Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: Ink & Batter Cupcakes & a Giveaway!!


Hello there guys!

Today I'm more than elated to be part of the Blog Tour for Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, organized by the lovely Hannah of Irish Banana Tours!

I was super happy when Hannah told me that I was to make decorated cupcakes inspired by Three Dark Crowns and I made sure to take some notes as I read (as best as I could, because I got so into the book at some point I completely forgot to take notes and simply immersed myself into it!).


 Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23207027-three-dark-crowns




Three Dark Crowns Ink & Batter Cupcakes

I was extremely lucky to be able to chat with Kendare herself about the cupcakes, their flavours and the possible decorations for them all, and she was super excited about them and approved all of my ideas!

I decided on vanilla & caramel cupcakes for Mirabella, red velvet cupcakes for Katharine and strawberry with white chocolate cupcakes for Arsinoe.






Arsinoe's cupcakes (the Naturalist queen)





Arsinoe's were strawberry cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese icing, with a rose & chocolates (if you've read the book, you know they're quite important), a big wild bear and a crown!


Katharine's cupcakes (the Poisoner queen)




Katharine's are red velvet, red and luscious, with cream cheese icing with a hint of bitter orange flavour. She has her crown as well as a candied scorpion and Katharine's beloved snake, Sweetheart.


Mirabella's cupcakes (the Elemental queen)




Mirabella's are vanilla cupcakes, with caramel sauce filling and caramel cream cheese icing. She has her crown, a serrated knife (again, you'll know how significant they are if you've read the book) and a flame of fire (made as best as I could, I tried a bolt of lightning, but it was quite impossible!).



Three Dark Crowns! 
 


About the author:

Kendare Blake is the author of several novels and short stories, most of which you can find information about via the links above. Her work is sort of dark, always violent, and features passages describing food from when she writes while hungry. She was born in July (for those of you doing book reports) in Seoul, South Korea, but doesn’t speak a lick of Korean, as she was packed off at a very early age to her adoptive parents in the United States. That might be just an excuse, though, as she is pretty bad at learning foreign languages. She enjoys the work of Milan Kundera, Caitlin R Kiernan, Bret Easton Ellis, Richard Linklater, and the late, great Michael Jackson, I mean, come on, he gave us Thriller.

She lives and writes in Kent, Washington, with her husband, their two cat sons (Tybalt and Tyrion Cattister) and their red Doberman dog son, Obi Dog Kenobi.





GIVEAWAY

3 Finished Copies of THREE DARK CROWNS (US Only)

CLICK HERE FOR THE RAFFLECOPTER


Tour Schedule:
Week 1:

Week 2:

Thursday, December 18, 2014

12 Days of Lailah - Ink & Batter Lailah holiday cupcakes!!



Lailah by Nikki Kelly
Styclar Saga #1
Release date: October 7th 2014

Synopsis:

The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.

On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely ally – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.

In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?

Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.



  photo addtogoodreadssmall_zpsa2a6cf28.png photo B6096376-6C81-4465-8935-CE890C777EB9-1855-000001A1E900B890_zps5affbed6.jpg 




Hey guys! Today I have a very special Ink & Batter edition, because it is part of the 12 Days of Lailah celebration! You might be wondering what the 12 Days of Lailah are? Well, it's a special tour organized by the founder members of the Styclar Street Team and Nikki Kelly herself!You can discover many new tidbits about the book and the characters, find you awesome Xmas music and drool with Lailah themed cupcakes and cookies!

For my own stop I couldn't choose anything else but Lailah inspired decorated cupcakes! I went with chocolate & vanilla cupcakes (half & half so to speak!) with vanilla cream cheese icing, since it'd would also give a nice contrast in looks as well as in flavour! And then did a few fondant decorations that highlight some key details in the book: angel wings, Lailah's ring, the chess game, fangs, a few country flags and let's not forget the Xmas tree that Lailah and the others decorate!



















Giveaway



a Rafflecopter giveaway


And don't miss out on any of the days either past or present of the 12 Days of Lailah!!

 
*Sunday, December 14th: Beth at Curling Up With a Good Book shares a Lailah-themed Christmas playlist.
*Monday, December 15th: Brittany at Please Feed the Bookworm matches Lailah characters to their fitting ugly Christmas sweaters.
*Tuesday, December 16th: Rachel at A Perfection Called Books shares exactly what to get the Lailah, Gabriel and Jonah for Christmas.
*Wednesday, December 17th: Patricia at The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club shines some light on exactly how Gabriel and Jonah would celebrate the holidays in their respective realms.

*Thursday, December 18th: Pili at In Love With Handmade whips up some Lailah holiday cupcakes.
*Friday, December 19th: Andrew at Endlessly Reading showcases Jonah and Brooke's potential Christmas outfits.
*Saturday, December 20th: Jessica at The Book Bratz hosts a guest post by Lailah author Nikki Kelly where she shares her favorite Christmas traditions and memories.
*Sunday, December 21st: Ri at Hiver et Cafe releases some exclusive Lailah quotes and shares her take on what Lailah would wear for Christmas.
*Monday, December 22nd: Andrew at Endlessly Reading hosts a character interview with author Nikki Kelly, Lailah, Jonah and Gabriel.
*Tuesday, December 23rd: Genissa at A Story Diary hosts a guest post from Nikki Kelly about the Christmas scene from Lailah.
*Wednesday, December 24th: Dana at Dana Square bakes some Lailah-inspired Christmas cookies.
*Thursday, December 25th: Amber at The Book Bratz releases a brand-new rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas - Lailah style.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Ink & Batter #9: Ensnared by A.G. Howard!!!


