CupcakeCamp NYC is now in the history books, but I wanted to take a moment to quickly thank all of you who participated this year. Also, we have the all important business of announcing this year's contest winners...
Only in its second year, CupcakeCamp NYC grew from 230 attendees in 2009 to almost 800 participants in 2010. That's a lot of growth if you ask me. We were stoked with the turn out and are already brainstorming ideas on how to make the 2011 event better. For example, we are brainstorming ways on how to handle a better baker to eater ratio for next year. In 2009 we threw away quite a few cupcakes at the end of the night, but this year, we ran out before 8:30 p.m. As someone who hates throwing away food and was excited to not have any waste at the end of the night, I still understand that some eaters were disappointed that we ran out of cupcakes.
This brings me to my next point. As the producer, I think it's important I explain the point of CupcakeCamp once again as I have received a rather nasty e-mail from an attendee that I would like to publicly address. CupcakeCamp is completely community driven. There is a team that handles the back end organization part of the event, but we rely on the community to actually MAKE the event i.e. bring cupcakes. The only people that make any money off of CupcakeCamp NYC are the owners of Happy Ending and that is only through alcohol sales since they are generous enough to let us use their space for free. As the event producer, I make absolutely nothing off of the CupcakeCamp NYC name. None of the bakers who graciously bring cupcakes make a profit. So, it's fair to say that nothing pisses me off more than someone complaining about how they didn't get any free cupcakes at a completely free event that they didn't contribute to in the least bit. It makes me angry on behalf of the bakers that worked so hard to make CupcakeCamp awesome, to the folks at Happy Ending that handle everything from bartending to clean-up duties without a single complaint, and yes, it makes me angry personally for the late nights I've spent making Excel sheets and answering hundreds of e-mails every day. It's sad that someone can complain about an event centered on something as fun as cupcakes, but that's life.
With this in mind, my goal is to make CupcakeCamp 2011 even more amazing and fun just to prove the author of the nasty e-mail I received wrong. So you better believe I'm already planning for an event that is about 365 days away.
Now, onto to the more important business at hand: the winners of our design contest and the Best in Show competition.
I'm happy to announce that Anny Cakes is the winner of our design competition. Her sparkly cupcakes were almost too beautiful to eat (even though our judges devoured them). As the winner of this contest, we'll be giving away a copy of The Icing on the Cupcake by Jennifer Ross and Martha Stewart's Cupcakes by Martha Stewart.
Best in Show went to Audrey Criss from New Jersey with her spice cake cupcakes topped with whipped cream cheese frosting. All six of our judges were in cupcake heaven upon tasting Audrey's creation and decided that for CupcakeCamp 2010, she deserved Best in Show.
On a personal note, I chatted to Audrey at the event and she shared that her dream is to open up her own bakery in New Jersey. I was beyond pleased to award Audrey the Best in Show prize and believe that this woman is going to succeed in the bakery business. To be blunt: Girl can bake!
Also, special shout out to Kathy "Metalcakes" Bejma for putting together the Best in Show prize. It was amazingly cool and I know everyone was impressed with your efforts!
To all the other bakers, the judges each told me that it was a hard decision to narrow down the cupcakes and that everyone should be proud of their submissions. As a baker myself, I understand how much hard work and effort goes into everything you put in your oven, and I can't express how much it means to me that you wanted to share your passion with CupcakeCamp NYC.
I also want to thank our sponsors and special friends for attending. Jennifer Ross and Elizabeth Bellanti from Austin, TX, Kathy Bejma and her mom from Chicago (you might have met Kathy's mom downstairs - she was the awesome lady selling her knit cupcakes!), Jennifer Appel and the Buttercup Bakeshop Crew (we also owe them a big high-five for supplying the Cupcake Cocktail at the bar!), the lovely ladies at Clarkson Potter who donated copies of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, and last but not least, the guys at Happy Ending for helping me with everything from set up to clean-up. You guys rule on so many levels. Also, a special shout out for all our judges and volunteers - you make my life so much easier. I wish I could take you all on a trip to Hawaii for your efforts!
Lastly, if you have photos from the event, please upload them to our Facebook group page!
See you in 2011!
