So, here’s the run down: while the event is technically FREE, a suggested donation of $10.00 is asked upon entrance. Remember this is for charity and you’re lucky to get 3 cupcakes at some bakeries with $10.00. Already a win/win if you ask me. You’ll have access to cupcakes from lots of local bakeries as well as others participating who just love to bake! I have to tell you I was giddy with excitement when I found out Cupcake Camp would be happening in my backyard (not really in my backyard…..well, you know what I mean). I knew we had to participate and do it BIG!

We will be organizing a raffle where you could win BIG! I’m talking $1,000.00 BIG! 

The Two Parts Sugar GRAND PRIZE raffle will consist of the following:

100 decorated cupcakes

100 accent cupcakes (sprinkles/colored icing)

A 6″ decorate cake

A custom cupcake stand

-OR-

A cake valued at $1,000.00 

Not only will you be entered to win the GRAND PRIZE, but with every ticket purchase you will receive a coupon (coupon code if purchased on line) for 10% off you next order from Two Parts Sugar.

Tickets will be sold for $5.00 in the Two Parts Sugar booth the day of the event (please stop by and say hi even if you are not purchasing a ticket). You can also purchase tickets by contacting Monica via e-mail: monica@twopartssugar.com. We will then send you a confirmation and throw a ticket with your name on it in our raffle jar (to be drawn day of event). ALL proceeds go to EL POZO. Contest is open to all Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties. But wait, we didn’t stop there!

We will also be offering our signature “I bleed buttercream” T-Shirts (photo coming soon) at the event and on-line (until 7/31/10). Purchase a shirt for $20.00 and we’ll throw in a raffle ticket and a 10% off coupon! Again, ALL proceeds got to EL POZO.

Available in a variety of colors with white print.

Yes, there’s MORE….we will be debuting a NEW FLAVOR we have been wanting to do for over a year now(just waiting for the right occasion)! Not only that, but any cupcake we sell in that flavor from now until the end of the year, we will be donating a percentage of the proceeds to EL POZO!

So, let’s sum it up…$5.00 raffle ticket gets you a chance to win $1,000.00 worth of baked goods and a 10% off coupon towards a future purchase. Or buy a T-shirt for $20.00 and we’ll include the raffle ticket and coupon. You’ll be sampling a brand NEW FLAVOR and if you order some goodies in our new flavor, a percentage of proceeds goes to EL TOZO. You’ll meet lots of cupcake lovers and taste lots of yummy cupcakes. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will be helping great cause. 

Diabetic, don’t like sweets, on a diet, no worries, you can still participate. The organizers of Cupcake Camp OC are accepting donations! LOVE to bake? Don’t be shy, sign up and bring some cupcakes down to help raise awareness and money! 

Those of you not on a diet can enter the CUPCAKE EATING CONTEST!

Bottom line, a bunch of wonderful people are coming together to do something selfless and raise money for a good cause. Be a part of it and I’m living proof, karma will thank  you later.

*Grand Prize is valued at $1,000.00. Can be redeemed for one cake OR a 6″ cake, 100 decorated cupcakes, 100 accent cupcakes, and one decorated stand. Decorations subject to difficulty/time involved. Delivery/set up may or may not be included depending on circumstances. Open to Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and LA counties. Date of redemption dependant upon availability.

For questions feel free to contact us here or call Monica 714.651.9769.

SO many pics….where to start? The invite: I obviously wanted to incorporate the theme, but wanted to keep it modern and clean…went with the circle Gabba faces for most of the decor.

I guess we can go on to the goody bags….I chose colored buckets and made the faces of each character on the appropriate colored bucket. I then filled the bucket with some goodies: an apron they would be painting later, a windmill, a 5 page coloring book (one page of each character), a squirt gun (we had an inflatable water slide), a baggy of water balloons, and a bag of crayons and YGG stickers…each tied up with a black ribbon. They were finished off with name tags that read “My name is —– I like to dance!” The buckets also doubled as candy storage when it came time for the pinata!

So, next we had some decorations…You can never go wrong with coordinating streamers hanging from above, but I wanted to Gabbafy it. So,I made double sided faces of each character that matched the invites and strung them from some black ribbon.

On to entertainment….Along with a giant water slide we rented (and ended up purchasing…Yipee!), we had giant water blasters, big bouncy balls, a kiddie pool, and a plex sprinkler (we never used cause it needed a hose and that was already being run to the slide). Oh, and did I mention the games? I made a pin the eyeball on Muno (pretty self explanatory right?), as well as a “Party in my tummy” Brobee bean bag toss (bean bag food and all). One of the awesome moms also volunteered to paint faces, you’d never guess what the request of the day was….THE CAKE!