Well, well, well! Finally Ink & Batter is BACK!!

After a loooong hiatus, longer than I had planned at first, I must admit, my beloved feature with book inspired decorated cupcakes is BACK!

I'm not sure if I'll be able to manage weekly posts from now on, but I'm gonna try my best for sure to return to the weekly Ink & Batter posts from now on, since I can bake without melting and the fondant doesn't get sticky easily any more!

I have quite a few recipes & books & notes for decorations in my lil notebook, but it was quite coincidence the way I chose the cupcakes I'd first bake for this return. I planned to bake some cupcakes to take to work at the request of one of my co-workers and I wanted to try this recipe and then I realized it was the recipe I had planned for when I made the Ensnared cupcakes... so one thing lead to another and I ended up making Ensnared cupcakes!

Ensnared by A.G. Howard is the third and final book in the Splintered trilogy and it's a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland! It's a pretty inspiring series because I also made Ink & Batter cupcakes for the other two books in the series: Splintered and Unhinged!

Since I still haven't read the book because it doesn't release till Jan and I haven't got an ARC, I used the cover as inspiration and all the clues about it that A.G. Howard gave during the reveal of the cover.

The red liners were a must, give the colour of the cover, and then I used red, orange & yellow colours to dye the whipped cream of the grasshopper cupcakes, that seemed the more fitting recipe for the series (even Anita chose that recipe when I asked her on Twitter!). Hearts & monarch butterflies are the most important things in the book accoring to my friend La La that has read the ARC, but somehow I also had lobsters in my notes so I made one of those too!

















I'm dying to get my hands on the book so I can see the relevance of all the little details I picked from my notes! Btw, in case you are wondering, what's on the cupcake with the lobsters is a bad attempt at a red bat! ;)

If you haven't read the first books in the series, do it now! so you can be ready to read Ensnared when it releases!

What do you guys think? Happy to have Ink & Batter back? I know I am!

Stay tuned for more book inspired cupcakes in the next edition of Ink & Batter coming soon! (next week, hopefully!

Monday, June 2, 2014

First event debut for Piwicakes!!

Hello everyone!!

After a very exhausting weekend I don't have a review ready for today, but instead I've decided to share some photos from the first event that my little cupcakes have been part of!

This Saturday was one of my best friend's wedding and she asked me if I could do a few mini-cupcakes for the candy bar she was setting up. We decided on 4 different flavours: Mango Lassi, Green Tea, Red Velvet and Chocolate Guinnes & Baileys.

Even if I'm not sure if I'm gonna do this as a side job, continue as just a hobbie and do it for friends and family, I decided I needed a name and logo and here it is! What do you think guys?



I have to give mad props and all the THANK YOU's in the world to Deb from On Cupcake Moon that made this logo for me, it's SO perfect!

And now, a few cupcake photos! Pictures taken of the candy bar table as it was just set up, before the mob got hint of the cupcakes and a stampede ensued! And I was worried about what to do if there were any cupcakes left... HA! Not even the crumbs!













I'm super pumped to continue baking after this successful event! And if you want more cupcakes, don't forget I'll have new book inspired cupcakes in this week's edition of Ink & Batter!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Ink & Batter #2: Unhinged by A.G. Howard!!



This week we have our second edition of Ink & Batter!


Last week I had cupcakes inspired by Splintered by A.G. Howard, and this week I have the ones inspired by book two: Unhinged! I actually made them at the same time, green tea cupcakes with cream cheese icing and with purple cupcake liners to match the cover of the book!

This week Ink & Batter is even more special cause I'm teaming with Becca from Pivot Book Reviews! She's been one of the biggest cheerleaders for Ink & Batter to be a regular feature in the blog, and she does this amazing feature in hers on Thursdays called Cover Puppies (where she recreates the cover of a book with her adorable puppies!) so we decided that we HAD to synch our features! So this week you have Unhinged cupcakes here and she has recreated Unhinged's cover for her Cover Puppies of the week!

We're gonna try synching both features as often as possible, and if she's already done cover puppies for that book before, I will be linking to it here too! Go check out her Unhinged Cover Puppies NOW!





















As always all the decorations are partly traditional Alice and partly uniquely Unhinged! I used two colours for the icing, to reflect the colours of the cover. And then I made a yes-I-know-it's-a-butterfly-but-let's-pretend-it's-a-moth for Morpheus, some more bugs and flowers cause Wonderland still has them, a top hat cause we know how Morpheus loves his hats, more tea cups, Rabid the skinned skeletal rabbit that was a challenge head and I'm still not sure what he looks like... All in all, I had an absolute blast making these! Hope you'll like them!

Stay tuned for more inspired cupcakes coming next week!