Leave it to me to wait until the very last minute to participate in something! As some of you may have heard, Cupcake Camp is coming to Orange County. Others of you may be thinking….Cupcake Camp? Yes, Cupcake Camp! The concept for Cupcake Camp originated in San Francisco and promotes a true spirit of community and sharing, and Cupcake Camps now happen around the world and come in a wide variety of flavors and sizes.  They’ve taken place in Paris, Montreal, Boston, and New York to name a few.  The most essential feature of a Cupcake Camp is that it brings people together to share their love of cupcakes!  It’s open to professionals, amateurs, and even first time bakers. Cupcake Camp O.C. has a goal of raising awareness and money for EL POZO. EL POZO (the well of life) is a non-profit organization that was started in Mexico in 2010, with it’s purpose to work towards ending human trafficking and slavery in Mexico. So, what does that mean for you….CUPCAKES, of course! Over here at Two Parts Sugar we have a huge place in our hearts for charitable events and while we can’t always do everything we would like, we do try to help out as much as we can. Not only that, but if we are going to take part in something, we want to do it big. Have I caught your attention yet? Keep reading….all the way to the end (lots of opportunity to help).

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.

You’d think I was baking for the president or something! To me, this was even better. If you follow my tweets/FB/Blog posts, you know I am obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba, er, uh, I mean my girls are obsessed, um, yeah. Who could resist falling in love with a show that brings your children so much joy, right? So, I get an e-mail from Laurie Cromie who runs the Gabba Friends website. This site is amazing. Anything you want to know about YGG from party ideas, to tour updates, to well, anything, it’s the place to find it. Anyway, Laurie e-mails me, after seeing our infamous YGG cake (which she posted on the site) and requests a cake for Parker Jacobs upcoming birthday. Yes, Parker Jacobs. I know, I had to google him too. Parker is the Art Director for Yo Gabba Gabba! He also was the Senior Design Director for Paul Frank and Professor for the Aquabats. I just about died laughing while reading his profile on Linkedin which stated his job interests as the following: my kids, organizational development (not really), strategic napping, corporate financial paychecks, extreme slurpee sipping, community (Church) theater, semi-professional networking, internet web research, canoeing, international travel, special cake baking, friends that like skiing, Disneyland history, listening to people reading novels, playing the ukulele. He also has a pretty sweet blog you can check out here.  Oh and check out this “Daily Doodle”! 

So, Parker’s cake…Laurie tells me he requested a “Big Pink Cake” as seen in The Cat in The Hat. The flavor….cherry chip. She attached an image and let me run with the flavor. I had no idea where to start with the cherry chip. I started thinking of the ice cream, chunks of cherries and chocolate chips. Then, I noticed a box of Duncan Hines Cherry Chip cake mix while down the baking aisle in my local grocery store. It would be perfect. I scowered the internet for cherry chips and experimented with icings until I thought what I had was just right. So, here’s the new flavor:

Parker Cherry Chip (yes we named a flavor after him, cause he’s just THAT rad!)….vanilla bean cupcake with cherry chips mixed in, topped with vanilla bean buttercream and cherry ganache drizzle….So Yummy!

Me, cake, Parker and daughter

Laurie is SO sweet, she made it a point to get in touch with us the following day, here’s what she ahd to say!

“I just wanted to thank you again for the wonderful cake! Parker and all of his family and friends LOVED it! Even the caterers were asking about it! Parker’s youngest daughter said, “Daddy, it looks like a cartoon!” which was the point! And the flavors were sooooo delicious! You did the most amazing job! Everyone raved over your cake, and I mean everyone!” -Laurie

“One of the most amazing things about the party was this CAKE. It was PINK & Suessy. The most delicious cherry chip & vanilla bean cake… So Good!! It was a Parker dream-cake…My favorite…And you know me and cake…     So, I’m a fan….” -Parker Jacobs

It was so special to me to be able to create something for someone who has created something so special for my girls (yes, YGG was created for MY GIRLS…lol!). Parker, from our family to you…we wish you a very happy birthday and a big thank you for being a part of our favorite show!

We have been soooo busy! Here’s a few thing we have coming up, and all I can say is INSANITY! 

First, if you haven’t seen yet, we’ve got a newline of goodies…GLAM BITES! These are our gourmet treats all glammed up ready to hit the town! They are available in all colors and all treats! (The pictures don’t do them justice!)

Also, be on the look out for these cool cakes: Lacrosse cakes, Teddy bear minis, Money bags cupcakes, Damask cake, Turntables cake, pink/black vintage cake, Angels baseball cake x 2, Plumeria wedding cake, Sesame Street cake/cupcake combo…just to name a FEW! 