Ok, next hmmmmm…the centerpieces! These were my favorite! Originally I was going to paint the Gabba Lands and characters on containers but, I have 3 kids and a limited amount of time. So I picked up some clear plastic painters buckets and some paper, went to my computer and hit print. I then stuffed the buckets with tissue paper and popped in some rice krispie treats decorated to look like the characters faces….TOO CUTE!

Next, the pinata! My daughter’s favorite character is Foofa (the pink one) so I mad her a Foofa pinata. I found a Bratz pinata at party city on clearance for $5.00 (yes $5.00!) and grabbed a bag of pink tissue paper and went to town. I glued on the new tissue paper and cut out a face and eyes and viola…Foofa, fa Foofa, fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa Foofa! And yes…all my girls had on very colorful swimsuits to go with our theme! 

Now on to the yummy stuff…..Dazzle berry lomonade anyone? In one of the episodes of YGG Muno’s mom makes “dazzle berry lemonade”, so we served some up. Of course we had to include polka dot cups and colorful squiggly straws to go with!

I tried to adapt each character into a goody…all thought up literally the day before and made with whatever I had lying around the house!

Foofa oreos, complete with her signature flower.

Muno chocolate covered pretzels (and yes, I know I spelled it wrong on the label, I didn’t even realize until I was writing this blog)!

To top it off, here are a few more pics (as if there weren’t enough already) that I loved to pieces…ENJOY!

Another all-nighter produced lots of mini cupcakes for guest to indulge in. We took our vanilla throwback, chocolate covered strawberry, haute hostess and raspberry red velvets. They were a hit! They were so well received, for a minute we actually considered renaming our raspberry red velvet cupcake the “oh wow”. It seems everyone that popped one in their mouth responded with a joyful “Oh WOW”. We took boxes of 4 cupcakes, one of each flavor for guests to take home. We had contributions from a few people who really helped pull our “swag bags” together. Chico bag was amazing in contributing 100 eco-friendly bags screened with the Two Parts Sugar’s logo! These bags are awesome. They are made of 99% recycled material and are super roomy. We also had contributions from Sugar Cat Studio providing 100 sets of cupcake wrappers to be included in our “swag bags”. Lastly, Dazzle & Chunk provided the cutest cupcake necklaces.

I was able to take my big brother Juan who has contributed so much to the business with his technological smarts and creative ideas. Also, my sister Maria who contributes occassionally with baking and recipe ideas and sister Alicia who helps with all the extras. How fun to be able to share this experience with them.

I’ve been getting some questions about the people we were photographed with…No, I didn’t get shots of Brad Pitt, or Hale Berry with our cupcakes… Was I disappointed about that…NO. What I did get out of this experience was more than I could ask for. I met some really grounded and amazing people. People who loved our cupcakes and who were really interested in the story behind Two Parts Sugar and what we stand for. I have to mention a few people who really stood out to us: Jackie Tohn, American Idol finalist and recording artist and actress…she has a great sense of humor and is awesome. Another favorite is Ben Decker, actor, fashion model, song writer and super fun guy. Lastly, Jordan Johnson, singer, songwriter producer, also a sweetheart. We have generated some business from this event, including requests for samples from other gifting suite organizers and magazines, and requests for our cupcakes at other awards shows! It was a lot of work, but well worth it. It really was an exciting experience and just so fulfilling to have everyone really enjoy what we brought to the table.

               Ben Decker                      Jordan Johnson

If you are interested in placing an order, you can contact us here. If you are interested in more information about our business or would like to have us at an event you can view our media kit here.

Best Traditional
1st Place:  Big Man Bakes “Red Velvet”
2nd Place:  Blue Cupcake “Sweet and Salty Vanilla”
3rd Place:  Southern Girl Desserts “Red Velvet”

Best Original
1st Place:  My Delight Cupcaker “Breakfast Cake”
2nd Place:  Jus Minis “Caramel Banana”
3rd Place:  Two Parts Sugar “Chocolate Covered Strawberry”

Best Overall
1st Place:  Jus Minis “Caramel Banana”
2nd Place:  My Delight Cupcaker “Breakfast Cake”
3rd Place:  Two Parts Sugar “Chocolate Covered Strawberry”

So there you have it…we took 3rd place in the Best Original category and what we were most excited about was taking 3rd  (out of 54 cupcakes) in the Best Overall category. Congratulations to all the bakeries who attended…it was an accomplishment just baking all those yummy cupcakes and presenting them along side all of your beautiful displays. To all the other bakeries who placed…awesome job! Again a super-duper big giant thank you to everyone who helped….you all played a huge role in our success.

