Cupcake Camp OC 2011: The Judges

The 2nd annual Cupcake Camp OC is only a few days away and I'm so excited! Not only do I get to taste the best cupcakes in Orange County, I get to hang out with some awesome people too.

I was asked to judge again this year and I'm honored to be judging alongside some amazing people. Here are the other judges:

Annette Starbuck, founder of Goodie Girls Cupcakes and winner of Cupcake Wars.

Stefanie Gaxiola, aka "Red Velvet Stefanie" and "Platinum Blonde Chef." She also appeared on an episode of Cupcake Wars.

Jason Iehl and Kim Nelson, editors of Saturday Night Foodies and food connoisseurs. I've judged with Jason and Kim at several other cupcake events. They are fun and know their food.

You can read more about the judges here.

Cupcake Camp IE: The Winners

I gave an event summary and you met the judges, but I'm sure you're more excited to see the winners of the cupcake competition!

Professional Competition

Best Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer Themed Cupcake
Ah How Sweet/Loriann Serna: Save Second Base

Most Unique Ingredient
Truly Madly Sweetly/Cathryn Howard: Creamy Dreamsicle

Tastiest Cupcake of Cupcake Camp Inland Empire
The Cake Mamas/Janelle Copeland & Fabiola Gomez: Autumn Apple

Amateur Competition

Best Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer Themed Cupcake
Desiree Massei: Pink Velvet Cupcakes

Most Unique Ingredient
Sue Ann Molina: Ube and Macapuno Cupcake

Tastiest Cupcake of Cupcake Camp Inland Empire
Stephanie Starbuck: Chocolate Cupcake w/Chambord Buttercream

Cupcake Activist's Pick for Best Cupcakes
Truly Madly Sweetly

My thoughts: I was very surprised at how many delicious cupcakes were entered in the competition. There always seems to be one or two yucky ones that sneak in, but this time I had a hard time not eating the whole cupcake! Congrats Inland Empire!

Before the competition started, I had a chance to walk around the room and view all of the booths. One booth really stuck out in my mind, not because of the display or fancy decorations, but because I somehow knew these cupcakes were going to be good. The cupcake shop is called Truly Madly Sweetly. Before I went home I was able to sample five different flavors of their cupcakes and I fell in love! The biggest winner of the event (to me) was Truly Madly Sweetly. Although their store is in Murrieta, I want to visit it soon so I can share their cupcake goodness with others!

My pick for first runner-up was The Cake Mamas. Their Autmun Apple cupcake was awesome, especially the brown sugar frosting. They recently opened a shop in Glendora. I hope to visit their shop soon too.

Cupcake Camp IE: The Judges

Meet the judges of Cupcake Camp IE

I was honored to be asked to participate as a judge at Cupcake Camp IE. I have to admit, it's my favorite job. There were four of us that got to taste the cupcakes in the professional category. You can see the full bios of the judges here, but I'll give you a quick summary.

Evelyn Evires: radio co-host of "Jeff and Evelyn in the Morning" on 99.1 KGGI. She was named the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's 2010 "Woman of the Year" for helping to raise over $61,000.

Me: you know me. My claim to fame is that I LOVE to eat cupcakes.




Jason Iehl and Kim Nelson: aka Mr. and Mrs. Saturday Night Foodies. They publish restaurant reviews on their website and have recently organized Drive Out Hunger, a two-week canned food drive to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.




The other three woman judged cupcakes in the amateur category.

Vicky Figueroa-Torres: Board of Directors Public Policy Chair Inland Empire affiliate of Susan G. Komen.

Yvonne Ojeda: Board of Directors Education Chair Inland Empire affiliate of Susan G. Komen.

Ro Zinniger: owner of Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio in San Marcos, CA.

OC Cupcake Classic: The Cupcakes

A cupcake competition is not only about taste, it's about looks. A cupcake needs to look pretty enough that someone would want to taste it. At the OC Cupcake Classic, we judged the cupcakes based on taste, originality, and creativity.

I've already explained about the event and introduced the judges, so let's get to the good part: the eye candy.

When I walked into the room, I immediately started salivating. So many cupcakes up on the stage! Several people told me that they were jealous that I got to try all of the cupcakes. Yeah, I have a good job.

I was extremely amazed by how beautiful the cupcakes looked! There are some very talented bakers and decorators in Orange County.

Surprisingly, there were only three entries in the professional category, but that doesn't mean they wowed me any less. So much detail went into these cupcakes, I had a hard time breaking them apart to eat them.

As I mentioned yesterday, I got to judge the professional and youth categories. I was so surprised at how creative the kids were in decorating their entries. They did a great job!

This OC Fair-themed cupcake was part of the amateur category. Great idea to decorate with the theme of the event!

