It was a magical couple of hours, full of slight chaos, pink frosting and sugar highs. Everyone left happy and full and the event came together so well that we’re already in the planning phase of the next one. Right now, I’m trying to narrow down my favorite name. I like CupcakeCampColumbus: Part Deux, CupcakeCampColumbus 2: Electric Boogaloo and Revenge of CupcakeCampColumbus. Let me know your favorites!

I’ll let the photos do the talking for this event.

Our awesome welcome sign.

“Bacon is the New Black” T-shirt. This shirt went to our “Best Use of Bacon” winner.

My “Mini Chocolate Covered Hi Hats”.

My “O-H! Cup-cakes!”

Clint Reno, one of our judges. Clint nearly lapsed into a diabetic coma after eating this plate of cupcakes.

“Green Tea Lavender” cupcakes, our “Best Vegan” winner!
Our “Best Vegan” winner won a T-shirt from Bakery Gingham and a prize pack from MadebyAmyD.

“French Toast N’ Bacon” Cupcakes, our “Best Use of Bacon” winner!
Our “Best Use of Bacon” winner won the “Bacon is the New Black” T-shirt and a $50 gift certificate to Sassafras Bakery.

“The Homer”, our “Most Creatively Decorated” winner!
Our “Most Creatively Decorated” winner won a ginormous gift basket from Wholly Craft! filled with lots of cupcake-esque crafts.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, the winner of our “Best Use of Alcohol” contest!
Our “Best Use of Alcohol” winner won a three pack of posters by Clinton Reno, as well as the honor of having her cupcake featured at Surly Girl Saloon during the Parking Lot Blowout on July 11.

You can see all the photos from this event here.

You can read a first-hand report from our “Best Use of Bacon” winner Danae over at The Busty Baker.

Here’s another eyewitness account of the event by Jen.

This week, I’ll be trying my hand at Cinnamon Rolls, and baking up another batch of those Lemon Meringue Cupcakes that I so adore.

Scout got quite a nice haul of cookies and one key fob. When I turned it in, I was rewarded with this:

Four little doggie cookie cutters and a recipe for dog biscuits from the Cookware Sorcerer!

Sunday was Scout’s sixth birthday, so I decided it was high time that I make her some homemade dog biscuits. These biscuits were not cheap, as the recipe required a couple of things I didn’t already have: Whole Wheat Flour, Powdered Skim Milk and garlic powder. The powdered milk alone set me back $9:

The recipe was fairly straightforward. Once I had a dough together, I rolled it out and started cutting cookies:

I ended up with about 115 cookies from the dog. I started using larger cookie cutters towards the end of the dough just to use it up, because I had already filled two cookie sheets and was close to filling a third:

The recipe called for the cookies to be baked for 50 minutes. Big mistake:

Burnt black!!! These ones got thrown out. The next round was bunch better:

I made Scout a little birthday cake by cramming six dog biscuit “candles” into a Frosty Paws Peanut Butter Ice Cream cup:

She seemed to enjoy her cake very much! The other cookies I took in for my co-workers’ pets, who reported that their dogs loved them.

This past Tuesday, I was on TV! Carmen Owens and I appeared on “Good Day Columbus” to promote CupcakeCampColumbus, which is this Saturday! In preparation of the event, Carmen and I were asked to bake as many cupcakes as we could to fill up the island in the kitchen set for the show. Carmen baked a ton and I baked three different flavors. I repeated the Mint Julep Cupcake again because Rob loved it so much. I also baked Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes and Tarte Tatin Cupcakes with Carmelized Apples and Caramel Glaze. Both recipes came from “Cupcakes Galore!” by Gail Wagman.

I started with the Lemon Meringue, which began with making lemon curd. This stuff was awesome. I wanted to eat it directly out of the bowl:

I then mixed up the ingredients for the cupcakes and baked them according to the directions. When the timer went off, I got this:

WHAT HAPPENED???? I’ve never seen this before in my life. It was kind of amazing. But they were definitely not going to work. I trolled the Internet for a suitable recipe and baked up Round Two:

This time around was much better. As the cupcakes cooled, I whipped up the meringue topping. I cut small cones out of the cupcakes and filled them with the lemon curd. I topped each cupcake with the meringue and put them back in the oven for a couple of minutes to brown up:

Beautiful. These are one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever made. I’m planning to bake them again tomorrow night to take to my mom for Mother’s Day. Yummmm.

