcake Queen. We completed our first year of business and, thanks to so many people and businesses, it was a great year! Our purple van is now officially a year old and has traveled all over NH and VT bringing sweetness to the people.

We participated in the Covered Bridge Half Marathon, Taste of Woodstock, Lyme 250 Celebration, New London Hospital Days, Woodstock Art Festival, Warner Fall Festival, Mountain Dew Tour in Killington, Pods for the Pulpit, Hanover Farmers Market, Lebanon Farmers Market, DCLSA Crafts Fair and several others.

We made it to college campuses like Dartmouth, Tuck and Colby-Sawyer. Local businesses like Consign and Design Center, Artisans and Creative Lighting used us to help promote their sale events. And, Centerra, DHMC, 45 Lyme Rd. were frequent stops. Of course, the Lebanon Green is our sweet spot and we will continue to be there weekly throughout the winter.

And, we had beautiful brides who trusted us with their special day...and, the baby showers, bridal showers and birthday and anniversary celebrations. Too many to name! Business meetings, family reunions-and, simple cupcake cravings. And, one of my favorite days: the call that came while I was driving to the Lebanon Green wanting to buy ALL our vending cupcakes to be delivered to their customer as a way to say "thank you".

We held our Name that Cupcake contest and had so much fun reading the clever names customers submitted- Mint to Be and I Dream of Cookie will be with us each holiday season. And, Kathryn ( Twinkle) and I (Cookie) had most of our children home for the holidays. I was missing two....Kathryn's family was complete:) And, yes, we served cupcakes.

So, this is just a "Thank You" note to all of those who helped us make this happen. We think we have the best job in the world- we love to bake ( especially when it makes our houses so warm in the winter) , we love to create for your special occasion, we love seeing the kids ( and adult) faces light up at the cupcakes arrayed in the van window...and, we love the Upper Valley and the support you all have given us.

Happy Holidays and we wish you the very best New Year.

EGGS, CONTEST and CUPCAKES.

So much to update....We had our second cupcake contest and Jessie Eckert was the winner with I DREAM OF COOKIE. Kathryn got a kick out of that since she calls me Cookie ( she is Twinkle) and she knew I would check out the FB post on Sunday to see who she chose. It is a cute name! Thanks, Jessie....

We are going to have a third Name That Cupcake contest but we are waiting until after Christmas. The first contest was held strictly on FB; the second was held at the van; the third will be all YOUR choice- you can post on FB, enter a name at the van or do both . We will post all the names we get at the van on FB , too and you will choose the winner! The name that gets the most "Like"s will win. It will be our version of American Idol, but without the commercial interruptions....or, the annoying judges....and, all our endings are sweet....

This week is a contest week, too. You can stop by the van for a chance to win a cupcake or a CCQ tee shirt- all you have to do is draw the winning paper from our cupcake box.

It's busy right now with all the holiday parties and gift giving. The chickens are having a hard time keeping up with egg demands:) We've had to resort to buying a few...( btw, still no blue eggs) . We have been spoiled with the mild weather recently and that has kept the egg production up -until now. I am not sure why they would ever want to lay in this cold weather. It doesn't sound like fun at all!

We are vending all week- we both have kids home for the holidays so it will be a bit hectic . Maybe we can get them to help out at the van. ;)

Happy holidays!

CATCHING UP.

Between baking and traveling I haven't had much time to write but our New London excursion was really fun. The students at Colby-Sawyer seemed very happy to see us during final exam week (Chippy, Cookie Monster, Coffee Toffee, Mint to Be and How Now were the favs) and the wonderful people at Artisan's were equally supportive. My only problem was that I spent everything that I earned in their store! So cute. They had hats, clothes, and pillows from local artisans ( hmmmmm, hence the name? ), great edibles from Stonewall Kitchens ( I love their stuff), unique jewelry, greeting cards, handmade local soaps, puzzles, cocktail napkins, wine glasses, music, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets...and, more and more and more. It felt like you could find almost anything there- except cupcakes, of course.

Tomorrow is the official beginning for Contest Cupcake #2...This one comes with a new set of rules and more giveaways. It will be interesting to see if it can compete with the 100+ entries for Mint to Be. And, we are already getting geared up for Contest Cupcake #3 which we hope to host like American Idol and let YOU pick the name. More about that later....

2011 is coming to a close and we are excited about continuing to grow in the Upper Valley and beyond in 2012. We have several new colleges signing up to have us visit their campus in January and February and Upper Valley events like Howl at the Moon- but, we want more! If you have a special business, local venue or event that you think might enjoy having the van please email us or give us a call. We will be vending all winter so we are available:)

MINT TO BE

By now most of you know that our holiday cupcake has a great new name....MINT TO BE (Jennifer Raines is the winner) . We had over 100 entries! And, it was really fun having our smart phones ding us announcing a new entry all day long while we were vending...the names were very clever and we had a difficult time choosing.

Kathryn is busy today making another new cupcake to name....we will be taking it to Colby-Sawyer today and tomorrow to test it out. It's Finals Week there and we think they could use a dose of sugar to keep them going.

This is a busy time of year for us and we are looking forward to completing our first year in business together. Kathryn and I have had a lot of fun vending in the van throughout the area and we are going to keep it up throughout the winter so be sure to stop by the van in Lebanon!

Stay tuned for pictures from Colby -Sawyer later this week.

NAME THAT CUPCAKE!

Today was a great Facebook day....So far we have approximately 50 entries for the Nameless Cupcake Contest. There are a lot of great names already submitted but we hope more continue to come in throughout the week. We will announce the winner on Friday, so all entries must be completed by Thursday. You can enter more than once! If you haven't seen the cupcake or submitted your name for it check it out on our Facebook page. You might just win a free six pack. (Cupcake is also pictured above along with Almond Toffee)

Next week we will have another cupcake to name but we will change the contest venue- you will have to come to the van to submit your entry. We will have one more contest the following week ( Christmas week) but we haven't decided how you will enter than one yet...stay tuned.

Today was a toffee-making day, too. It wasn't the best weather ( humid) but it didn't seem to be too much of a problem. I made two types of toffee this time- pecan toffee, and toasted almond toffee. I use a 60% dark chocolate that gives it a nice depth of flavor. Not too sweet. We will have it available at the van tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have been eating it all day so I am anxious to have it out of my sight the rest of the evening.

TIME FOR NEW CUPCAKES....

This week Kathryn and I debuted three new cupcake flavors...Cherry Bliss, Sweetest Thing, and Holy Cow. Given the sold out reaction, I think we will keep all three on the regular menu:) We are still working on a few more holiday flavors ( so far we have Ginger, Noggin and Truffle) and we are going to have our first-ever contest to name them. Each winner will receive a free 6 pack- we will post details on Facebook this week so check back daily for posts! You will have have to follow us on FB to participate so be sure to tell all your friends/family to "Like" us so they can have a chance to win, too.

We really want to expand our social media reach and are open to ideas. We are hoping to encourage cupcake fans to "check in " on FB, Foursquare and Yelp when they stop at the van and even post a picture of the van and the cupcakes on their FB page. The Upper Valley is a relatively small area and we want to be sure that everyone can find us since we don't have a store with a permanent location. So, if you do stop by the van this week, "check in" and tell us about it!

Love this weather...It's December. Can you believe it????