That's a whole lotta cake my friend...
The Event
Victor and I took part in Cupcake Camp LA yesterday. It was held at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theater in LA. There were 56 different bakers, some professional, some amateur (I fell into the amateur category). Attendees were given 5 tickets for their admission price which they traded for cupcakes. To avoid lines and overcrowding, the event was broken up into 2 tastings (noon to 2 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm). Proceeds from the event benefited three different charities:
It was a really great event. So many great flavors and displays, so much culinary creativity under one roof...and finally, so many wonderful people.
Notables
- We were fortunate enough to have our table next to Sugar Babies who won honors in both the first and second tastings. They had an amazing, eye catching display and provided a "swag" bag to everyone who came to their table. Check out their website and look for their cupcake truck in the LA area.
- We had the pleasure of meeting Chef Amy Jurist at the event. I had read about her famous underground dinners in LA Magazine and was excited to see that she was going to be a baker as well. It was great chatting with her about some of the unusual dinners she has done and we are looking forward to attending one in the near future.
- There was a wonderful Harry Potter themed table....not sure the name of the baker(s) but I will post as soon as I find out.
- Half Baked had a great spicy pumpkin cupcake, Shweet had an amazing strawberry cupcake, Jackie Brubabaker had a Jack Daniels cupcake...check out Cupcake Camp LA for a complete list of the bakers with their respective websites.
The Backstory
Victor had read about this event on Digital LA. I thought he was suggesting it just as an event to attend, but then he mentioned that maybe I participate as a baker. An intriguing suggestion indeed! I signed up and started experimenting with recipes. Our oven promptly died about 3 days later. Just when I was getting caught up in the excitement of selecting and experimenting with flavors, a roadblock of such magnitude! To say I was bummed is an understatement... I started thinking, maybe this happened to up the stakes? Maybe making 100 cupcakes in a regular oven is too easy for me...
After doing to some research, I found out in some countries many folks don't have ovens (Korea for example) and make cakes by steaming them. I also found some online forums where people were discussing baking in a table top convection/toaster oven which was probably a more realistic alternative...steaming 100 mini cakes might a bigger challenge than I could handle. That night we went out and got a Black and Decker model at Target which fit my 12 cup cupcake pan. Perfect....
It took a few more baking experiments to get a feel for how long to leave the cakes in the oven without drying them out, but basically I was back on track. This actually felt appropriate, like I was returning to my Easy Bake Oven roots...except I wasn't cooking with beer when I was a kid.
The Cakes
My cakes, starting from lower left and headed clockwise: Chocolate Guinness with a Molasses Buttercream, Chocolate Cake with a Cream cheese and coconut filling and vanilla buttercream, Chocolate Coconut Cake Balls made with Scharffen Berger Dark Chocolate.
It took a few more baking experiments to get a feel for how long to leave the cakes in the oven without drying them out, but basically I was back on track. This actually felt appropriate, like I was returning to my Easy Bake Oven roots...except I wasn't cooking with beer when I was a kid.
The CakesMy cakes, starting from lower left and headed clockwise: Chocolate Guinness with a Molasses Buttercream, Chocolate Cake with a Cream cheese and coconut filling and vanilla buttercream, Chocolate Coconut Cake Balls made with Scharffen Berger Dark Chocolate.
Comments