I hope everyone has been having a great year! I have been getting emails about when the next Cupcake Camp is going to take place so I thought I would write this post. I am currently in the process of confirming a date and location for our 2nd Annual Cupcake Camp here in the Inland Empire. I know a lot of you are so eager to attend again. Last year was so much fun! While we absolutely loved raising money for the Susan G Komen For the Cure Foundation last year, we have decided that each year we are going to change our cause so we can help other foundations that are in need. I already have a foundation selected and I am finalizing the details so I will post information as soon as I have it. Very excited!!

Thank you all for your positive feedback and we are excited to be able to host our event at a larger venue here in the Inland Empire. This year is going to be bigger and better and I am excited to see all of you there again! As well as new faces! So I’ll need your help in spreading the word. We would love to surpass what we raised last year.

Thank you for your patience and support as I organize the event again. Stay tuned for details.

XOXO,

Addie

So just short of 3 months of planning this event and it finally came! and now it’s over! It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling.

All I have to say is….WOW! I am overjoyed at the turnout we had for our 1st Annual Cupcake Camp Inland Empire. I am happy to report that we raised $8,400 for the   Susan G Komen Inland Empire Affiliate in just 3 hours!!! Can you believe it?! I am so honored to have been able to work with such a great group of sponsors and donors who helped make this event possible. What a sweet way to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness.

On Sunday, November 7, 2010 1-4pm, our Official Sponsor, The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, donated a beautiful room for us to have our event. The entire hotel is gorgeous but the room was so elegant and looked even better thanks to Wendy from Stars Above Balloon Decor. She does awesome balloon art!

For our event, we had 18 Professional Bakers and 8 Amateur Bakers that donated a total of about 6,000 cupcakes! This event would not be possible if it weren’t for them. Thank you so much for your support and boy did all of the cupcakes and displays look awesome! I can tell that you put so much time and effort into your masterpieces and I appreciate it greatly!

So, about 10 minutes to 1pm, there was already a long line of people waiting to come in and eat some yummy cupcakes. We were asked to start letting people in early but we weren’t quite ready yet. We started letting people in at 1pm. They paid a $10 donation at the door and received 4 pink tickets to exchange for 4 cupcakes of their choice. They also received a container that fit 4 cupcakes in case they wanted to take them home. Complimentary Starbucks coffee was provided as well as Swiss Dairy milk. What a deal! We also had face painting for the kids which was done by Kimberly at Face Play and balloon animals by Jason from Party Animals OC. The kids really enjoyed that! Souvenir shirts that said ” I Survived Cupcake Camp Inland Empire’ were available for purchase as well as raffle tickets for great prizes that were donated by our Donors and Friends. I can’t thank them enough for their generosity!

Within the first 15-20 minutes, we knew that the room was too small for everyone. Not knowing what to expect for our first event, we were pleasantly surprised. Can’t complain that there were too many people, that just means that the event was successful. We had about 650 people in attendance at our event. Attendees also got to take pictures at a Photo Booth provided by Souverazzi. They got 4 poses and in 15 seconds, they walked away with a keepsake from the event. Thank you so much Daren for doing this. It was such a hit!

We also had 4 gorgeous cakes that were donated by Wendy Flick, Jac’s Cakes, Cake Habit, and Royalty Cakes. Those were auctioned off to help raise money for the cause. Thank you so much. I know a lot of your time and creativity went into making these cakes. Great job! Music was provided by DJ Red23 who also was our MC for the afternoon. Thank you for the entertainment. You rock!

We had beautiful pictures taken by Paul at Cean One Photography. I will be posting them on the ‘Photos’ tab once I get them from Paul. In the meantime, I have been able to see some of the pictures that everyone else has taken. Please keep sharing them. Great memories!

