I think one of the best compliments I can give to the organizers of Cupcake Camp Boston 2012 is that I am so glad I wore stretchy pants last night. It was worth every carb I'm not eating for breakfast this morning, because every dessert glutton must preach moderation lest we gain 1,000 pounds (Exhibit A). As with last year's event, it was extremely well-organized, well-attended, had a positive vibe, happy attendees walking around with smiles on their faces and plates full of cupcakes, and all the cupcakes your stomach could handle for $5. All proceeds went to Lovin Spoonfuls, a nonprofit organization working hard to make sure that all hungry people get enough food to each by rescuing food from local restaurants and delivering it to local shelters, soup kitchens, and other social service agencies that serve those that are hungry. I don't know how many WINS that is but let's call it a grand slam.
Let's take a look, shall we? The participating bakeries were in the center of the room, with amateur and up-and-coming bakers lining the walls and upstairs noshing space from which this panoramic photo was taken:
I'll highlight some of my favorite cupcakes from the evening. Here are cotton candy cupcakes from Dreamy Sweet Treats by Karen Waksmonski (617-756-5278). These cupcakes are made to order. The frosting was really smooth and topped with flavored sugar crystals that was really reminiscient of eating cotton candy:
Here are more of Karen's cotton candy cupcakes mingling with her pop rocks cupcakes:
Here are Karen's chocolate cherry cupcakes:
And a shot of all of them:
The River Street Whole Food store represented as well, bringing their delicious soda pop cupcakes and beautiful display:
I loved the cherry vanilla soda pop cupcakes:
Here is their lemon lime soda pop cupcake display, complete with cupcake tree:
This post is about halfway done - hungry yet?
Here is the Lovin Spoonfuls table. Don't you just love the giant spoon?
Cupcake bouquet? Okay!
One of my favorite bakeries was Well Baked Goods. Chef/owner Adam Ross is seen here modeling his amazing S'mores cupcake with perfectly toasted marshmallow frosting:
Here is the salted caramel honey chocolate cupcake from JannaBee's Artisan Desserts. All their items are baked to order. The frosting had a delicate flavor with a smooth consistency, and because the cupcake was so fresh the cake itself was extremely moist:
Sugar bee!
In the background you can see their raspberry lime rickey cupcake with freshly, deliciously candied fruit on top:
It was great fun chatting up the amateur bakers too. Baker Tara Bellucci told me all about Boston Food Swap while I sampled her amazing creamsicle cupcakes. I definitely need to check out this food swap, what a fantastic idea. She was seated next to the newly named Two Guys Baking, who turned out some yummy fruity pebbles and other "cereal aisle" cupcakes:
Towards the end of the night, unbelievably there were still some cupcakes left. This woman had the right idea to hand them out:
My friends also got creative:
Here's a peek at the Cakeology truck panda, because why not a cupcake-eating panda?
It was a great night. Stretchy pants stay tuned for next year's event!