AND….

We’ll be taking our treats to the VIP BOOTH at TASTE OF LADERA….THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS gifting suite at the SLS Hotel…..the AMERICAN IDOL FINALE…and more soon to be announced!

I still can’t believe all the opportunities presenting themselves and am so thankful to all of our customers and supporters.

What a fun theme! I absolutely LOVE doing new cakes/cupcakes…keeps things interesting. This one was for Ellie who was turning 1. The theme…Snoopy! Fun right? So I began to search for cakes to get ideas and sent over some images to Ellie’s mom. She immediately fell in love with Julie’s (Blue cupcake) cake. Side note: I have admired Julie’s work since I first started doing this. Her work is AMAZING and she is such a sweet gal! OK, so it was a simple cake…not to much could be changed, but we did our best to tweak it just a tad. We also made coordinating cupcakes with Snoopy, Woodstock, Snoopy’s dog house, and some #1s. Once assembled on the stand, it all came together and looked fantastic. 

“The cake and cupcakes were a hit! Everyone, myself included, just loved the Snoopy decorations you created.  So cute! Not only that but they tasted delicious, especially the raspberry red velvet. Those were gone so fast that my husband didn’t even get to try them, haha!”  

-Ellie’s Mom

How appropriate I get a request for my second set of Sex and the City (which I thought was Sex in the City….I don’t watch much TV!) with the Sex and the City sequel coming out! I was contacted by a repeat customer and she told me she wanted to order the Sex and the City cupcakes for her mom’s birthday. It was a last minute order, but we try and take care of our repeats. So, I told her I could squeeze her in. I was SO excited to do these cupcakes again. I was determined to put a twist on them this time. Instead of the red and gold I thought pink, pink, pink….what could be more appropriate right? So, I got to work brainstorming and made some changes. We did a silhouette of a heel vs. a 3D shoe, changed up the purses and added  a sugar rim to our martinis…cute right! I deliver the cupcakes and start talking to the customer about how excited I was to be able to do these again and how I LOVED how the pink looked….apparently the dinner was decorated in the red and gold!!!!! Yikes! She said they were “still cute”. Every day is a learning experience for me in this business. I am still just getting my feet wet and will never again overlook confirming the color scheme! (Sorry Thi!) So, here’s a look at the first and second set of Sex and the City cupcakes!

This past Sunday a huge article ran in the O.C. Register about my business, my family, my life. It gives you an insight of what I’ve gone through to get Two Parts Sugar up and running. I am truly blessed to have such a supportive family, friends and following. I truly love you all. A special thank you to Teryl Zarnow for writing such an amazing article and really capturing the heart of Two Parts Sugar.

From Sweat to sweet

Only a certain kind of woman is willing to mix it up and go head to head against guys in a wrestling match. You might not expect it to be the same woman who now bakes cupcakes for a living – but it turns out they require the same ingredients.

The tenacity to score on the mat is not all that different from the tenacity you need to make a business into a winner.

So call this a story about what happens when sweat meets sweet. To me, though, it’s that familiar tale of a young mother juggling family and work. Mothers who learn how to fit their dreams around their children know how to grapple with life.

Monica Serratos, 28, wrestled at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa. As one of two women on the team, she wrestled mostly guys in the 103 or 112 -pound weight class.

She didn’t win a single match in her first year, but that only made her work harder. By senior year she was team captain.

Monica met her future husband, Fernando, on the wrestling team at Golden West College — and that’s where three babies come in.

Monica is primed to tell me about all this, plus cupcakes and the Academy Awards, but 3-month-old Angelica announces – loudly — she’s ready to eat. There’s no arguing with that.

Monica fell into baking the way women fall in love: opportunity and attraction to something sweet. She was working weekends and nights at Macy’s, and wanted to start her own business. Then her sister took a culinary class and Monica sampled some recipes.

“I liked the cake on one and the icing on the other,” Monica recalls. “When we put them together, it was gold.”

First, she experimented with recipes – a little more egg here, a bit less oil there. A good cake is moist, not over-baked, with icing that isn’t overly sweet. One result is her signature raspberry red velvet cake.

“This is my passion … when people pop a bite into their mouth and their reaction is ‘Wow!’ you’ve created this little bit of dessert heaven.”

For a year she explored the idea of a baking business. She took some classes in cake decorating and discovered she was good at it – very good.

Monica began selling her creations to friends and their friends and suddenly realized: “I guess I’m in business.”

