CupcakesEverywhere.com has had an amazing and super busy December, hence the lack of posts, but one of the greatest highlights was participating in Kids Cupcake Camp supporting Shepard’s pantry. The Cake Mamas in Glendora, CA hosted this amazing event at Glendora High School and bakers from all over Southern California and Glendora High School came out to support! Hundreds of patrons brought toys and donations and each received a nifty cupcake holder and was let loose to collect cupcakes of their choosing, take fun pictures in the photo booths and enjoy beverages.
We hosting a booth and served up six different cupcake flavors including: chocolate-peanut butter, sour lemon, coconut, mocha-fudge, vanilla-sprinkles and black and white marble. Our fan favorite, hands down, was the sour lemon which was a lemon cake, with lemon icing and a sour lemon gummy bear on top! It was so adorable!
The entire event was so sweet. Who wouldn’t want to indulge in cupcakes, take goofy pictures in the photo booths and wrap up their afternoon with a treat from the food trucks outside! The Cake Mama’s did a great job hosting an awesome event and from the looks of the toys collected, Shepard’s Pantry was able to make a few Holiday wishes come true. Many, many thanks to The Cake Mama’s for including us, we had a blast and are now following in their incredible footsteps and hosting a dessert festival in Burbank, CA! Sweet Success LA will happen on February 26 at 1pm in the Burbank High School gym and we are crossing our fingers for another sweet, successful event! (I'm loving the play on words!) We hope that you can come out and join us! To learn more, visit: www.sweetsuccessla.blogspot.com.
A December To Remember
Looking back over 2011 has been two things, very short, but very sweet. We launched CupcakesEverywhere.com in September of this year; it’s only actually been 4 months since the site has been up. Thanks to my short attention span, we have already redesigned the look of the site and the format…but I think this will stay for a while, I like it a lot. Even though the look has changed, our goal has remained the same; to bring cupcake news, cover cupcake events and in the process, bake a few cupcakes and see how we can make a difference. And with all of this, December has been no exception. This month alone has brought more outreach, more baking and more money raised than any other to date and I’m so grateful for that! We worked with some great partners and have made a lot of progress in making sure our mission is clear.
Within the month of December we partnered with some great organizations. We kicked off the month supporting the Vazquez Trust and steelo444.com, we baked over 300 cupcakes for patrons who gave over $50,000 to Steelo and Penni Vazquez, very dear friends of ours who have undergone some tragic incidents, but have come out fighting and living a passionate existence. We followed up this event with the Kids Cupcake Camp, which was simply amazing. I love watching people eat our cupcakes and I love watching people partner to make a difference. When they both come together, it’s magical.
After laboring over 600 cupcakes for both events, we guest blogged on Frosting For The Cure and we paid tribute to Cupcakes For Cancer, which is one of the big reasons why CupcakesEverywhere.com exists today. On the same day we were featured on Frosting For The Cause, we also partnered with Treasures LA to aid with their Holiday Fundraiser as they prepped to fulfill a matching grant for their organization. We closed out the month with a partnership with the SFV Basketball Tournament, where we went hard core selling cupcakes to raise funds for the High School Tournament. It was a labor of love, but again, spreading cupcakes and building awareness is what we are all about.
In addition to these events, we have also had some amazing orders to fill, giving cupcakes to cupcake lovers and we found out this month that our first dessert festival that we will solely host is a go for 2012. Get ready for Sweet Success LA in Burbank, CA on February 26, 2012. You can learn more, purchase tickets or research ways to support the event at www.sweetsuccessla.blogspot.com. I’m so excited and nervous that I can hardly type these words…it’s going to be amazing!
Frosting For The Cause
Hi! I recently was featured on Frosting For The Cause and I wanted to share my post here with you! Enjoy! :-)
When I first stumbled across Frosting For The Cause, I knew I wanted to contribute in some fashion or form but I wasn’t exactly sure how that would play out. I signed up for a date anyway and knew that when the time grew close, my story would come together and I would have an organization to support.
In September, I started CupcakesEverywhere.com to bridge together two of my favorite things, cupcakes and helping people. Oddly enough, I have found the perfect outlet. Many people ask where my obsession for cupcakes came from and while it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where my baking, sprinkle, frosting obsession kicked in, I can remember a special day that made me truly want to create this site and do all I can to help make a difference in the world around me.
Via the internet and e-mail, I meet the mother/daughter duo, Stephanie and Blake who founded Cupcakes For Cancer. When I heard their story, it not only tugged at my heart, it also caused me to want to go into action and do what I can to help in the same manner Blake and her friends do. Blake is a cancer survivor and she was only in her early teens when diagnosed. But, after Blake became cancer free, she decided to do something to help other children who are battling cancer so she created Cupcakes For Cancer. Her plan was simple, bake homemade cupcakes and sell them after school and at local events to raise money towards helping children who are going through treatment. Not only did she raise $5000 in 6 weeks but she got her community involved as well. Blake's determination has paid off as her non-profit, now 3 years later, has raised funds for The Teddy Bear Foundation of Santa Barbara, Make-A-Wish of the Tri-Counties, and CureSearch – a national pediatric cancer research foundation. Blake has raised over $65,000, granted 6 wishes for Make-A-Wish and has created a national outreach called “Frosting Hope Across America," where other children can host cupcake bake sales and donate, too! And the best part is, Blake is STILL in high school! Her accomplishments are numerous including: 2008 Spirit Award from Santa Barbara Board of Education, 2010 Local Hero award from Santa Barbara, CA and the 2011 Prudential Spirit Community Award. Blake has inspired me and many others to do something to help make this world a better place.
After meeting Blake and Stephanie, my wife and I raised over $300 to donate to their annual Cupcake Camp and we ventured up to Santa Barbara and participated in the event, too. They are such remarkable people and they have made me want to use my passion and talents to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.
I’ve had many friends deal with cancer, whether it’s the treatment process or sadly losing the battle, and thanks to Blake I’ve been inspired to do all that I can in the fight against cancer. CupcakesEverywhere.com, since beginning in September 2011, has helped raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Movember.org, and The Prostate Cancer Foundation. To date, we have partnered with over a dozen organizations and have baked thousands of cupcakes to raise money. I’m so excited to dedicate our Vegan Vanilla Cupcake recipe and this post to Blake and Cupcakes For Cancer. Thank you Blake for inspiring me to join the fight against cancer!
