Good news, everyone!  I was so rapt with my new Zoku Quick Pop maker, that with the help of Kitchenware Direct, I will be giving one away to a very lucky Australian resident (sorry for those of you in the US!)!

The Zoku Quick Pop Maker is so easy to use that you’ll never look at a traditional plastic popsicle mold again.  Just keep the base of the pop maker in the freezer and take it out when you’re ready to fill up the molds; you’ll be enjoying icy, cold popsicles in under 10 minutes!

Yes, I realize it is the middle of winter for us in Australia, which probably isn’t the right time to be enjoying popsicles, but when it turns summer, you’ll be thankful you have it!

You can read about my experience with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker on this post.

Now how can you win a Zoku for yourself?  Easy!  As long as you live in Australia, you only need to leave ONE comment only on this post with your favorite flavor of popsicle!  The winner will be chosen via random.org on Tuesday, June 28 at 11AM (Sydney time).

Oh, you’re after extra entries, are you? Okay, tweet about my giveaway, and leave a second comment on this post telling me that you have done so (please provide the link to your Twitter account or status so I know it’s legit!) for an extra entry!

Good luck!

***This giveaway is now closed***

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!  It is now time to announce the winner!

Random.org declares that Phuoc from Phuoc’n Delicious wins the Zoku Quick Pop Maker!  Congratulations Phouc!

Aussies, stay tuned, as I intend to do more Australia-only giveaways in the future!

I am very happy now to announce the winner of the $50 Bake It Pretty gift certificate.  I know that she’s going to be very, very happy and I can’t wait to see what she’ll decide to get with it.  So, congratulations…

Amanda!  You have won!  Be sure to let me know what you decide to get from Bake It Pretty!  :)

The Sweetest Kitchen hasn’t always been The Sweetest Kitchen.  I started out blogging about cupcakes in late May of 2008 at Blogspot; my blog was then called The Cupcake Review.  As I started to expand and blog about more than cupcakes I knew that I needed to switch to my own domain.  After much thought, I finally decided on the name The Sweetest Kitchen in late February of 2009, and launched the new domain on March 3.  It’s now been one year and my blogging experience has been such fun.  The Sweetest Kitchen has became more popular than I ever expected it to – I’ve almost reached 500,000 page views!

My most famous post, with at least 30,000 page views so far, was the zombie Halloween cupcake I made for Iron Cupcake: Earth and Cupcake Hero in October 2009.  However, my personal favorite of anything I have ever baked since beginning this blog is the pumpkin dulce de leche cupcake.  Everyone who has made these has raved about them, and I’m so happy about that!

Today I’ve made some cupcakes in celebration of The Sweetest Kitchen’s 1-year anniversary.  They are actually very similar to the pumpkin dulce de leche cupcakes, but instead of the pumpkin cake, I used a chocolate cake and sprinkled the frosting with sea salt.

The great thing about this dulce de leche is that I didn’t have to make it myself.  I bought it at the store, where it was casually sitting next to cans of plain sweetened condensed milk and selling itself under the pseudonym of “Top ‘n’ Fill Caramel” from Nestle.  I found this at Coles but not Woolworth’s (in Australia), for anyone wanting specific details.  And I recommend giving the caramel a good stir with a wire whisk before using to smooth out the lumps.

If you can’t find dulce de leche, find directions for preparing it yourself in my pumpkin dulce de leche cupcake post.

Totally scrumptious!

Okay, now I’ve given you some cupcakes for my anniversary party, now what about that giveaway, you say?  Right, let’s get to it.

Bake It Pretty is one of, if not the, best places to buy your baking supplies from online.  I have made my share of purchases from this lovely store, and Amanda, the owner, is so sweet.  In fact, Bake It Pretty is where I got those zombie hands and spider toppers that made those particular cupcakes of mine so famous!

I knew I wanted to do a Bake It Pretty giveaway for my blog’s anniversary, so here it is – leave a comment on this post to receive a $50 gift certificate for Bake It Pretty!

Earn an extra entry by mentioning this giveaway and a link to this post on Twitter! Leave a comment on this post with the link to your Twitter status that mentions this giveaway.

Earn another extra entry by mentioning this giveaway and a link to this post on your blog! Leave a comment on this post with the link to your blog post that mentions this giveaway.

You have until Sunday, March 7 at 6:59PM to enter. In the meantime, click on over to Bake It Pretty to create your wishlist!  Note, the deadline is Sydney, Australia time, or Pacific Standard Time in the US on March 6, 11:59PM.

Thanks for stopping by over the past year and helping to make The Sweetest Kitchen the great little place that it is!  :)

The giveaway is now over and any comments left after 7PM on March 7, 2010 as recorded on the comment will not be counted.  The winner will be chosen tomorrow so check back then to see if you have won!