Two Parts Sugar (www.twopartssugar.com) launched in December of 2008. Listening to Monica explain how she hustles to build her business is exhausting.

Less than a year after launching, a very pregnant Monica was competing (and losing) in the first episode of the Food Network reality show, “Cupcake Wars.” Yes, she admits, she spent one crazy evening with power tools building a display stand for her cupcakes.

Twice she’s accepted the annual LA Cupcake Challenge, passing out thousands of samples so the public can eat and vote. The first year Two Parts Sugar won a second place and bragging rights for its (suddenly) “award-winning” cupcakes. In February, she won a third place for her chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes.

She’s already diversified from cupcakes into other sweets and aprons. With marketing help from her brother, Monica tweets and blogs and looks for every advantage.

When the Academy Awards came calling, Monica didn’t hesitate. She pulled several all-nighters to bake mini-cupcakes for tasting and “swag” bags for stars visiting the gifting suite.

She’s tasted other cupcakes. With no modesty she says:

“Some of the cupcakes out there made me realize that what I have here is fantastic.”

An entrepreneur and mother, Monica knows all about juggling her time. Most mothers mentally barter with our kids, trading more favors than a backroom politico: If we accomplish one chore for me, later we will do one fun thing for you.

Monica trades a morning at the park for a run to buy ingredients or make a delivery. She packs Alicia, 3, Anabelle, 2, and the baby into the car and tells them it’s time to make a trip. She bakes; they bake with an Easy Bake Oven.

After the girls’ 8 p.m. bedtime, she heads to her Irvine-based kitchen to work. Her time is her own until 6 a.m. when the kids wake up.

“I tuck them into bed. They know Daddy is here and Mommy has to go to work.”

No problem – if you don’t require sleep.

And here’s where wrestling comes in. This is a grueling schedule. To meet it, Monica calls upon the same focus and drive she needed just to finish a practice.

“Some nights I’m baking and I’m dead tired and I tell myself: All right, it’s overtime. I need that extra bit you have to give.”

Endurance counts. She’s taken a self-taught, crash course in business: setting prices (too low), buying supplies (no longer at the grocery store), packaging and marketing.

So far, Two Parts Sugar is barely profitable. The deal with Fernando is that she needs to at least cover expenses and pay the family’s bill for health insurance.

Monica is selling cupcakes, but she’s buying herself time.

Right now, her business is the freedom to stay home days and weekends with her girls. But she has ambitions: maybe her own storefront bakery one day, maybe a little saved for the girls’ education. She would like them to finish college.

“I am setting an example. My girls can see it’s important to be independent and be able to support themselves and not have to rely on anybody else.”

She wants to build a successful business. She wants to be a successful mother. She wants more hours in the day.

All mothers wrestle with that.

Wow, THE Academy Awards! Last weekend we attended 2 different gifting suites at The Academy Awards. It was a whole lot of plotting, marketing, last minute details and oh, LOTS of baking. Here’s what we took with us….

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.

A little while back we were contacted by a woman who requested some cupcakes for a company fundraiser. Everyone was contributing something to raffle to help raise money for The Haiti Earthquake Relief. She thought our cupcakes would be a perfect fit. We love to participate in things like this and immediately jumped on the opportunity. We donated 3 dz cupcakes in an effort to help raise some money for this organization. I later heard back from her and she said they were a hit. They were able to raise $1,200.00!

We are thrilled to have been a part of this fundraiser…it’s kinda why we do what we do, after all they are just cupcakes. Don’t get me wrong, they are definitely not JUST cupcakes….I mean they are my passion, my livelihood, my life. But when you look at the big picture, there are so many other things that are more important. We can’t wait until we are able to help in bigger and better ways. Until then, we will continue to help out the community and other non-profit organizations as much as we can. Who knows, maybe one day we will be able to start our own charitable non-profit organization!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Two Parts Sugar is headed to the Academy Awards. Okay, Monica, breathe. It’s still amazing to me how this even happened.

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.”

Where to even begin…..the beginning? So, we got word the 2010 LA Cupcake Challenge was coming up and immediately we began to plot on our flavors and presentation. We originally had an idea to coordinate one of our flavors with The Real Housewives of Orange County. We were able to get in contact with Jo De La Rosa and put our efforts in to full swing. We pitched our idea to her and it didn’t quite fit her personality and who she is today. She was super sweet and we all came up with another idea in order to incorporate a little bit of who she is and combine it with our yummy cupcakes. Thus the “Two Parts,” one part “naughty,” one part “nice” was born. We came up with flavors that we thought were representative of both “parts”.

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.