Cupcake Camp Recap: Cupcakes Take Over The Armory!

First off, I knew it was going to be a special night when we saw where Cupcake Camp Boston was being hosted - tucked into an ordinary looking neighborhood was the incredible and historic Somerville Armory for the Arts - I wish I had taken a picture of it, but well, it was raining and we were carrying eight dozen cupcakes, so I'm giving myself a pass on the picture taking.

Once inside, I made my way over to my assigned table (Table 1) to lay out my cupcake goodies. I was at the same table as Jen from Beantown Baker and Cara from Cara's Cravings, which was a bit intimidating since their offerings looked picture perfect!

Jen's cupcakes were a big hit - chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes (complete with a ball of cookie dough in the middle) and the most popular of all - Frito cupcakes!

Facing our table was one of the professional bakers, Cupcake Mojo. I thought they had some of the most beautifully decorated cupcakes as well as, most importantly, the best tasting. I had one of their Strawberry Margarita cupcakes and loved the fresh strawberry and lime wedge decoration on top!

One of the more interesting flavors I saw in the room happened to be at the table next to mine - his Bananas Foster cupcakes were decorated beautifully and I kept hearing people rave about them over and over:

Those of us who brought cupcakes were able to get early entry into the Armory - this is what it looked like as all the bakers (professional and amateur) set up their tables. Amateurs were on the outside and professional bakers were set up in the interior rectangle of tables.

Andrew and I were able to walk around and check out the other tables - we were excited to see one of our favorites, Party Favors!

I had to give a shout out the "C-Cups" team - I thought they definitely won for most creative cupcake business name, and their cupcakes were delicious to boot:

I didn't stay with my cupcakes for most of the night but I did feel obligated to stay with them for a short period to see if people had questions. Actually, it felt like people felt shyer about grabbing one while I was there so I didn't linger long:

Andrew took this time to take shots of how crowded the Armory became - and yes, that's me in the bottom left hand part of the screen. What I didn't mention is that Andrew's parents Tom and Charlotte made it out for the festivities to show their support and got a kick out of meeting Jen since they were familiar with her Beantown Baker blog from reading mine.

We lasted for two and half hours and waited until all my cupcakes had been taken before we left the armory. It was still really crowded as we left, even though there were a lot of tables that were out of cupcakes at that point. We were surprised to see that there was still a line of people waiting to get into the Armory (standing in the rain) as we walked out the door.

You don't think we walked out of there empty handed, do you? I had the foresight to bring my cupcake carrier, and we filled the top with a variety of different cupcakes with the intent of sharing with my sister Amy (I have to give a shout out the lemon blueberry cupcake you see in the corner, I don't remember which amateur baker made but it was one of my favorites of the night). I also held back a few of my praline cupcakes so Andrew and I could share a few with our coworkers the next day).

All in all, while it was a bit stressful preparing and baking for the event, it was also a lot of fun and I can't wait to participate in next year's Cupcake Camp! I picked up a couple of tips this year on what to do (mainly, make mini cupcakes so people can taste your cupcake without committing to a full one and pick unique flavors and ingredients to tempt people into trying a cupcake) and hope to be better prepared next year.