SOMERVILLE, Mass. – If you think cupcakes are just a fad – those bite-sized temptations, those cakey expanses calling to be frosted, the soft landing pads for sprinkles and toppings – think again.
Just ask the over 500 people who stood in line for up to an hour on Wednesday night to attend the CupcakeCamp cupcake festival here, outside of Boston.
“Cupcakes are here to stay,” said attendee Danielle. She had traveled from neighboring Brookline, Mass., to attend the two-hour festival. She spoke to Lurpak® amid bites from a mini bananas foster cupcake from a local vendor. “Cupcakes can be so moist, and there are so many flavors to choose from, even strange ones like Frito, bacon and syrup, or Guinness are delicious!”
Her sentiments – and her eager attempts to sample as many cupcakes as possible at this free extravaganza at the Somerville Armory on Wednesday night – were echoed again and again. The event, which was first held last year, featured sugary spreads by over a dozen local bakeries, each with its own distinctive flavor or theme. A handful of amateur bakers also brought their goods to the showcase.
For Lurpak®, the prevailing takeaway of the evening – outside of the sugar high – was that the best ingredients make for the best cupcakes. Again and again, the participating vendors – which included Babycakes, Cupcake MoJo, C-Cups Cupcakes, Mix Bakery, Sweet, Sugar Bakery, Treat Cupcake Bar, and We Make Cupcakes, among others – emphasized the importance of using fresh, good-quality ingredients.
What ingredient matters most? Depends whom you ask – at Cupcakory, it’s the pure vanilla extract that makes all the difference; for the baker at C-Cups, it’s “imported European butter”, and for the folks at We Make Cupcakes, it’s nothing short of “love.”
In terms of pure skill and classic mastery of the cupcake craft, Sweet, with three locations in the Boston area, took the cake with its Madagascar vanilla bean cake with homemade buttercream vanilla frosting, speckled with dots of vanilla bean and stacked high with a thick-piped frost.
Lurpak®'s favorite cupcakes - pure vanilla bean - from Sweet.
A number of more gimmicky trends also became apparent – cocktail-inspired blends (margarita with a lime squeeze, Guinness with chocolate ganache, Irish Car Bomb), banana cupcakes (roasted banana with cinnamon, toasted coconut, or peanut butter), and, of course, the seductive Southern charms of the red velvet (with or without cream cheese frosting).
The Cupcake Bar even custom-mixes frosting to order – we took ours with Reese’s peanut butter cups, white chocolate pieces, and vanilla buttercream.
After two hours of tasting, talking, and learning from the bakers and eaters in attendance, one thing was clear – this community of creative cooks and perfectionists has been galvanized by their passion for baking.
“It’s very generous to bring cupcakes to share with the community for a good cause,” said Deb, from Somerville But she admitted, “At the same time, though, a cupcake is a very selfish treat. You can eat the whole thing with zero obligation to share.”
Bakers worked hard to keep their stations stocked!
Lurpak® left the event with a head full of new recipe ideas – be sure to check our website, www.LurpakUSA.com, for new baking ideas when you are feeling inspired. Or share your cupcake ideas with us on our Facebook page!
Top 5 Cupcakes Lurpak® is Dying to Try
- Earl Grey & Honey Cupcake with Purple Bergamot Frosting – Cakeology
- Butter Pecan, double stacked! – Sugar
- S’Mores with Graham Cracker Crust – Mix Bakery
- Vanilla-Vanilla, the classic – Cupcakory
- Roasted Banana with Honey Cinnamon Frosting – We Make Cupcakes
Top 5 Trends from CupcakeCamp
- Cocktail-Inspired Recipes
- Banana Cupcakes
- Extra-Thick Buttercream Frosting
- Pure Vanilla
- Red Velvet
Top 5 Most Innovative Cupcakes
Want to see more photos? Visit our Facebook page!
- Bumble-Bee with Honey Crunch
- Bacon and Syrup
- Coffee and Donut
- Vegan Toasted Coconut
- Make-Your-Own Frosting Bar
Top 3 Ingredients
- Pure Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Beans
- Quality European Butter
- Love!
