Not far from The Ottawa Home Show was Cupcake Camp Ottawa. This event was a first for Ottawa, and all proceeds went to Ottawa's Woman Alive/Femme Active Program. I honestly expected this to be a tame event where people stroll in with their kids to buy a few cupcakes, but I was wrong. It was lively, and flamboyant!
I arrived to a HUGE line up where I ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes. Why, you ask? Like everyone else, I was curious to see what cupcake camp was all about. I was bitching and complaining the whole time I stood in line, but in the end, it was worth the wait.
While waiting in line, this was all I heard “cupcake, cupcake cupcake, oh yes, cupcake cupcake. Cupcake, cupcake, cupcake, oh and, cupcake, cupcake cupcake…hmmm, yes, cupcake.” Beebs was with me, and I think she was about to go crazy.
The entry fee is $5 for adults, and once you are in, cupcakes are unlimited!
Every 15 minutes, a round of assorted cupcakes are brought down the 'cupcake runway' for everyone to try.
You need to hover around the tables when the cupcakes come out because they go fast! It was a free for all, and people raced to grab the best looking cupcakes. Each cupcake was labeled, but at the end of the day, it was hard to tell what was what because it was so chaotic.
As for the venue itself, it resembled a sort of mardi gras party, but celebrating cupcakes! The picture below says it all.
The majority of the cupcakes served at the event were entered in a competition (completely voluntary), where they were judged in a series of categories.
Here are some of the fine judges:
Some cupcakes from the judges' table, what a hard job!:
Most of the bakers had gone home by the time the winners were announced, but the L’Oven team stayed to the end, and won the ‘Best Chocolate Cupcake’ category with their Before 9 minipops: a mini chocolate cupcake on a stick. L’Oven was started by two sisters from Ottawa, and their dream is to open up their own store one day. For now, you can place your cupcake orders via their website.
Another winner was the Oreo Sunrise by Kristen LaFrance for Best Decorated Cupcake.
And...the Best in Show was the Red Velvet Purse by Michelle Morrison.
This rainbow bee cupcake didn't win, but it was my favorite by far.
After hours of eating and tasting different cupcakes, here's what I managed to take home with me.
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8 comments:
I can't believe you actually managed to get cupcakes! CupCake Toronto was NUTS! Between me and my friend, we barely even was able to get 5 before we decided to give up and just make our own. :)
The Asian Pear,
It wasn't hard to get a cupcake at all at the Ottawa event. People were also super nice. When they noticed I was taking photos, they let me in front of the line to get my shots. Toronto is a much bigger city, and I'm not surprised that you weren't able to get any cupcakes.
Eventhough I don't normally like cupcakes, your post is suddenly making me crave them.
Glad you were able to join us for CupcakeCamp! We learned a lot from the organizers of the Toronto event and we learned a lot from our own event!
Next time will hopefully be bigger & better!
I'm trying to organize 1 of these in London, ON. Wish me luck. Hopefully we will have as good a turn out! If you have any pointers/suggestions let me know please!!!!!!
P.S. - Great pics.
I am a baker for the one in NY and am so excited! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Nicole,
You put on a great event, and I'm looking forward to the next cupcake camp!
NOT SO VANILLA,
Good luck! It definitely is no easy task to organize such an event. My tip would be to make sure there are plenty of cupcakes to go around so that attendees won't be grumpy they didn't get one. The Ottawa one was great, and although there was a big crowd, people weren't fighting for cupcakes because there were more than enough. The Toronto one sounded like it was too crowded to even get a cupcake.
Teanna,
Thanks for the comment. I'm sure the NY cupcake camp was a huge success. Your red velvet and Irish car bomb cupcakes looked delicious.
woah, what a great event! i think we would hog all the red velvet cupcake tables, as we're kinda obsessed. great coverage!
we did a review of the usual suspects in NYC here:
http://nynyeateat.com/2009/03/18/cupcake-wars/
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