The premier of Cupcake Camp in Akron is now in the history books. We had an absolute blast tasting cupcakes from over 50 bakers who brought over 3,800 cupcakes! We had enough free cupcakes to feed the large crowd who came and ate all they wanted, and yet still had some left over for meals for the homeless. Mike Miller's talented band provided fantastic music to keep our toes tapping and burn off some of the sugar. This event generated $1450 for BSA Troop 334, our charitable group who provided hundreds of volunteer hours to launch this event. Thank you all who donated money in the boy scout dutch oven! The highlight of Cupcake Camp was the announcement of our winning bakers. It was a daunting task for our judges, Lisa Abraham, Jane Snow, Susan Schwab, and Tony Kawaguchi, to taste the mountain of cupcakes. Many Many thanks for their diligent effort! But they carefully analyzed each one and made their final choices. In the Amateur division, the Best Decorated cupcake was "Campfire S'mores" by Stephanie Love; the Most Unusual Ingredient winner was "Maple Bacon Magic" by Allyson Johnson; and the Best Tasting cupcake was baked by Valarie Wallick and named "Oh My Ganache". In the Professional division, the Best Decorated cupcake was "Starry Night" by Heather Costa of Cupcake Bliss; the Most Unusual Ingredient winner was "Pancake Breakfast" by Brianna Spurrell of Honey Bee's Sweet Treats; and our Best Tasting was also baked by Brianna of Honey Bees's Sweet Treats, called "Peanut Butter Explosion" (which is true to it's name--it will knock your socks off!) This fun event has happened all over the world, and Akron is only the third site for this event in the state of Ohio. We plan to have a repeat event next April, so watch the web site for details. We will also post photos of the event here when the photographer has completed her edit. (Thank you, Kelly Barrett!) Additional photos will also be uploaded by WEWS Chanel 5 since they filmed a segment of our event and aired it on their newscast Saturday at 6 & 11. We also want to thank all of our many sponsors who made this day possible. Please check out their web sites. A big shout out to Reiter Dairy for providing the milk as the official beverage of Cupcake Camp Akron.
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| Brodie says, "I got cake; I need milk" |
Here are some of the photos that were captured by our photographer, Kelly Barrett:
Our winning bakers in each of the six categories were awarded one of these medallions; along with a gift certificate to Outback steakhouse ( courtesy of Norris &Norris law firm), a movie pass to Regal cinemas and a gift certificate to Pav's Ice cream.
"Oh My Ganache"
First place Best Tasting, amateur division
Valarie Wallick
"Starry Night" First Place
Best decorated, professional
Heather Costa from
Cupcake Bliss
Most Unusual Ingredient,
Professional division
Brianna Spurrell from
Honey Bee's Sweet Treats
"Peanut Butter Explosion"
Best Tasting, professional div.
Brianna Spurrell from
Honey Bee's Sweet Treats
"Maple Bacon Magic" 1st place
Most Unusual Ingredient
Amateur division
Allyson Johnson
"Campfire S'mores" First Place
Best Decorated,
Amateur division
Stephanie Love
More photos of some of the yummy cupcakes that we all enjoyed at this awesome event!
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| Most Unusual Ingredients |
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| Best Tasting |
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| The "cupcake mile" |
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| BSA Troop 334, sponsor of 2013 Cupcake Camp Akron |
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| Time to get the bakers registered |
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| WEWS-TV5 interview of Joe Cantwell , Senior Patrol Leader , Troop 334 |
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| WEWS=TV5 interview of Marty LaConte |
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| cupcakes that were "out of this world!" |
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| Jane Snow & Susan Parish Schwab, hard at work |
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| All four judges,Tony, Jane, Susan, & Lisa, pondering the flavors |
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| Lisa Abraham tallying the ballot |
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Mike Miller's Band preparing for a fantastic show |
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| Molly & Katie, happy in "Molly's Garden" |
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| Never too young to enjoy cupcakes! |
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| ...and that's the final remains of Cupcake Camp Akron 2013 Meet the Bakers |
My name is Briana Spurrell and I
have enjoyed baking ever since I was little. I actually started baking in an
Easy Bake Oven when I was 10yrs old. Now that I have gotten older I have
learned to make many desserts from scratch. I like to take recipes and change
them to make them my own, so that everything I produce is original. I did not
go to culinary school everything I do is self-taught!
I started selling baked goods out
of the home in 2010, and recently in June 2012 I opened a storefront which is
located on the ground floor of the Belden
Village Tower
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I started into my cupcake adventure about nine months ago, and I look forward to sharing in the first Cupcake Camp in Akron. So far, I have mostly baked for family and friends, but I am looking forward to growing my business. I like being creative with flavors, and unique combinations. Since it is a family event, I will be bringing only my delicious traditional varieties,but I also make varieties with cocktail flavors. I have a Facebook page Top Shelf Cupcakes with lots of pictures and descriptions of my cupcakes.
Kelly Renick is the mother of Joe Cantwell, Senior Patrol Leader of BSA Troop 334.
My favorite ingredients are less about their use or popularity, and more about their taste. I am not a "foodie" by any means, I like to cook traditional comfort foods, and cupcakes are most definitely one of my comfort food go to deserts. My favorite flavor combinations are chocolate and caramel, or chocolate and cherry.
If I could meet a Master Chef, it would be Chef Michael Symon. I like that he is a fellow native Ohioan and describes his approach to food as "meat-centric". I am a meat and potatoes kind of gal, and his cooking is right up my alley!
In my family I am known for my chocolate covered cherry cupcakes. They smell so delicious while they are baking, that they often disappear off the cooling rack before they are even frosted.
The first thing I ever baked was actually a microwave cake when I was 6 years old. It wasn't too pretty, but I decorated it, and proudly presented my first grade masterpiece to my Dad. Bless his heart he actually ate it!
I look forward to trying all of the different varieties at Cupcake Camp and picking up some new ideas.
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