So many cupcakes, but only a few of them can come out of top. Tomorrow I will reveal the winners of the first OC Cupcake Classic.

OC Cupcake Classic: The Event

The OC Fair's OC Cupcake Classic was the second cupcake competition I've judged this month, but both events were completely different from one another.

The OC Cupcake Classic took place at the Exhibitor Promenade Stage at the OC Fairgrounds. I was surprised to see a large crowd of people waiting to watch the event. I didn't realize it would be so crowd-friendly.

Photo: Angry Julie

The tables on the stage were lined with cupcakes. I was definitely ready to begin partaking of the cupcake deliciousness.

After we introduced ourselves to the audience, the judges took their seats on stage. Since there were so many cupcakes to try, each judge had a group of cupcakes to taste. My only regret of the event was that I didn't get to try ALL of the cupcakes!

I was given the opportunity to judge the professional category and the youth category. The other three judges split the amateur category, since that's where the majority of the cupcakes were entered.

Photo: Angry Julie

I have been asked many times if I have a special technique for tasting cupcakes. I do. The most important part is cutting the cupcake in half first. You don't want to miss out on some hidden filling! The event organizers provided water, fresh lemons, and saltine crackers for cleansing our palettes.

Photo: Angry Julie

There was a video camera on stage which displayed a feed to the audience. I've never been watched so closely when judging cupcakes before. I was careful not to make any weird facial expressions, although Monica and I were having a great time chatting too.




Most of the entrants were in the audience, as they had to drop off their cupcakes a few hours before the event. It was so fun to see how excited the entrants were to have us taste their cupcakes. After each cupcake was sampled for judging, the event organizers walked the plate of not-eaten cupcakes around the room so the audience could get a closer look.

Tomorrow: a close up view of the cupcakes!

OC Cupcake Classic: The Judges

It's definitely cupcake season! During the past month, I have eaten cupcakes at some kind of event every weekend. Good thing my I've upped my triathlon training or I would be gaining some serious pounds.

A few months ago I was asked to be a judge at the OC Fair's OC Cupcake Classic. Of course I was thrilled because I LOVE the food. So much good food in one place! Saturday was the big event. Unfortunately my husband was out of town, but my brothers and friend were there to support me and take pictures.

The OC Cupcake Classic is a cupcake competition that is open to everyone. There are three categories to enter: Professional, Amateur, and Youth.

You can't have a cupcake competition without some judges. So I'll start my coverage of the event with the introduction of the judges:

First: me, the Cupcake Activist. You all know me.

Next, one of my favorite Orange County cupcake bakers, Monica Serratos. Monica is the owner of Two Parts Sugar, but you might recognize her from the hit Food Network show "Cupcake Wars." Monica was a contestant on the pilot episode that aired in December. I know Monica from all of the cupcake events we've attended together. Not only is she super sweet, but she makes a delicious raspberry red velvet!

Photo: Angry Julie

Another well-known judge was Nancy Luna, writer of the Fast Food Maven blog for the OC Register. Nancy's column reports on restaurant trends, culture, and trends. I've been featured in her column several times. Although we've corresponded many times, this was my first time meeting her.


The last judge was Babette Pepaj, founder of Bake Space, a social network for foodies. Bakers can swap recipes on the website and build friendships, based on their shared love of food.

Photo: Angry Julie

I had a great time getting to know these ladies and sharing our love of cupcakes. I felt honored to be judging with such big names in the food world. More details about the event coming tomorrow...

Cupcake Camp OC: The Judges

This was not my first time judging a cupcake contest, so I knew exactly what to expect. I knew I would start feeling a sugar rush around cupcake #10 and a sugar crash around #25. I was prepared: milk, camera, notebook, cupcake necklace.

Since there were about 90 cupcakes entered in the competition at Cupcake Camp OC, the judging was split into two categories: amateur and professional. The three judges for the amateur competition tasted 56 cupcakes, while the professional judges had to taste just 35 cupcakes. It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it. Meet the judges...

Judges for Amateur Cupcake Competition
Holly Wong: food blogger at the Michelin Project and writer for Examiner.com.
Tara Settembre: lifestyle blogger of When Tara Met Blog and founder of LA Cupcakes Meetup Group.
Molly Taylor: owner of The Sweets Truck.

Photo: Saturday Night Foodies

Judges for Professional Cupcake Competition
Priscilla Willis: writer for OC Family and She's Cookin'
Elise Wallace (me): founder and chief editor of CupcakeActivist.com
Tiffini Soforenko: co-owner and chef of Yummy Cupcakes

With so many delicious-looking cupcakes everywhere, I was anxious to start tasting. Stay tuned for more coverage and results.