The Tarte Tatin Cupcakes began with a pretty simple cupcake base. Apples were cut into thin slices and then fried in butter. I arranged three apple slices on the tops of each cupcake and then mixed up a caramel glaze. These were really good and pretty fancy too!

And, for your viewing pleasure, I present our two and a half minute segment on “Good Day Columbus!”

Tomorrow I’m baking for CupcakeCampColumbus! I’ll be making mini Chocolate Covered Hi Hats and my secretive O-H! Cupcakes! I’ll be making the Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes again for my mom, but those won’t make the trip to CupcakeCamp!

Tomorrow I will be posting the results of Scout’s birthday cookies as well as photos of all the cupcakes we’re cobbling together for tomorrow’s show.

CupcakeCampColumbus is coming! It’s going to dominate!

CupcakeCampColumbus is an event designed for the cupcake fanatics among us; those who love to eat them and those who love to make them! It’s an opportunity to bring together a group of creative bakers and decorators, as well as to unite legions of the tiny treats with their adoring public. In addition, CCC is a chance for Columbus’ professional cupcake bakers to get out of their own kitchens and to enjoy the ingenuity of amateurs from all over our fair state.

CCC is hosted by myself and Carmen Owens of Surly Girl Saloon. It will be held Saturday, May 9th at Surly Girl Saloon, 1126 N. High Street in Columbus.

“CupcakeCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment,” according to CupcakeCamp.org. A descendant of BarCamp, they have taken place all over the world, with the most recent being CapitalCupcakeCamp, a veritable blowout in Ottawa, Canada.

We’re keeping it small and sassy with the first Columbus event, but are excited about the potential to make this even bigger and better if all goes well! Here’s what else you need to know:

~If You’re A Cupcake Eater~

Our CupcakeCamp will be broken into two identical sessions with at least 20 different cupcake possibilities; one from 2-3pm and a second from 3:30-4:30pm.

Tickets for either session will be available for sale in person at Surly Girl Saloon, starting Friday, April 17 at 11am for $5 each. Cash only, please. There will be a limited number of tickets available for both sessions, so be sure to buy ‘em early!

This is an all-you-can-eat style event. So be sure to sample all the goodies!

Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the MidOhio Food Bank.

~If You’re A Confirmed Cupcake Baker~

Bakers will receive a reply with a request to confirm via email shortly before Tuesday, May 5. If a confirmation e-mail is not received from bakers by Tuesday, May 5, they will be refused entry into CupcakeCampColumbus. (The horror! Please don’t make us reject your precious cupcakes!)

There is no registration fee for bakers, in exchange for the chance to try their lovely creations. (Thanks, bakers!) However, all bakers must register their cupcakes.

CupcakeCampColumbus politely requires that at least two dozen of each flavor registered for public tasting, and an additional dozen (so that’s three dozen total) of any flavor submitted for judging, be brought to the Surly Girl Saloon by 1pm on the day of the event.

We will be cutting the cupcakes into halves (maybe quarters) so we can provide a larger quantity of samples. Don’t worry, we’ll leave one of your cuties whole so the crowd (and the judges) can see how it looks! If you’d prefer, you have the option of baking mini cupcakes! If you do bake minis, we will need FOUR dozen (FIVE if they’re being judged).

If you have a regular sized cupcake that you absolutely do not want cut, please let us know and we will leave it be.

Our panel of judges (for those bakers who have opted to enter the judging) will be a delicious combination of fellow cupcake lovers/creators from Pistacia Vera, Bakery Gingham, Suisse Shop Bakery, Pink Moon Cupcakes, and Pattycake Vegan Bakery. And maybe a few surprise guests, too!

xo,
CupcakeCampColumbus

Do you think I’m ready for “The Next Food Network Star”?

Next week is still a toss-up that will be decided tomorrow. It will either be an apple pie or Raspberry Cupcakes with Framboise Frosting. (I’m testing recipes for CupcakeCampColumbus. What’s that you ask? Only the greatest gathering of cupcake enthusiasts in Columbus ever! More details can be found here!)