Sunday, March 29, 2009

Capital Cupcake Camp!



I am so excited! I am so high on sugar!

I just got back from spending the day at Captial Cupcake Camp. I have never seen so many cupcakes in my entire life and I had "backstage access" to all of them.

What is Captial Cupcake Camp? CupcakeCamp was originally the brainchild of a group of folks in San Francisco. The idea was to bring together cupcake lovers, bakers, and eaters. The first one was a huge success so we brought it to Canada. CupcakeCamp is an opportunity for our community to come together and share their enthusiasm for cupcakes with all proceeds going to a local charity.

Here's my snazzy t-shirt that I got for volunteering at the event.


Ah...my fingers won't keep up to the pace of my the sugar-infiltrated brain!

Here's the MC for the event, Chinadoll, from Shanghai Restaurant:


Some fellow bloggers were in attendance. I met one of the ladies from Duh-Licious. They are quite the operation with their business cards and t-shirt.


I presume these cupcakes come from Apartment 613:


I also picked up a business card from Plum Cake. Based on the picture from their blog, I think this cupcake is one of theirs:



Local cupcake makers were also represented...

Cupcakery


Three Cheers Cupcakes. I presume these are theirs:


L'Oven


(I believe they won an award as well)

Volunteers brought out trays of cupcakes and it was pretty much first grab, first served.



As I said, there was such a massive variety of cupcakes. Here are some of the ones I thought were cute (and managed to get a picture of):

One of my favourites - the centre part of the flower is an oreo cookie (I think this one won an award for creativity):


So adorable:









Mom - here are some of the ones I thought would be nice for the wedding (not necessarily in these colours):




Definitely a successful event. With over 3000 cupcakes, this is the largest Camp Cupcake event to date. Kudos to the organizers!

Some suggestions I would have....In terms of making money, improving the flow of people (there were long line-ups) and reducing waste, I would recommend selling tickets for each cupcake. Something like a dollar per cupcake and maybe 5 cupcakes for $3. I saw many people taking a bite out of a cupcake and then setting it down. With the exchange of a ticket, people will be less likely to waste, gorge for 3 hours on infinite amounts of cupcakes and take precious space away from those waiting in line. I'd also recommend getting more sponsorship. I could see an organic milk company (like the ones in my last post) doing really well at something like this. Also, a company like Pampered Chef would have a great, relatively captive, audience here.

In the end, there were a lot of leftover cupcakes. Most volunteers left with a care package. R was quite pleased to see me walk in with this:


Which cupcake design do you like best??? StumbleUpon

15 comments:

François said...

Great post and great photos...being in that long line up for about an hour, i missed out on lots of the pretty ones you posted.But in the end, I got to eat my fair share.

Thanks for linking to us!

François
apt613.ca

pam said...

What fun!

I think I like the simple beigey colored ones with the blue daisy-like flowers.

Steph said...

I am so jealous!! I wish I could be there to see and taste all the wonderful cupcakes.

lis said...

what a fun day it was! thanks for the mention of my site (btw, I didn't win a prize). I loved being part of the event! exciting that it was so successful. can't wait to see how it all goes next year.

melissa
plum cake

Maria said...

Wow, cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes ... sounds delicious!

mădălina said...

It was great meeting you today. I love the blog, it looks great! I linked back to your blog; and if you have a second, drop by my blog and enter for a cupcake charm:)

-Madalina

Nikita said...

Thanks so much for coming to Cupcake Camp! We had a blast organizing it!

Sponsors were on the list of things to do but unfortunately in these "hard economic times" it doesn't always work out. We had also considered a ticket system for the cupcakes but that crosses over into food sales territory and our insurance and licensing would have changed drastically.

We appreciate your thoughts and hope that this event will happen again in the future!!

Thanks!

Núria said...

Oooooohhhhh. Fantástico! They are all amazing, so cute, but my favourite is the sunflower, yes!

What a great time for the eyes and tummy... I bet you behaved like your icon here (winnie pooh) ;D

kat said...

Wow, so many pretty cupcakes there. No sure I could pick a favorite

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

What a fun event and for such an amazing cause as well. I hope you discovered some new designs for the upcoming wedding:D

Three Cheers Cupcakes said...

This was such an amazing event! Not only did we have plenty of fun baking for it, but the tasting part was pretty awesome too! It was definitely cool mingling with all the other cupcake nerds in the city. I really hope there is another Cupcake Camp next year. :)

Also, kudos to you volunteers for doing such a great job. Very impressive work!

Thanks for linking to our site!

Best wishes!

Lori said...

The sunflowers but the purses are a close second!

Ming Wu Photography said...

Mmm I'm a late commenter.
What a fun day. So many great cupcakes less time to get them in time :P
Can't wait for the next one. Or travel to the other cities for their version of Cupcake Camp.

Maggie said...

Thanks for sharing this, I've really wanted to go to one! I really like that chicken cupcake.

AMR said...

I love Apt. 613's cupcakes (something about that medicinal hospital green + transparent brown icing...perfect!) and in second: Plum Cake's. O.K. and the ones you think will work for the wedding too - all so lovely & delicious-looking.
I like your ideas for a more successful event next year. May the powers that be read/heed them.

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