They're giving away 1,000 free cupcakes in River North. It will be a frosting-fueled stampede! more ›

Allegedly the two were verbally arguing Saturday evening, when she grabbed a box of cupcakes and lobbed the treats at him, one by one. more ›

You read right, just two ingredients are needed for this simple fall dessert recipe. Two ingredients and minimal baking time; this recipe is tailored for the not-so-baking savvy. For a quick and healthy fall dessert, follow the recipe below for a moist, rich cupcake full of pumpkin flavor. more ›

Your Friday morning sugar fix - we attended the opening of Magnolia bakery and barely made it home alive. more ›

Loop residents and workers, today is your lucky day. To celebrate the opening of the new Crumbs Bake Shop at 42 S. Clark, the location will be giving away free cupcakes. What better way to get your weekend started? more ›

Chicago's first Crumbs Bake Shop (a New York-based bakery chain) opened in January to long lines and frosting-smeared faces. The company is moving fast. Today marks the opening of their second Chicago store, at 134 N. LaSalle Street, and they're giving away free food to celebrate. more ›

If you gave up sugar for Lent, you're most likely at that stage where everyone around you is looking like that sugar-crusted peep with legs. Or you just like sugar, like many of us here at the Chicagoist do. Either way, choose to take a break or break fast with deliciously sweet and cute confections from Sweet Ride, one of Chicago’s newer food trucks with a “bright-pink originality and a carefree attitude.” more ›

Two of your favorite Chicagoist foodies, Minna and Caitlin, teamed up to try the new Uptown Pie Company, an addition to Wilson Yard's Cupcake Gallery. Baker/owner Darius Williams also added an expanded seating area to the existing space. Minna loved it. Caitlin hated it. Find out why, grab a slice, and let us know what side you fall on. more ›

While so many restaurants come and go, there are some neighborhood eateries that never seem to go out of style. Whether it is a popular menu of quality food or familiar and friendly faces in the seats and behind the counter, consistency and innovation are the keys to survival. Serving patrons since 1994, Andersonville’s A Taste of Heaven is a survivor. Good food, friendly staff, and a loyal following have made it a popular neighborhood destination and one of the gems of North Clark Street. more ›

Tomorrow, starting at 4:30 PM, the Palomar Chicago will briefly morph into a sea of icing and gluttony. To celebrate their first birthday, the Palomar (home of Sable Kitchen and Bar) will be hosting the Sweet Ride cupcake truck and giving away four free flavors of cupcakes. According to the Palomar, the supply is "limited" - so be sure to get their early. Anyone who works in River North should be sure to stop by on their way home for a quick sugar rush, and stopping in for a drink at Sable wouldn't be a terrible idea either. The Sweet Ride truck will be parked in front of the hotel and waiting for your appetite. more ›

OK, OK, we know we have dedicated a ludicrous amount of posts to the cupcake craze on this site. But a recent walk on Madison brought out one of the dark sides of this town’s current mania---the exclusion of other, perhaps more deserving, baked goods. A walk from the Opera House over to the Randolph CTA stop leads you past THREE high-end cupcake stands (Crumb’s, Cupcake Counter and Sugar Bliss), one donut outlet (and it is a Dunkin’ Donuts, blech) and some hard pastry questions. Have cupcakes crowded donuts out of the City of Chicago? Are those treats now relics of a more yeasty yesteryear? more ›

Even with most food trucks in their winter hibernation, it doesn’t stop shopkeepers from turning up the heat on both food trucks and guerrilla marketers on wheels, calling again for stricter rules and regulations on all of their operations. more ›

It looks like cupcakes might be taking over the Loop: Crumbs Bake Shop, a famous bakery based in New York City (of course), opened yesterday and gave away 1,000 muffin-sized cupcakes. Normally, the muffin-sized signature cupcakes at Crumbs costs $3.75 each, but less monstrous cupcakes go for $2.99 each. more ›

Many of our readers probably caught Time Out Chicago's famous"100 Best Things We Ate This Year" list earlier this week - one of our favorite pieces of food coverage every year. December is the season for lists of one sort or another, and they will start coming fast and furious over the next few weeks. The Stew just released its list of dining trends for 2011 - in the model of Project Runway, they have announced what will be "in" and what will be "out." The list, whatever it's other qualities, is a hilarious read, though we are hoping that not all of it comes true. more ›

Cupcakes have been a hot food item for several years now, and it looks like this gustatory trend has no intention of slowing down. Rumor has it that famous New York bakery, Magnolia Bakery, has been shopping around for a space on State Street to bring the famous cupcake store to the Loop. If everything goes smoothly, Magnolia Bakery hopes to open during spring of 2011. more ›

From the inbox: All proceeds from next Monday's Iron Cupcake Chicago Challenge at Smashcake will benefit the Maher sisters of Cakegirls, who lost their shop in a fire Monday. The Iron Cupcake Challenge is an "Iron Chef"-themed monthly competition, only scaled down to cupcakes. Attendees can sample all the baked goods made for the challenge for a flat $5; typically 8-12 different cupcakes are made depending on participation. more ›

Over the summer Tammy Green of Chicago Bites wrote up a week-long series of Chicago neighborhood dining tours for friends visiting Chicago that included a cupcake stop on every route. The response from Green's friends and Chicago Bites' readers was so overwhelming that Green began to consider the options of writing another guide. However, thinking such an endeavor would be a daunting undertaking, Green instead decided to focus on one subject: cupcakes. more ›

A few months back, we reviewed More Cupcakes. Our conclusion was that, while their cupcakes were tasty and innovatively-flavored, they weren’t worth the price. Oh, and their service was terrible. Well, they’re getting even more innovative, but in a kind of insane direction. According to Helen Rosner at Grub Street Chicago (formerly Menupages), our old friend More is set to introduce a $75 cupcake. more ›

As the number of fancy cupcake bakeries in the city grows ever larger, it gets harder and harder for new places to distinguish themselves. Innovative flavors, eye-catching designs and unique (or controversial, if you prefer) ingredients go a long way towards setting More Cupcakes apart from the crowd, and some of their offerings are a smashing success. Unfortunately, an often mediocre quality, unpleasant staff and high prices give us pause. more ›

Bleeding Heart Bakery has created a cupcake in honor of "Top Chef" winner Stephanie Izard. Dubbed "The Stephanie" and viewable at Bleeding Heart's flickr stream. It's an organic ricotta poundcake cupcake with organic caramelized pineapple jam and bananas and organic lime frosting. This cupcake's as cute as Izard. more ›

Oh, how we wish that were really a bacon cupcake. But we'll settle for Top Chef–themed treats, which is exactly what Bleeding Heart Bakery is going for. From the bakery: "In honor of our appreciation of Top Chef Chicago, we are going to take the last challenge winner's ingredients and come up with something cool each week." Pictured above, a white chocolate with wasabi treat. Nom nom nom. more ›

As previously stated in our 16 Sparrows interview Made in Chicago loves handwritten letters and cards. We love email and technology too, but nothing beats a physical card in the mail if we can get it. more ›

Welcome back to Made in Chicago. Did you miss us last week? Everybody needs a sick day, and we've whipped up something extra tasty today to make up for our absence. more ›

Michelle Garcia at Bleeding Heart Bakery sent out an e-mail last week to highlight a limited edition run of what she and husband Valentin have planned for Valentines Day. The Sid Vicious cupcake is nice, but we also love the tribute to Sid Vicious (whiskey and chocolate). more ›