This afternoon, Independents Hall hosted cupcakecamp, an event inspired by the successful distribution of "open source cupcakes" at barcamp. I missed barcamp, and nearly missed cupcakecamp as well. While I suspect others (notably Roz and nohx) had mentioned it in my hearing, it never quite sunk in as something I needed to do.

Then Alex Hillman tweeted about it at 1pm today, and suddenly I was arrested by a deep and abiding need to be There. At. 3pm. With. Cupcakes. So I did that thing.



Before the hordes.



DIY cupcake zone.



Each one with an original haiku!



My contribution.

I had no powdered sugar, no cupcake papers and no time to buy either. This did not bode well. But the blender did a fine job powdering the brown sugar I had on hand. And the underlying recipe is a tried and true one, so the cupcakes pulled away from the pan nicely and plated with little trouble. The frosting was initially runny— too much liquid, a total n00b mistake, I know better! But the walk to the #57 bus in the cold was exactly what was needed and the frosting set nicely.

What kind were they? Leftover Obama victory champagne-cakes, of course. What else?

At first they went slowly, being rather modest in appearance. Then somebody said "heymf thesemf aremf fullof mmfl champagne" and they flew off the table. I was tracked down in the conference room and roundly congratulated. Pshaw!

(If you thought that was yummy, kids, imagine licking the spatula... holycrap, I'm still shimmering in multiple dimensions here.)



Pumpkin-themed foodstuffs are your best entertainment value.



A tasty selection. Includes Lucy's chocolate stout cupcakes. I had a special moment with my chocolate stout cupcake. People could see us but I just didn't give a damn, ya know?



Midway through the carnage.



The grisly aftermath.

Not pictured, also awesome: strawberry and blueberry mini-cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

This event was awesome. And free. And full of cupcakes.

One comment: phrases like "open source cupcakes" do lead me to expect sharing of recipes and other open source-y activities. I was surprised to find that no one else had brought their recipe along. I'm not particularly concerned about cupcake vendor lock-in, though, and if it's a monopoly, it's a delicious one.

Tags: cupcakecon, cupcakes, dessert, indyhall, philly