So, back in November I received a call from a man that literally changed my outlook on life. My family and I were dealing with some personal issues that made me feel like my world was falling apart. I don’t think I can even begin to tell you about the intensity of running a start-up business, not to mention balancing it with a husband, a household, and three children. Needless to say it can be overwhelming. This particular day (keep in mind I had a 4 day old baby at the time…so emotions/hormones were all over the place) I had a breakdown. I didn’t know if this business was what was right for me or our family…I was having second thoughts.  I gotta tell you, I think that way a lot…no, really, A LOT. But, at the end of the day, I think about the smiles our creations bring to peoples faces, the opportunity to give back, and really, I just LOVE doing what I do. Also, it seams as though when ever I am super swamped with work, or having a “moment” of doubt, something fantastic happens. Well this time, it was a phone call.

A few hours after my “meltdown” I get a phone call. I answer the phone…the man on the other end asks for me. I say hi and he starts in with a proposal for a booth at the Academy Awards. I just kinda brush it off and explain we are still somewhat of a start up business and do not generate the capital to fund an event like  this. He then puts me on hold to speak with his business partner. He gets back on the phone and says he may be able to “work” something out. Long story short…WE ARE GOING TO THE ACADEMY AWARDS!

We will be participating in the Academy Awards Gifting Suite and supplying our yummy goodies to the “stars”. We will also be putting together some “sweet” swag bags which will include some goodies from Kitchen Couture, Sugar Cat Studio, and Dazzle and Chunk…we will share with you soon! We are so grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait for the event!

For all of you out there…bakers or not, please realize the lesson here. When you feel like your world is falling apart, realize good things can still happen. If you are doing something you absolutely love, don’t give up on your dreams. My dad always said “if it were easy, everybody would be doing it.”

Our “naughty” cupcake was our chocolate covered strawberry, a rich chocolate cupcake topped with fresh strawberry buttercream, sprinkled with fresh cut strawberry pieces and then we dipped that little sucker in chocolate (although we were running out of time the day of and some ended up with just a dollop of chocolate as opposed to the dip). Our “nice” cupcake was what we call the Vanilla Throwback, which was basically a play on my all time favorite cupcake growing up….rainbow chip. It is a moist vanilla cupcake infused with vanilla bean, topped with our vanilla bean icing with rainbow chips mixed in (ahhh…the memories of my first grade cupcakes). Fun right? Well, we didn’t stop there. Michele from Kitchen Couture who has created a line of aprons to be sold exclusively through our site (*coming soon) designed the cutest apron to go along with our theme…it was of course reversible with one part reflecting the “naughty” side and one the “nice”. Wait, there’s more…Alison from Sugar Cat Studio designed some super cute wrappers for our cupcakes too (1,400 to be exact!!!).

Speaking of the 1,400 wrappers, we also did our trademark toothpick toppers…that’s one for each of the 1,400 cupcakes we made. Let’s do the math here…1,400 toothpicks, double sided= 2,800 cirles that need to be printed and cut out…glued together and then this year we decided to add some bling, that’s 1,400 mini pearls/black rhinestones glued to each topper…yikes! We made 3 stands for each of the two flavors which were adorned in the same fabrics/embellishments as the apron and wrappers. It was a lot of time consuming and tedious work, but we loved how it turned out!

The week leading up to the event all three of my little ones were sick, so it was in and out of urgent care all week long (as they could not all just get sick the same day…had to be every other day to keep me on my toes ) Needless to say between family life and business it was a crazy week. The night before my husband tended to the kiddos while my sister finished up last minute details, and I headed off to the kitchen to start baking. Start time: 10:00 p.m. …finish time, literally to the wire…1:00 p.m. I had not realized how long it was going to take to dip each of those cupcakes…eeeek! So, about half of them missed their dip in the chocolate pool and were drizzled instead. Lesson learned. Oh, and…all our our liners began to peel away from the cupcakes, at that point there was really nothing I could do about it. I have to be honest…it looked so awful I was ready to throw in the towel. I thought about everyone that had contributed and realized quitting was not an option. Then, I remembered we had those gorgeous wrappers from Sugar Cat Studio and they would disguise the flaw! I headed home, we loaded up, I kissed the girls and we were on our way (2 hrs later than planned). I had planned on getting there extra early to choose a good spot and have everything up and ready well before the doors opened….oh well.

