Winner of Cupcake Wars Earns Rave Reviews on Their Sweet Children's Book Series

Neal and Katie Swanson knew exactly how to best use their prize money after winning the popular Food Network show, Cupcake Wars. They mixed up a bit of magic and decided to take a chance on a new creative venture.

Neal and Katie Swanson knew exactly how to best use their prize money after winning the popular Food Network show, Cupcake Wars. They mixed up a bit of the magic that led to their bakery's success and decided to take a chance on a new creative venture.

Neal had developed an idea over the three years since opening the popular bakery, "What if the little cupcake characters in our bakery's logo lived in a cupcake village?" Neal's face lights up as he begins to tell the story, "and what if that village existed at night, while the bakery was closed? Each night, the cute cupcake characters would have these elaborate adventures that would end just in time for the bakery to open the next morning."

"To see it all come to fruition has been an amazing experience." Neal adds, looking at the first two books in the children's series that sprung to life after receiving the prize money. "We wanted to publish the stories for some time, but just didn't have the money to get it started and now we're looking forward to sharing the books with everyone."

The first book was so well received, Neal and his wife decided to turn it into a series. With two books already on the shelves and a third due out this summer, Neal says there's plenty of stories to keep the series going. "These books are largely inspired by the cartoons we grew up with: the Snorks, He-Man, the Smurfs. They all had an influence on the brand we've decided to build. That's what we wanted for our customers. A children's brand that was similar to what we had as kids. Fun, cute characters that each kid could identify with."

In addition to the books, the Katie's Cupcakes children's brand has expanded into a line of t-shirts featuring individual characters from the books. They're also exploring developing apps and a line of toys. Their website, www.bringcutenessback.com, encourages visitors meet the characters and learn about the "likes", "dislikes", and "favorite treats" of each.

For more information, please visit www.BringCutenessBack.com or email: smile@BringCutenessBack.com

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