Fa-la-la-la-licious!

Is really the only way to describe the ridiculously delicious cupcakes we have for you this holiday season. We'll introduce you here, but to really get to know these mouth-wateringly merry morsels, you've gotta come in and try 'em!

FIGGY PUDDING

Oh yes. That's right. We made a Figgy Pudding cupcake, and it's freaking phenomenal! Because we all like figgy pudding, so bring some right here! As the song goes. We took some figs and pureed them, then we stirred in some chunks of dark chocolate. Then we swirled that gooey goodness into a fudgy chocolate cake batter. Bake it up, and you get a rich chocolate cake with a hint of fig throughout, plus surprise pockets of ooey-gooey-fudgy-figgy goodness. But wait! Then we top the whole thing off with a light and fluffy brandy chocolate buttercream. We suggest you get in on this. Pronto.


EGGNOG


Have another cup...cake! Zing! We take or delicious vanilla buttercake and top it off with real eggnog buttercream, using local butter and eggnog from our dairy farmin' pals over at Medosweet. Then we top it with festive sprinkles and dust it with nutmeg. It' like that scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, only without the rad antler mugs. And no awesome dickie.


CANDY CANE


Because you can't beat a holiday classic. Wintry peppermint buttercream on vanilla or chocolate cake, all topped off with a festive starlight mint and a dash of holiday sparkle.


RED VELVET


What better time to debut a new red velvet recipe than the holidays? And this little number is truly a Christmas miracle! For those of you who are into that sorta thing. This classic southern buttermilk cake has a hint of cocoa and is topped off with a generous swirl of cream cheese frosting. And oh yeah, IT'S RED!

So get on in here and get some! OR, stay at home, order online, and have them delivered! Santa's not the only one making house calls. CLICK HERE to order some now. They're perfect for parties, hostess gifts, at home, the office, school, teachers, Secret Santa's...whatever!

Let the holiday funtimes begin! 'Tis the season, indeed.

All images by the talented cfisherphotography.

Fireworks! No fingers lost in the process.

Because these Fireworks are soccer players. Super, duper awesome soccer players, who happen to sport the sassiest little uniforms this side of the Mississippi. The story of the Fireworks will surely go down in sports saga history, alongside such great tales as Mighty Ducks and Mighty Ducks 2.


Legends in the making.

The Fireworks were a team of 7-year-old girls who had it all going for them - skills, camaraderie, sportsmanship and a dynamic duo of coaches. However, they lacked just one thing - sass. And if anyone knows how to sass it up, and sass it up GOOD, it's Cupcake Royale. To the rescue! We swooped in with our mad digital art skillZ and extensive sassy slogan catalogue to whip up one fine lookin' uniform. Offset hot pink cupcake on the front, "DOES A BOOTY GOOD" printed on the back. On the booty, to be precise.


The dawn of a new, sassier era in youth soccer.

Clearly, the Fireworks were sparked by this new found style and pizzazz. All decked out in their sweet new uniforms, the girls went on to thoroughly rock the 8 other teams in the Capitol Hill Youth Soccer League, earning an 8-0 record, with an average margin of victory of 7 goals. Yes. 7 goals.


Simply unstoppable.

The undefeated, pint-sized footballers finished their season in first place, and celebrated in style with a Sprinkle-Your-Own-Cupcake party at our Capitol Hill café.


Time to get your sprinkle on.

Well done, Fireworks. You are indeed an inspiration to us all.

Wanna throw a Sprinkle-Your-Own-Cupcake (SYOC) party at our Capitol Hill party table? Yeah. You do. Click HERE for details and booking.

Art for November

It's November and we have a fresh crop of new art in our cafes to go with our new Cupcake of the Month, Cranberry Orange!

Entryway Proposal for University Art Museum by Leo Saul Berk

Our Capitol Hill store is pleased to present a new group show called I do which explores the relationships between artist couples.

Dawn Cerny & Davidson Warren Burnam collaborated on a set of photographs that re-enact war scenes from a battlefield in Delaware. These photographs eventually became the source material for Dawn's show last year at Henry Art Gallery called "We're all going to die (except for you).". In conjunction with Blitz, Davidson's band Katherine Hepburn's Voice will perform live at 7pm on Thursday, November 12.

Claire Cowie & Leo Saul Berk are each exhibiting two prints. Leo's are architectural renderings for a museum. Claire is showing two prints from an architectural sculpture. Between the two of them, they've created very different takes on imaginary spaces.

Erin Shafkind

Artist Erin Shafkind is exhibiting new work in West Seattle in a show called, The Flats of Life.

"Growing up in Los Angeles, with a single mom, McDonald’s every Tuesday, and lots of television I have been greatly influenced by popular culture and modern mythology. I always felt that there was something else, something intangible that I needed, but more and more I wonder if this is a product of growing up in American Corporate culture that strived to create illusion so we would consume. Do I know what I want? What makes me happy?

In this show I am sharing a few photographs and several objects made from 1/4” birch plywood. Spinning off the idea of the flat image I am trying to create something fun yet iconic, therefore potentially mythic and even sacred. Each wood piece is editioned to 11, the idea of repetition hopefully pushing the boundaries of the machine. Yet all are hand cut and drawn and are objects that I find to be truly beautiful."

One of Cupcake Royale's dear friends, curator Daniel R. Smith, returns with his annual poster show in Madrona. This year it's the Seattle-Moscow Poster Show, highlighting some of the best poster designs from Russia and Seattle. This show had its debut at Bumbershoot, where it's become a yearly highlight for the festival.