We arrived and parked in between Fairy Cakes Bakery and Meringue bakeshop. I was thrilled with our spot because I follow them both on twitter and had been wanting to meet them. So far, so good. We started assembling our display and quickly realized it was taking much longer than planned. We were still putting out cupcakes when everyone started rolling in. It was so busy. I don’t remember last year being such a mad dash. We were a lot closer to the door this year, so I think that may have had something to do with it. Feedback was great and I’ll admit I was very nervous this year, much more so than last year. When it’s your first go around, no one really expects anything…we had been in business for only 3 months, so if we hadn’t placed, it’s not like anyone would notice. This year we have lots more customers and cupcake pals, so the pressure was definitely on. I just decided I would not let the pressure get to me…we had a fun theme going and just wanted to have a good time. I finally met all these people I felt were friends due to our connections on Facebook and twitter…Elise: The Cupcake Activist and hubby, Nichelle from Cupcakes Take The Cake (Rachel was there too but I didn’t have the privilege of meeting her), all the participants, my neighbors Kerena and Kristen, and lots of facebook fans. It was really pretty neat.

The cutest Two Parts Sugar fans ever

I am now realizing as crazy as this event is for all of us bakers participating, I love it! It is so much fun to meet other people as passionate about this business as we are. All the attendees are awesome and so friendly I can’t say enough good things about everyone attending. And, I have to tell you this is definitely a group effort….I couldn’t have pulled it all together without the help of my hubby running to get me all the last minute things I needed and for being SO patient…My genius of a brother for all of his creative ideas…My sister (coworker) for all the tedious details she helped finalize…My mom for helping me with the girls and keeping me sane…Michele from Kitchen Couture and Alison from Sugar Cat Studio for really pulling the whole look of our display together. YOU GUYS ROCK! All in all we had a blast and can’t wait until next year!

I also want to personally apologize for not delivering on our special guest Jo De La Rosa….We literally found out on our way to the event she was not going to be able to make it due to personal reasons. We appreciate her participation and wish her all the best.

…Two Parts Sugar and the L.A. Cupcake Challenge, of course!!!  On February 20^th the cupcake innovators of Two Parts Sugar will be teaming up with Kitchen Couture and Sugar Cat Studio to compete for the title of best cupcake in all of southern California as they go head to head with 18 other bakeries and cupcake winner hopefuls.

This year we are hoping to leave a lasting impression on the competition with our signature flavors & unique presentation. While yes, we are ultimately there to win, we really wanted to focus making it fun for everyone. We decided to play off of “Two Parts” Sugar…one part “naughty” one part “nice”.   Our booth will not only feature fun & sweet cupcakes, but we will be bringing “sexy back” with a very special guest who will help glam up the competition.  We will be hosting special guest & recording Artist Jo De La Rosa (formerly of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County and Date My Ex).  The up and coming artist will help us showcase our delectable treats – essentially putting the “icing” on the competition.  Every woman can relate to the naughty and nice side of their personalities.  Even the sweetest person is capable of being a little mischievous at times, and our concept is to deliver something that most people can relate to.” Our love of cupcakes and quest for fun, plus De La Rosa’s captivating charm promises that spectators won’t be disappointed.

From the cameras to the stage

Jo De La Rosa is best known for her starring role on the BRAVO mega hit “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”  Jo starred in seasons 1 and 2 of the show where she played herself as the sexy newcomer to the gate-guarded and ultra-exclusive community of Coto De Caza.  With the popularity of her character, Jo continued on, landing her own show on BRAVO called “Date My Ex” in which fans got to watch the misadventures of her dating life as she moved to L.A. to pursue her career in music.

With pop culture’s high demand of reality television, recording executives took notice of Jo’s singing and dancing talent on the show and offered her a record deal, transitioning this Latin beauty from the cameras to the stage.  Jo’s first album, Unscripted, was released in summer of 2008.  Jo is currently back in the studio writing and working with producers on her second album.  Her new single, “A Good Thing” is due to come out in Spring 2010 with a brand new music video. She is also the new face for the Fall 2009 handbag collection of Rough Roses which is featured on numerous billboards and buses throughout the Los Angeles and New York areas.

Don’t forget to pick up your tickets here!

