Jessie Oleson, also known as Cakespy, recently upped the ante for filled cupcakes by creating…a cupcake-stuffed cupcake. I do not kid. She really made cupcakes that were stuffed with an even smaller cupcake. We have the picture and the recipe to prove it.
Those cupcakes are full of it...and by it we mean more cupcakes. (photo courtesy of Cakespy and Serious Eats Recipes)
While the news about Cakespy opening her own gallery broke last month, the Cakespy Shop grand opening was only just this last Saturday. Since I live down the street from Capitol Hill’s newest cupcake art space, I go to stop by and join the party.
Cakespy Shop was packed by a rotating crowd of well-wishers and art buyers. I expected there to be a good crowd (we do love our cupcakes and cute art in this town), but this was a really good showing even taking that into account.
I admit, the Cakespy appeal was probably helped just a tiny bit by the free Trophy Cupcakes and complimentary performance by Mr. Cakespy’s band, Exohxo. The cupcakes were delicious and adorably appointed with images from Cakespy’s “Scenes from Capitol Hill” series and Exohexoh’s charming melodies and singing violins made a lovely accompaniment.
Exohexoh: I can't believe that an 8 person band could fit in this store, but they did it.
Cuppy at Bimbo's, an awesome burrito place on the Hill
Mr. and Mrs. Cakespy outside the shop & hipstercakes outside of Neumo's, a neighborhood nightlife fixture
Mrs. and Mr. Cakespy (Jessie and Danny Oleson)
Cakespy with her totally badass mural of a pie and cupcake throwdown
A small selection of the shop's sweet merch
Hurray, Cakespy Shop is open for business!
The biggest winner of last weekend’s Cupcake Camp Seattle was the Hope Heart Institute: 5,000 cupcakes donated by 70 bakers and consumed by nearly 1,000 people raised $5,276.50 for the charity in just three hours. Carrie Middlemis, owner of Cupcakes Couture and one of the organizers of the event, says, “For our first year we estimated maybe we would have about 300 people attending. We were blown away by the response and already planning to make it bigger and better.”
As for the competitive prizes, see below or Bella Cupcakes’ post on the winners. There were three competitive categories, Most Unique Ingredients, Best Seattle, and Healthiest, with a Professional and Amateur division within each category. Last but not least is the youth division’s best cupcake prize. And of course no competitive cupcake event is complete without a cupcake eating contest (you can see the video here).
(most pictures courtesy of Barbie Hull Photography)
PROFESSIONAL DIVISION:
Most Unique Ingredients
1st: NY Cupcakes / Limoncello with Raspberry drizzle.
2nd: Rocket Queens /”War Pig” Chocolate cake, smoky chipotle, bacon; topped with white chocolate buttercream and candied 
bacon.
Honorable mention: Kimm of Spitfire- Kimm-chi (Korean pickled cabbage) with grated carrot, zucchini and ginger frosting. Sweetened with agave nectar.
I guess first and second prize must’ve tasted really good, because I don’t think that those are particularly unique ingredients, though I admit I may be jaded by the flavor proliferation of the Seattle cupcakery scene . I still say that if you’re giving prizes for the weirdest stuff you can put in a cupcake and still be edible, kim-chi definitely takes first prize.
Best Seattle:
1st: : Bella Cupcakes / Pacific NW Sustainable Granola NY (left)
2nd: NY Cupcakes /Orca Whales and salmon (middle)
Honorable Mention: Rocket Queen Cupcakes / Unhappy Hipster – my favorite! (right)
Healthiest:
1st: Immortal Bakery / Banana with Honey and Cinnamon
2nd: Kimm of Spitfire / Vegan delight Banana-Orama (not pictured)
AMATEUR DIVISION
Most Unique Ingredient
1st: Tina Campbell / Strawberry Pop Rock (right)
2nd: Ronnie Porter and Nicole Lucas / The TCB Velvet Elvis (not pictured)
A banana, chocolate chip cupcake with peanut butter frosting and a slice of bacon on top. A treat the King would have surely loved.
Honorable Mention: Anisha Hathiramani, Rootbeer Float (right)
Best Seattle:
1st: Ani and Amber Butler / Uptight Seattleite (left)
2nd: Melynda O’Brien Captivating Creations/ Ferry, Orca, Seattle scene (middle)
Honorable Mention: Vicki Bushnell / Destination Seattle (right)
Healthiest:
1st: Teigan Walker / Red Goat- Chocolate beet cake with goats cheese frosting and candied beet. (left)
2nd: Jana Bailey-Bailey-Hessler (The Cake Diva) / Vegan Chocolate Mocha (right)
Personally, I think that the Red Goat should’ve gotten an special prize for unique ingredient too – I can’t say that I’ve ever seen goat cheese and beets in a cupcake before.
YOUTH
Best Tasting/Design Kids
1st Choice: ? Unknown, Space Needle with Whale; (left)
2nd Choice Tie between Jazzmyn (middle) & Tycie Engberg (right)
I was particularly impressed by the youth category…kids in grade school did better cupcake decorating than I ever could. I salute the next generation of cupcake makers!
The official cupcakes of the Seattle Mariners :)
My hometown is just full of cupcake news this month. Cakespy got the scoop that Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, is now also home to some gigantic gourmet cupcakes. The stadium just revamped their concessions stand menus and decided that they just couldn’t leave out our favorite baked good. Cupcakes at the ballgame, cupcakes at the art gallery…where will they show up next, Seattle?
Here are a bunch of pictures from my Saturday adventure at Cupcake Camp Seattle: 5,000 cupcakes, 70 bakers, mobs and mobs of cupcake fans. I met some great bakers and ate a lot of delicious cupcakes – more on both those topics in the next few days.
art by Cakespy (who else?!)
In my time writing with ATC, I’ve seen a lot of things cupcake: clothing, tattoos, furniture, events, drawings, and of course the genuine article in many shapes and sizes. What I have not yet seen is a cupcake-themed art gallery. Until now.
The beloved Emerald City-based and cupcake-themed artist Cakespy just bought her own art gallery in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. As of April 1st, Cakespy, a.k.a. Jessie Oleson, and her husband became owners of Bluebottle Art Gallery. They will keep the gallery open as they transition and will have a grand-opening/re-opening party on May 8th when Bluebottle officially merges with Cakespy Shop. As you might expect, the event will feature cupcakes as art and in their edible form.
I think cupcakes are pretty great. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be writing for All Things Cupcake, right? But it takes something special for me to bestow an “OMFGBBQ CUTECAKES!” award. CakeSpy has it…CakeSpy, in fact, takes the cutecake.
I first discovered CakeSpy a few years ago at I Heart Rummage, a local artist swapmeet that goes on every other month at Chop Suey (Capitol Hill, Seattle). I stood at the booth for at least five minutes paralyzed and making cute noises over freakin’ adorable drawings of wee little cupcakes living their little cupcake lives: checking the interwebs at a coffeeshop, falling in love, and running from zombies. It made my week. 
Turns out that CakeSpy (aka artist and writer Jessie Oleson) not only does prints of the wee lives of cupcakes, she also have a blog and plenty more merch. I mean really – what says awesome like a hip cupcakes and unicorns tee in the closet, a cupcakes and unicorn checkbook in your purse and teeny-beeny cupcake and unicorn magnets on the fridge?
