1st year + Raised $5,276.50 = HUGE Success!

Words can not explain what occurred Saturday April, 10th in Seattle at 415 Westlake!

Bella Cupcake Couture had an AMAZING response to CupcakeCamp Seattle— nearly 1000 people showed up, 70 bakers with 5,000 cupcakes AND 3 incredible quick cupcake eating contestants; all to raise $5,276.50 for the Hope Heart Institute (and of course for the love of cupcakes).

For our first year we estimated maybe we would have about 300 people attending. We were blown away by the response and already planning to make it bigger and better.

It was such a huge response that we ran out of cupcakes almost 2 hours into the event. We saw people with plates full– even when we tried to plead to share with those waiting…we could tell people just did not want to give up their coveted petite sweets. We sadly had to turn several people away. Next year we will definitely have a better strategy in place to ensure everyone gets their own share of cupcakes.

Here are some recap photos below: For a complete view visit HERE Interested in purchasing photos? Please let me know.

Video of Cupcake Eating competition HERE

We are in the process of creating a blogpost of the Cupcake Competition with winners details and photos. Should be ready in the next day or two. Thank you again for your participation and support of CupcakeCamp Seattle and the Hope Heart Institute. We look forward to bringing you more sweetness in 2011!

Carrie Middlemis; Owner of Bella Cupcake Couture

Baked with LOVE and a lot of (Hope) Heart!

Bella Cupcake Couture owes the biggest thank you for the success of our first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle has to go to all the fabulous bakers who participated in the first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle. Nearly 70 bakers donated 5,000 cupcakes to feed the hungry Seattle crowds. For all the details about how much we raised and additional event overview, visit HERE.

We were very impressed by some very creative and beautifully designed cupcakes on display. Here is a breakdown of the competition winners, some honorable mentions.

PROFESSIONALS:
Most Unique Ingredients

1st: NY Cupcakes / Limoncello with Raspberry drizzle.
2nd: Rocket Queens /"War Pig" Chocolate cake, smoky chipotle, bacon; topped with white chocolate buttercream and candied bacon.
Honorable mention: Kimm of Spitfire- Kimm-chi (Korean pickled cabbage) with grated carrot, zucchini and ginger frosting. Sweetened with agave nectar.

Best Seattle:
1st: : Bella Bella Cupcakes / Pacific NW Sustainable Granola NY
2nd: NY Cupcakes /Orca Whales and salmon
Honorable Mention: Rocket Queen Cupcakes / Unhappy Hipster



Healthiest:
1st: Immortal Bakery / Banana with Honey and Cinnamon
2nd: Kimm of Spitfire / Vegan delight Banana-Orama (not pictured)















Amateur
Most Unique Ingredient
1st: Tina Campbell / Strawberry Pop Rock
2nd: Ronnie Porter and Nicole Lucas / The TCB Velvet Elvis (currently not pictured)
A banana, chocolate chip cupcake with peanute butter frosting and a slice of bacon on top. A treat the King would have surley loved.
Honorable Mention: Anisha Hathiramani, Rootbeer Float

Best Seattle:
1st: Ani and Amber Butler / Uptight Seattleite
2nd: Melynda O'Brien Captivating Creations/ Ferry, Orca, Seattle scene
Honorable Mention: Vicki Bushnell / Destination Seattle

Healthiest:
1st: Teigan Walker / Red Goat- Chocolate beet cake with goats cheese frosting and candied beet.

2nd: Jana Bailey-Bailey-Hessler (The Cake Diva) / Vegan Chocolate Mocha

YOUTH
Best Tasting/Design Kids
1st Choice: ? Unknown, Space Needle with Whale;
2nd Choice Tie between Jazzmyn & Tycie Engberg

So many great cupcakes, it was very difficult for the judges to choose. Other cupcake flavors included: Tree Hugger Apple (JavaCupcake), Caramel Popcorn (TheCupcakeAddict.com), Lemon Kelley (Kelley Brackett), Caramel Snickerdoodle (Devon Bushnell), Mexican Hot Chocolate with Fresh Banana and Vanilla Caramel (Goodies Bake Shop), 5-Spice Parsnip (Heidi Phillips), Savory Breakfast with bacon and truffles (Marian Macapiniac), Brown Butter Bliss (Deb Vasseur), Cupcake Pops (Confection Concoctions) and so many more. Photo of: Old Time Mariners- by Justine Bushnell

The Most Adorable goes to.....

Our wonderful CupcakeCamp Seattle judges (Jessie Oleson of Cakespy.com, Melody Biringer of CRAVE Seattle, Keren Brown of Frantic Foodie, Jackie Shaffer of CakeCentral.com, Kelley Moore of Kelley Moore Creative Media and Sue Keller, Hope Heart/Dietician), the Trophy Cupcakes skirt model, and our three fast eating cupcake contestants (Gergo the Great, Jeannette the Crumb Crusher and Billy the Fridge (Champion: ate 6 cupcakes provided by Wink Cupcakes in 1 min 30 sec).