"In this third and final poster show linking Seattle to cities around the world (following Havana and Tehran), I chose to visit Moscow. My decision was based on the strong tradition of Russian graphic design, current and historical political differences between our countries, and the idea of exploring design in a post-revolutionary culture—a thematic bond that unites Havana, Tehran and Moscow from the perspective of the United States."

Dan is currently traveling so this show will be installed Saturday, November 7.

In Ballard this month, we're pleased to present returning artist Brandon Ilenstine.

"I find great pleasure in studying modern minimalism, high fashion, and urban decay. The unique contrast of traditional beauty against the deterioration of modern destruction is awe-inspiring and serves as the basis of my work.

My images investigate the nuances of human hope and evolution through self exploration. I love iconic imagery, anatomical illustration, and chaotic backgrounds. I explore abstract dream-like scenery and meditative environments which suggest the expansion of one’s self without the interruptions of the world."

Spooky-Scary

Spooooooky ghosts. Scaaaaary monsters. Fraaaady cats. Haaaaaairy spiders. All on top of delicious little scratch-baked cupcakes! Ok, maybe not hairy spiders. That's gross. But we do have the non-hairy kind, for your eating pleasure. Muwahahahahaaaaa!

Scare someone sweet this Saturday with some spooky treats from Cupcake Royale.



BOO!



Hisss!



Muwahahahahaaaaaa!

CLICK to order online, or CALL one of our four cafés for added spookiness...if you dare.

And here's a spooky-scary bonus to enjoy while you eat your delicious Halloween cupcakes. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Film + Cupcakes = Goodness

And this weekend, Capitol Hill is filled with the goodness! The 14th Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival kicks off with a bash tonight and runs through next Sunday. We're long time sponsors of the festival, and look forward to it every year, but this year...there's MORE!

Our Capitol Hill café is the official lounge of this year's festival. What does that mean? Well, two things. And they're both super terrific.

1. As our way of saying thank you to festival filmgoers, and to support the arts and the discussion thereof, we are offering a free babycake with a coffee or tea purchase to anyone with a ticket stub or festival pass. Films are screening all week at the Egyptian and over at our superfriends the Northwest Film Forum, so we really could not be better positioned as your official festival hang out. See a film. Bring your friends. Discuss over coffee and cupcakes. Perfect.




2. We are actually showing a film in our café! Yes, you read that correctly. Starting Saturday and running through the end of the festival, 13 Love Stories will be projected on the wall of our Capitol Hill café at 3 pm and 8 pm each day. This film "profiles the moving stories of thirteen couples whose lives were profoundly affected by Proposition 8 - the recent California ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry." We are psyched to have this important piece showing in our café, and it couldn't be more timely for our own state. Your chance to help us APPROVE REF 71 is just around the corner. Get those voting pens ready!




Speaking of marriage equality, remember when we had a little fundraiser called Legalize Gay Cupcakes? We kicked it off for Pride back in June, and sold tees, buttons, and stickers to raise money for Lambda Legal, those good folks who fight hard every day for marriage equality and equal rights across this great nation. Well, the gear has been sold and the tally is in. Thank you to everyone who helped us raise $1762 by buying a Legalize Gay Cupcakes tee, button, or sticker, and rockin' the message hard! Keep up the good work as we fight to get Ref 71 approved, so that ALL Washington families have rights they deserve.

HCAN National Call-in Day!

Today and tomorrow are big days for health care reform! HCAN (Health Care for America Now) has marked Oct 5th and 6th as national call-in days to coincide with the beginning of the Senate merging the Kennedy HELP committee bill, a bill that includes a public option, with the Finance Committee bill, which does not include a public option.

What's all that mean? Well, recently, the big hold up in health care reform, (other than all the false information that people who prefer saving their huge bank accounts to saving human lives have been spreading,) has been the Senate Finance Committee. Those folks just could not agree on a bill. The main object of contention was, of course, the public option. They released their bill a couple weeks ago, and voila, no public option.

Not good, America. Just not good at all.

So, the bill they put forth now needs to merge with the bill put forth by the Kennedy HELP committee. Their bill does include a public option. And there is clearly only one way for this to go for the good of ALL Americans: we need the public option.

So pick up your phones, call your lawmakers, and say it like it is. America NEEDS a strong public option. We NEED to keep the private insurance giants in check. We cannot let them continue to turn astronomical profits by keeping people sick, or just letting them die. That is not the kind of people Americans are. That is not the country we want to live in. We need real reform. Real bad. Right NOW.

Now call this number and say just that: 1-877-264-4226

Thank our Washington Senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, for fighting hard on behalf of all Washingtonians, and for sticking behind the public option, and encourage them to keep up the good fight on behalf of all Americans.

Senator Cantwell has drafted a petition on behalf of the public option. After fighting hard for it, and watching her committee exclude it from their bill, she is rallying the people to push it through. That is just what we love to see. Click HERE to sign the petition, and help Senator Cantwell in her fight for real health care reform.

We can do this. Now let's get it done!

BirthDAY WEEK. All the kids are doin' it.

Well, Morgan Clark is. Well, her mom is. She's been sending things to her daughter all week leading up to her 18th birthday this Sunday. Birthday Week Day #5's surprise...babycakes! She ordered some sweet little babycakes using our handy-dandy online order form, and had them delivered to her daughter at SPU. This is what they looked like when they arrived.



As you can imagine, the birthday girl loved them. And her mother, Kimberly, was pretty psyched about how EASY it is to get cupcakes delivered. She wrote us the sweetest little thank you note, and included the above photo.

So, get on board! Send someone special a sweet little treat right now by clicking HERE!

And hey Morgan Clark - Happy 18th birthday!