Also, during the event, there was a Bakers Competition amongst the bakers that donated cupcakes, both Amateur and Professional. We had the pleasure of having Special Guest Judges, Elise Wallace, founder and chief editor for CupcakeActivist.com, Evelyn Erives, Radio Co-Host, “Jeff & Evelyn in the Morning” on 99.1 KGGI, Jason Iehl and Kim Nelson, aka Mr. & Mrs. Saturday Night Foodies, Vicky Figueroa-Torres and Yvonne Ojeda, Board Board of Directors of Susan G Komen Inland Empire, and Ro Zinniger, owner of Ro Z’s Sweet Art Studio in San Marcos, CA. They had the sweet duty of tasting all of the cupcake entries and determining a winner for each level and category. They were troopers with all the cupcakes they had to eat! Thank you all for your support!

So I bet you want to know who the winners are right? Who has bragging rights? Well here you go…..

 Winner of Bakers Competition

Amateur Competition
1. Best Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer Themed Cupcake
Desiree Massei-Pink Velvet Cupcakes

2. Most Unique Ingredient
SueAnn Molina-Ube (Purple Yam) and Macapuno (Coconut) cupcakes

3. Tastiest Cupcake of Cupcake Camp Inland Empire
Stephanie Starbuck-Chocolate Cupcake w/Chambord Buttercream

Professional Competition
1. Best Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer Themed Cupcake
Ah How Sweet/Loriann Serna-Save Second Base Cupcakes

2. Most Unique Ingredient
Truly Madly Sweetly/Cathryn Howard-Creamy Dreamsicle Cupcakes

3. Tastiest Cupcake of Cupcake Camp Inland Empire
The Cake Mamas/Janelle Copeland & Fabiola Gomez-Autumn Apple Cupcakes

I would like to give a special thanks to all of my family and friends that volunteered that day. With your help, the event ran smoothly and we received a lot of compliments of how well the event turned out. I couldn’t have done it without you! XOXO

I am already thinking about the 2nd Annual Cupcake Camp Inland Empire. I definitely learned a lot from this one and will be making some changes to make our next one even better! Starting with a bigger venue. Stay tuned for more details around 2nd quarter of 2011.

Thank you for all of your support for this great cause and I hope to see you next year!

Take a look at the photos taken by Souverazzi’s Photo Booth! Awesome pictures and what a nice souvenir for everyone to take home. Thanks Souverazzi for donating your services. You guys rock!

http://souverazzi.smugmug.com/Other/Ist-Annual-Cupcake-Camp-Inland/14574831_jWeHJ#1084458015_NDsyL

Sincerely,

Addie Abner

951-235-1666   faceplay@ymail.com

Just a couple of reminders:

• Event Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010

• Event Location: The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, CA in the Music Room

• Event Time: 1-4pm

• $10 donation at the door gets you (4) tickets for (4) cupcakes. Containers will be provided so please do not bring your own as they will not be permitted in the venue. Only cash will be accepted.

• Beverages included are water, milk, and Starbucks Coffee.

• Children pay the same price. They are not required to pay the donation but they will not receive tickets for cupcakes.

• Souvenir T-shirts will be available for purchase at the event for $12 each.

• Raffle tickets for great prizes will be sold at the event for $2 each.

• Parking: There is free parking on the street on a first come first serve basis. Self parking is available for $8/day and valet parking is offered at $8 for 2 hours, $10 for 3 hours, and $15 for more than 3 hours.

• All proceeds will benefit the Susan G Komen For the Cure Inland Empire Affiliate

• Event activities: cupcake tasting, cake auction, raffles, music, and more!

We look forward to seeing you at the event! Thank you for your support!

I can hardly stand it! Getting so excited for Sunday. I can’t wait to see everyone come together to see, smell, and eat some yummy cupcakes! And to help a great cause at the same time is that much sweeter! Keep telling all your family and friends about it so they can come out too! If they haven’t been to the Mission Inn in Riverside, they are in for a nice surprise. Thanks again to all of our donors and friends who have made this event possible. We appreciate all the support we have received!

See you on Sunday!!!