Cupcake addicts feed their sweet tooth at 'camp'

SAN FRANCISCO — There's no hiking, canoeing or singing by a fire. But there might be marshmallows.

At CupcakeCamp, the focus is on sweet eats.

Devotees of the classic — and oh-so-hip — dessert have found a new way to congregate and consume dozens of cupcakes. The gist? Get lots of people and cupcakes together in one spot. Do a bit of swapping and a lot of eating. That's as complicated as it gets.

Ariel Waldman, a San Francisco digital anthropologist, first tossed around the idea as a joke. She and her friends love cupcakes and love enjoying them together. So, why not get organized about it?

That was in 2008, when Waldman and a few friends launched the first CupcakeCamp in rented office space. The only rules — bring cupcakes, share cupcakes, eat cupcakes. All for free. They expected about 40 people.

About 300 showed up.

A camp they held six months later was even more packed.

"Everyone reached in and grabbed them before they touched the table," said Mia Armas, who was attending her second camp in San Francisco. "We pictured it as the Black Friday of cupcakes. We were kind of scared."

Since then, CupcakeCamp has taken on a life of its own. Last year, there were 15 camps held everywhere from Philadelphia and Seattle to Sydney and Montreal, and future events are planned for Seattle and London.

"I think it's a very San Francisco-Silicon-Valley thing to constantly be coming up with crazy, random ideas," Waldman said.

Waldman and her friends quickly learned that the events are only as good as the organization behind them. Now, participants must detail in advance the quantity and flavor of cupcakes they will bring, as well as whether they will be homemade or store-bought.

This way, organizers can come up with a schedule and bring out a batch at a time. They've also added a bake-off element, with best in show type contests.

When people started asking Waldman how to organize their own camp, she and her friends launched a how-to Web site at cupcakecamp.org. Group members, all of whom have other jobs, hope to keep CupcakeCamp going as long there's demand.

"I love going through photos of CupcakeCamps around the world and seeing everyone smile and enjoy themselves," Waldman said.

Waldman's last camp was in October along San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront. The gathering hit an all time high with 730 people devouring 3,000 cupcakes in three hours.