Miss Jo's San Francisco

MISS JO HAS LIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE SHED a crust of cynicism built up over years as a newspaper reporter covering politics in Washington, D.C.

With this new perspective, it was a sense of wonderment that led her to Sunday’s 2nd annual CupcakeCamp.

Not knowing what to expect, the prospect of eating free cupcakes from Bay Area kitchens seemed like a winning proposition even before she left her Glen Park house.

It was really a cupcake competition with four judges and the public invited to nosh along. Held at the Embarcadero offices of Automattic, Inc.— the brains behind the WordPress blogging platform— CupcakeCamp unfolded as a low-key, social-networking event in real time that’s totally focused on the enjoyment of cupcakes.

Aside from Automattic, sponsors included “cake gumshoe” Cakespy; cake-crazy Cupcake Swirl; San Francisco-based Cups and Cakes Bakery, Sugar Beat Sweets and Jasmine Rae Bakery; global cupcake enthusiast Iron Cupcake Earth and Mexican Vanilla. Pleasantly, there was no hoopla publicizing the event, or big banners or marketing freebies to distract from the mission: handing out artfully made cupcakes every 15 minutes at six tables. There were no loud announcements. The only refreshment was water. The judges did their judging away from the crowd. On a wall, an overhead projector posted the schedule of what cupcakes were arriving at which table and when, so you could be sure not to miss recipes like mojito with a twist, avocado dreamer, cheeseburger with onion rings and strawberry basil. There were lines, with the wait about 30 minutes to score a treat. But just standing around was fun. People chatted about what cupcakes they’d sample next and shared cupcake critiques. There was a lot of texting and if you were outside at tables 5 and 6, like Miss Jo, you were under the spell of brilliant blue skies and view of sailboats on the San Francisco Bay. There were four winners. A popcorn-cupcake with carnival topping won Best Decorated, while the Best Breakfast Inspired was bestowed on a Gruyere, Bacon and mushroom cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The Best Unique Ingredients was awarded to a strawberry-basil gem and a pumpkin spice cupcake scored Best Halloween. Miss Jo sure liked her super-chocolate black-bottomed cupcake, which was the Best Halloween runner-up, and an almond/brandy cupcake. She also had several spoonfuls of a large Cupzilla with bulging marshmallow eyes that was passed around.

Was CupcakeCamp worth the trip ? Miss Jo would go again, and gives its organizers high marks. “But wasn’t it just another form of SF viral marketing for its sponsors, like the big red yarn ball that rolled through town this summer on behalf of Ray Ban ?” Miss Jo asked herself, feeling that old reporter skepticism creeping in. Not really. Started last year in San Francisco among friends who work in high tech, CupcakeCamp now has chapters globally. “I started it with the help of my friends Marianne Masculino, Lynn LaVallee and Cindy Li,” wrote digital anthropologist Ariel Waldman to Miss Jo, describing a range of bakers who participate. “Some of the people who bring cupcakes to CupcakeCamp are professional or part-time bakers, while others are just people who want to give it a try for the first time or people who enjoy baking in their spare time.” Photos by Miss Jo