Bella Cupcake Couture thanks you again for participating in the first annual CupcakeCamp Seattle. We hope to be a part of your beautiful cupcake creations in the future. See you next year. Cheers! Carrie

To view more CupcakeCamp Seattle photos visit:

Barbie Hull Photography: HERE
username: cupcakecamp
password: 10107

Over the Rainbow (about these cupcakes)

Cupcakes are from Over the Rainbow cupcakes who just did a big wedding in Palm Springs using our Lu Lu citrus/bright pink. Beautiful!


The flavors are Pancakes and Bacon, Chocolate PB Salty Caramel and Happy Hawaiian cupcakes. Yum yum and yum!

How to Decorate a Cupcake

With all these cute wrappers to dress your cupcakes in, we decided it would be a great idea to share tips with you to unleash your inner cupcake designer! So, here we go!

Step 1: Bake cupcakes!

You can be as creative as you want at this point: use a box mix or bake your own recipe! After you take the cupcakes out of the oven, let them cool for about 30 mins. Fortunately cupcakes cool much faster than cakes so you don’t have to drool over them for too long!

Step 2: Gather Supplies!

While the cupcakes are cooling, organize any supplies that you have to decorate. Baking supply stores have many different frosting tips to help you create the cupcake of your dreams! As well as frosting tips, you will also need the following: disposable (or non) pastry bags, couplers, sprinkles, accents (like our white chocolate butterflies below), frosting spatulas, food coloring, and paper towels.

Step 3: Prep Frosting Bags!

Depending on the size of your tips, you may need to use a coupler. The coupler helps hold the tip in place while you frost. Place the coupler in the bag and push it to the very end. Use scissors to cut just above the threads of the coupler. Place the tip on top and twist the second part of the coupler over to secure. You can use a featherweight, disposable, or parchment bag. For this tutorial, we decided to use disposable.

After the bags have been prepped with the tips, you can fill the bags with your tinted frosting. In order to accomplish this without creating a mess, fold the edges of the bag under and place over your hand – see below. Then use the frosting spatula to place frosting in bag. (Note: be sure not to load your bag too full – never let it get more than half full otherwise it will make frosting more challenging and messy).

After you have filled the bag, twist the top to ensure that the frosting won’t come out!

Step 4: Decorate cupcakes!

Using different frosting tips will create different effects. For this project, we decided to stick to 4 different designs (3 of each to make 1 dozen cupcakes). Always decorate your cupcakes from the outside in and work around the cupcake. Tip: Before frosting your cupcake, practice your technique on wax paper. That way you can know how much pressure to use.

The cupcakes above were made with a star tip and with a rose tip. Make sure to take your time and go slowly. If you make a mistake you can just lick – errr – wipe off the frosting and try again!

In order to make the “swirl look” (above on left), hold the frosting bag upright and completely vertical. Move your hand in a circular motion starting on the outside of the cupcake and working your way in.

In order to make the “flower” cupcake (above on right), hold your frosting bag horizontally at a 90 degree angle. Start with the tip facing you and move it 180 degrees to make one petal at a time.

Step 5: Add accents!

Now for the finishing touches! Add sprinkles, edible pearls, shimmer dust, or melting chocolate creations! We made butterflies out of white and purple melting chocolate chips.

The best part about cupcake decorating is that you can never go wrong – your creativity is endless! Not to mention that you get to eat and enjoy them afterwards!

Captivating (Meisha) Creations

Our friends at Captivating Creations just sent us these adorable pictures of their cupcakes with our Meisha wrappers! These stylish little cupcakes look very tasty with their edible cherry blossoms and pearls to match their trendy “outfits”.

Captivating Creations is a newly started cake and cupcake company that strives to captivate you with their delicious treats, and be the ‘icing on the cake’ to your special day! They specialize in custom made cakes & cupcakes for every occasion, and they are located in the Bellevue, WA area.
They informed us they donated these 7 cupcakes and wrappers for a fundraiser auction. It raised $45 for the cause which is nearly $7 dollars a cupcake. Impressive!

For more information about Captivating Creations, click HERE. If you are in the Seattle area on April 10th, you will also get a chance try their cupcake creations at CupcakeCamp Seattle.

Catersource sells Bella Cupcake Couture in Las Vegas

We are very proud to be a product featured at the Catersource 2010 Conference & Tradeshow March 7-11 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.

The event is for caterers and planners and provides fresh and creative concepts, money saving resources and a solid business sense to grow your career and business.

Our Bella Cupcake Couture can be purchased in two areas; at their tradeshow company store and inside the retail area in the Paris Hotel. Here is a photo they shared via Twitter of their cupcake couture display.

The saying "What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" won't apply to Bella Cupcake Couture....bring some home today!

Say "No" to Naked Cupcakes

How cute is this? Jen from She Takes the Cake (Syracuse, NY) featured our wrappers in the window of her showroom.

We love how she matched her cake with our wrappers. It all looks so beautifully displayed. She is also a total sweetheart. For more details and to visit her post about Saying "No" to Naked Cupcakes; visit HERE.