As many of you following our Blog may already know, one thing we love just as much as cupcakes is our community. We love to help out where we can in giving back to help others in need. My husband has a wonderful wrestling program where he coaches wrestlers and trains them to become elite wrestlers at the high school level. He coaches kids from many different schools, including Trabuco Hills and Rancho Santa Margarita High Schools. A few of the parents who are involved with the schools contacted us about some fundraising events. We were happy to lend a hand. We were able to donate cupcakes and gift certificates to the Trabuco Hills High School Wrestling Team for fundraising events. Also, we participated in the Rancho Santa Margarita Senior Fashion Show with a donation of cupcakes and gift certificate.

While these were smaller fundraisers that were for organizations we were familiar with, we were later informed about another cause that we could help with…..The Arthritis Walk. We learned about a girl named Faith who suffered from Juvenile Arthritis. She quickly became an inspiration to us all. We attended The Arthritis Walk 1,000 cupcakes in hand and enjoyed the day with many other volunteers and Arthritis survivors. We believe in helping others when we can. We all feel truly blessed to be able to do something we LOVE and will continue to share it with as many people as we can. Zen Cupcake calls it Cupcake Karma and we couldn’t believe in anything less. 

Yesterday, we attended the 2009 Arthritis Walk and it was AMAZING! A little while back I found out about a little girl named Faith who was 9 years old and suffered from Juvenille Arthritis. Her story was so inspirational I decided we had to get involved. We started team “one part Faith, two parts sugar” and we committed to donating cupcakes to the Arthritis kick off dinner as well as the Walk itself. Well, the walk has come and gone and we could be happier with the outcome.

I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this event was. I was flying solo on this event (one sister had to work, the other is pregnant and on bed rest), but knew I could handle it. I arrived at the Irvine Great Park at about 6:00 am, 1,000 cupcakes in hand! As I walked through the event grounds I was just amazed. There were all kinds of booths and fun activities being set up. I had no idea how big this event was. I made my way to my booth and began to set up. I was done early (my display was nothing elaborate), so I went to see where I could help. I found Isella and she gave me the job of posting pictures onto this GIANT folding picture board. First, we had to stand this thing up….wish someone could have taken pictures of us doing so, cause it was a riot. Picture 2 little women lifting a giant folding contraption that was a good 8′ x8′ and weighed at least ….well I don’t know how much it weighed, but it was HEAVY!  I asked her who the pictures were of and she told me they were all people who suffer from arthritis. After she told me that, as I pinned each picture on to the board (especially the ones of the children) my heart sank a little more. I pulled myself together and completed my task. I was really starting to feel pretty good about joining this great cause. 

After posting hundreds of pictures, I headed off to my booth to display the cupcakes we had made for the day. Before I knew it, people were piling in through the gates! There were SO MANY teams and smiling faces. 

Along with the actual walk (3 mile and also a 1 mile for those who suffered from Arthritis and couldn’t do the full 3) then were tons of festivities. The morning started off with made to order omelets, doughnuts, bagels, fresh fruit, breakfast bars, coffee, juice, and water…..all complimentary! There was a stage for daily announcements and a live band, who played music all day long!  

There was a kids zone with bouncers, hockey, crafts, tattoos (temporary of course), face painting, clowns, balloon animals, bubbles, raffles, cotton candy, popcorn, candy, ice cream, and a fire truck…again, all complimentary! 

Walmart and Coca-Cola were sponsors for the event….so, there were hot dogs, chips, and soda for lunch! There were also tables with all kinds of goodies! Snacks, candy, popsicles,  banners to sign, crafts, raffles, and CUPCAKES….all FREE!

There really was something for  EVERYONE…

…it was a great event for family, friends and lots of FUN! Here are a few of the attendies enjoying some of our cupcakes:

It was so great to see such a huge turnout and everyone coming together for such a good cause. We will definitely be participating again next year and will have a huge team joining us!

Los Angeles Times “Daily Dish” just posted their views on the competition and we’re happy with the results!  Self proclaimed “white chocolate hater” Elina Shatkin raves about our white chocolate macadamia nut cupcake! When describing the event she says:

Ultimately, it was all about unexpected riotous flavor pairings and finds, though many a cupcake was undone by frosting that was too sweet and overpowered the cake. But the white chocolate macadamia cupcake from Two Parts Sugar managed to melt the arteries of this die-hard white chocolate hater.

Thanks Elina for the awesome review! We’re are so glad to hear you liked our cupcakes! 

Again, I just can’t say enough good things about this event, how it was conducted, and just how nice all the competitors and guests were.  We’ll definitely be at next year’s Challenge!