Monday 8 November 2010

Cupcake Camp London

On 31st October, I saw more cupcakes than I could ever have imagined. Big ones, little ones, sparkly ones, gruesome ones, elegant ones, vegan ones, funny ones, gooey ones, classic ones, original ones, wheat-free, egg-free, dairy-free, low fat, mainly fat and the list goes on.

OK, so being a cake maker, I may be a litttle bit bias but this one blatantly one of the best things ever to come to London!

Cupcake Camp has been taking New York, Paris and Sydney by storm and Proud Galleries in Camden was host to the first ever London event, put on by the wonderful Daisy Coole.  Masses of people donated batches of home made cupcakes and these were sold to raise money for the North London Hospice.  There were also a number of professional cupcake companies sponsoring the even and supplying beautiful cakes!
I was particularly taken by An American Cupcake In London and was totally bowled over by their Bubblegum flavoured cupcake. Mmmmm

There was also a competition for the very best cupcakes.  I decided to give it a shot and lo and behold I won the 'Little Work of Art Category'!  I spent hours and hours working on my competition entries so I'm glad my total lack of sleep for most of the week wasn't for nothing.  As you can see, I took the title of the category literally and made a teeny little Miro painting and various of arty bits.

I was particularly flattered to have one as two of the judges were Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas of The Primrose Bakery.  Now you don't have to have read much of my blog to know that I treat their cupcake book like a bible so it was a real honour to have them pick my cupcake!

In case you are interested in the technicalities of the cake, it is vanilla (killa vanilla in fact) flavoured and topped with fondant icing.  I made the various props out of sugarpaste and flowerpaste and the easel is made out of pastillage.  I had to sand this down for AGES to get the right sized strips.  I glazed bits, like the water in the cup and the paint, to make them more realistic.

These were some more of my competition entries for the Halloween category which, unfortunately didn't win, but you can't have everything can you?

I also made these Halloweeny ones to be sold at the event.
  



And then I just couldn't resist chucking in a batch of Crunchie Caramel Cupcakes.  These were filled with a delicious caramel sauce and piled high with Crunchie buttercream icing.  Not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but they were gone within minutes!


Here is a selection of photos from the event.  The lighting was a bit funny so they aren't the best snaps in the world, but you'll get the idea!

cupcake bouquet!
tried to get a snap of all the leftovers from the 'best taste' categories getting chucked out! tragic!

these were delicious!
some of the cupcakes I bought

                                      



going, going...
gone!
competition entries!
more competition entries!

        I hear the event raised about £4000 for the North London Hospice. Amazing.
        







1 comment:

  1. thanks! I'm glad that you liked my bubblegum cupcakes. I'm much better at flavor concoction then decorating! My hands refuse to make those little flowers.

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