Our senior cupcake editor, Allison Hatfield, was on special assignment, so we sent the newest member of the SideDish staff, Daniel Walker, to cover the first Cupcake Camp Dallas. Little did I know he’s a cupcake freak as well. Sugar-rush copy to follow:
Nowadays, it seems like every new sweet food trend is touted as “the new cupcake.” The truth is, in my heart and stomach, that there is not anything that can ever replace a great cupcake. Nothing compares to the harmonious marriage of cake and frosting. I resisted jumping on the cupcake bandwagon when the craze for designer cupcakes began several years ago, but now I’m riding shotgun and I’ve got no intentions of giving up my seat. Sure, it’s a bit embarrassing when your wife’s new pet name for you is “Cupcake.” However, it’s an upgrade from “Sugar Buns.” Maybe cute at home, but a bit disturbing when she shouted it across a crowded restaurant.
This weekend, the Dallas cupcake scene was out in full force as the first ever Cupcake Camp Dallas descended upon our fair city. Professional and amateur bakeries from all over the area gathered at the Royal Oaks Country Club on Greenville Ave. and displayed over 4,000 cupcakes. Participants included Society Bakery, Asian Mint, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and the highly anticipated Trailercakes (sadly their sleek Airstream trailer had to stay home). Other bakeries, all new to me, brought their A-game to this cupcake convention: The Perfect Slice, Pure Bliss, Haute Mama Dessert Co., Cupcake FabuLous, Cupcakes2You, and Crazy Good Cupcakes.
Jump for a zillion pictures of cupcakes and those who love them.
The event was organized to benefit the LEAP foundation, an organization of medical professionals who volunteer to provide health care to children in some of the poorest countries in the world. Eating my way through 4,000 cupcakes while contributing to a good cause was a no-brainer. I filled my Camelbak with milk and headed to Royal Oaks.
Deciding which to sample was a difficult task. My favorites included the wonderful sweet potato cupcake with cream cheese frosting from Cupcakes2You, the sinfully good peanut butter and jelly cupcake from Trailercakes, and the vanilla buttercream filled with cookie dough from Haute Mama’s. I also enjoyed the banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting from Crazy Good, and the unique jalapeño-lime version made by The Perfect Slice. I admit I love almost everything at Society Bakery, especially their Italian cream, but I picked Asian Mint’s orange Mandarin cupcake with pineapple whipped topping as the best overall.
I left satisfied and happy to know that the Dallas cupcakes scene isn’t waning, it’s growing. In fact you could say that the new cupcake is the next cupcake I eat at an event like this.
PB & J from Trailercakes.
