Cupcake Camper

Hubby and I took a four day weekend to go visit my family in Illinois. It was a rainy chilly weekend in the Midwest so our original plan of going apple picking got foiled. Instead, we decided to head to the Shoppes at Grand Prairie to do a bit of shopping. It was a very successful shopping trip, especially since we saw this when we walked out of our last store.

That’s right! A cupcake camper. I know some of you have seen the cupcake trucks that go around NYC selling cupcakes, but this camper was at an outdoor mall in Peoria, Illinois.

We decided to wait outside in the misting rain to grab two cupcakes to split between the four of us. First the girl wasn’t there, so we waited a few minutes and she returned. During that time we decided on our flavors to try. We wanted to try a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and a spice cupcake with orange frosting.

All of the cupcakes were in the camper in plastic boxes behind the counter. It appears that the cupcakes are baked somewhere else and then sold from the camper. When the girl came back, she gave us our two cupcakes. I asked the girl who baked the cupcakes (hoping that she would give me the name of a bakery or something), she said “I dunno, bakers?”.

When I looked down at the two cupcakes, I asked if the one with orange was in fact a spice cupcake, and she reassured me that it was a spice cupcake. I didn’t believe it at first since the spice cupcakes I’ve made are always a dark brown color and this one was clearly white. But since she had confirmed the order twice before going to get the cupcakes, AND verified again after she gave us the cupcakes, I dropped the line of questioning.

We paid and took our cupcakes home to enjoy. They were definitely big enough for us to cut them into four so everyone could have some of each. The chocolate cupcake was a bit dry. The cupcake to frosting ratio was about spot on. We all agreed that the frosting was ok. Nothing great, but also not overly sweet or bland.

On to the vanilla cupcake. Again, we had ordered a spice cupcake and were given a vanilla cupcake. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because this was a great vanilla cupcake. Maybe one of the best ones I’ve ever had.

Overall, the Cupcake Camper experience was ok. The employee working the day we went had no clue about what was going on. As a cupcake enthusiast, this was somewhat frustrating. My dad also commented that he was surprised they had so few flavors to choose from.

Cupcake Camper does have a website that is currently under construction, and a Facebook page that you can check out. I still have no idea where the cupcakes come from, so if anyone knows, I’d love to hear about it.


Don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge going on all month.

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23 Responses to “Banana Split Cupcake”

  1. #
    1
    stephchows — September 15, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Great cupcake hero entry!!! yum!

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    oneordinaryday — September 15, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    You’re right – it’s a freaking cute cupcake! I especially love that frosting and how you got it to look like a scoop of ice cream. Nicely done!
    This is my first CH and I can’t wait till the voting begins! : )

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    3
    Amanda — September 15, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    Wow, what a yummy looking cupcake! Great idea!

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    oneparticularkitchen — September 15, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    This is ADORABLE!! I love it!

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    5
    Xiaolu — September 15, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    Gorgeous cupcake, Jen! I love how the cherry stands out. How do you get that black background if you don’t mind me asking? I’m pretty new to this food photography thing 8)

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    6
    Amy Kingman — September 15, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Yummmm!!!!!

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    7
    Jen — September 15, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    Xiaolu – It’s actually just my black table. I’ve also had luck using a plain black piece of construction paper (most of my backgrounds are the 12×12 scrap-booking papers) or a black towel to get the background all black.

    Here is an example using paper, and one using a towel.

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    Xiaolu — September 15, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Thanks! That’s really helpful.

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    Joanna — September 15, 2009 at 8:28 pm

    Yum! Great idea 🙂

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    10
    Stephanie Wagner — September 15, 2009 at 10:44 pm

    Awesome idea!

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    bcallegra — September 16, 2009 at 2:04 am

    Very creative and it looks great!

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    The Novice Chef — September 16, 2009 at 3:15 am

    What a cute idea! I love it!! And I know my nieces would be in love!

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    nutmegnanny — September 16, 2009 at 3:33 am

    Great idea…they look delicious!

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    jesstyler — September 16, 2009 at 4:08 am

    holy deliciousness! I NEED one of those! 🙂

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    Kerstin — September 16, 2009 at 4:48 am

    How creative, I love them! So cute and tasty with that cherry on top!

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    Ingrid — September 16, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Very cute looking! I like your idea.
    ~ingrid

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    lifeoftheparty — September 16, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    These cupcakes are pure genius… you’ve definitely got my vote!

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    Jigginjessica — September 17, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Cute idea! What a great entry!

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    thegreatpantryraid — September 17, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    Wow – super cute! A lot of work, I’m sure, but such a big payoff! Great job!

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    20
    Kami — September 17, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    So stinkin’ cute!

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    Caroline — September 19, 2009 at 6:23 am

    Very cute, indeed and loving the pineapple in the frosting. I can just imagine how delicious this would taste. What a great idea.

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    Keiara Wells — September 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    MMM, it looks fantastic! I’ll have to try this one 🙂 xox

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    Sweet and Savory — October 15, 2009 at 5:55 am

    These cupcakes are precious besides, I am sure, being delicious. What a great idea.

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