Cupcakes And Coffee Elite Event

I guess I’m a little late to the party, but I want to thank Katie B. and the good people of Duff’s Cakemix for putting on a stellar event. It was the most intimate Unilocal event I’ve attended so far, and I enjoyed myself immensely, even without the +1 cushion.
The event was on a Wednesday at 11AM, which meant I got to meet a lot of Unilocalers with non-​traditional work schedules. Very L.A. Very cool. There were only about fifteen of us total, and since we were all wearing aprons and decorating cupcakes, any ice in the room was all but broken. I made a few new Unilocal friends, and we all got to hang out with Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes himself.
Duff gets his own paragraph, because he was superfluously awesome. Hospitable and friendly without a trace of celebrity ego. I’d seen him on TV before and thought he was entertaining enough, but I guess I assumed that anyone with that much personality would be obnoxious off screen. Not at all. Didn’t roll my eyes once. He actually took time to talk to all of us and even helped us out with our cupcakes. An A+ guy.
The event lasted about two hours, and it revolved around decorating cupcakes, Color Me Mine style. We got a quick tutorial on coloring and rolling fondant, and then we were let loose with a full array of stencils and brushes and frosting tips and other cool cupcake tools. It turns out that I have zero talent for decorating cupcakes (mine were easily the worst in the room), but I had a good time.
I took home two cupcakes, a chocolate and vanilla, both layered with fondant and frosting and finally a fuck-it-all-I’d-better-cover-this-disaster layer of sprinkles. The cupcakes were ugly but good to eat, and they were a great souvenir from an excellent Unilocal event.

You had me at cupcakes. But then you said coffee. And I was double sold.
I couldn’t think of a better way to start off a Wednesday than to get together with a group of fellow Unilocalers for a «Martha Stewart meets Food Network meets child’s play» morning.
We dyed fondant bright colors.
We frosted muffin tops. The kind that cupcakes make, not the kind that falls over waistbands. Well, actually… maybe both. Who knows.
We got cake decorating tips from Duff, who cheerily worked the room, making it ever so evident that a) the guy is super chill and down-​to-​earth and b) he loves what he does, and it shows, and, c) he is a big kid at heart.
We drank coffee. Glorious glorious coffee.
We noshed on plates full of gummi-​worms and gummi bears. Duff came by and stole the blue ones.
I was particularly intrigued by the glass-​walled spray paint room. a nod to Duff”s graffiti artist roots.
This place is the perfect atypical playful date spot, a G-​rated girls day out and flat out creative fun for the whole family. Totally worth ditching a day at work for (which I didn’t do, but a little birdie told me that several people did, to make it to this mid-​week, late morning event).
You would have to be dead to walk in here and NOT feel your inner child begging to come out and play. Hey, you’re only as old as you feel.

This event was the icing on the cake of being Unilocal Elite, and also the cherry on top. Thank you, Katie B, for making my dream event a reality! I hope for all the success in the world for Duff’s Cakemix – it’s well deserved!

Colored frostings, squishy fondant, hot coffee and DuffMan, oh my!
This was my very first Elite event as well, and how fantabulous it was. Thanks to thee wonderful Katie B., it was an event I’ll remember forever!
I carpooled with Shorty H. and when you put two girls in a car with written directions, let me tell you, being lost isn’t even half of it lol. We fashionably arrived 30 minutes late, but Katie B. welcomed us with open arms! =]
We got to choose two fluffy cupcakes (there were carrot, vanilla, chocolate, and swirl cupcakes to choose from) and use all the colors of the rainbow, stencils, shaping tools, colored frostings, and fondant.
It was just a blast to try to be as creative as we possibly could! I saw some pretty awesome cupcakes coming from other Unilocalers, and I envy them! lol GRRR you talented people!!!
The staff here are so friendly and helpful, they kept making sure we were enjoying ourselves and showing us cool techniques to help make our two cupcakes awesomeness! And how can you complain when DuffMan himself comes out to help us average folks with decorating our cupcakes?! Wayyyy cool!
And as a super fan of Ace of Cakes, I was just ecstatic when I saw both DuffMan and Anna (the best female cake artist EVARRRR)!! They were down to earth, and I’m sure they were annoyed I kept taking pictures, tough noogies for them lol.
I just have to thank them for being patient with me! WOOHOO!
Just a fantabulous event overall! Thank you awesomeness Katie B. for everything! You will be loved by me FOREVER!!! ^(^-^)^

My first Unilocal Elite event — and what a way to start. You show up at a place you’ve never been, with a «closed» sign in the window. But a step through the door, and Katie and a bunch of other Unilocalers warmly welcome you (awesome part #1).
Then the staff of Cakemix comes out, and does a demo, explaining all the ins, outs, whys, and wherefores of the make-​your-​own cupcake process. There was one Caker explaining, while others at each table followed the same motions, which made it sort of like that part of a flight where one flight attendant explains the seatbelts and emergency exits, while the rest smile and pantomime along (except the shop did not actually take off at the end).
Then it’s time to go work, with all that Cakemix had to offer. It was a blast just sitting at a table with other Unilocalers, meeting new folks and talking about our design ideas, and getting to know each other.
The entire staff at Duff’s Cakemix was GREAT, very kind, very nice, and very professional. The highlight, of course, was when Duff himself came out, made sure to spend time at each table, talking with everyone there. For a number of people, he took their cupcakes himself and added some finishing touches. That’s right, you walked in with nothing, and talked out with a Duff original (well, sort of. Close enough!). Duff was great, we chatted for awhile about Maryland, L.A., and his favorite restaurants in town. He turned me on to what he swears is the best sushi in L.A. — and when I head over and review it, I’ll let you know if he was on the money…
Overall, fantastic event. Nice work, Katie, and nice work, Unilocal

By far the coolest Unilocal event I’ve ever been to. I guess it helps that cupcake decorating is like, right up my alley. The size of the event was very intimate and it was nice to get to meet some fellow Unilocalers in a low-​key setting (i.e. not standing in a 30 minute line waiting for booze).
The Cake Mix concept is really smart — it is a DIY decorating operation, perfectly arranged for small to medium size parties (I think birthdays are the obvious choice but apparently they do team-​building, bachelorette parties, anniversaries, etc.). They do the baking part and the cleaning up for you, all you have to do is bring your creativity. They had every decoration you could desire — every color of icing, sprinkles, candies, gummy worms, stencils for fondant, etc. AND, when you’re done, you can experience instant gratification if you so desire by eating your cake on the spot… or if you have some self-​control you could save your decorated goodies for later.
Duff (Goldman, of Ace of Cakes, DUHHH) was also just wandering around helping people with their creations and chit-​chatting with the people who knew him or had watched his show. It’s pretty cool that he actually works at the shop he owns and is willing to schmooze with just average customers.
And, there was coffee! Let’s do this again some time.

A little known fact about Carrie D. is that in a former life I was employed as a cake decorator. Yep… back in college I worked at Carvel Ice Cream where I churned out a multitude of Cookiepuss’ and Fudgey the Whales much to the delight of children throughout the San Fernando Valley. OK… these were not the fancy dancy fondant masterpieces produced at Charm City Cakes just humble little creations from the hands of yours truly. I have, however, always wanted to get a little fancy dancy and create a fondant covered masterpiece of my very own… enter Unilocal,Katie B., Cakemix, and the amazing Duff Goldman.
Yep, thanks to all of the above I was able to live out my fondant fantasy and make my very own fancy dancy cake creation… oh and meet one of my foodie fangirl idols Duff… at Cakemix. This place is like the Wonkaland of delightful do-​it-​yourself creative cakery!!! Pick your edible canvas (we were given cupcakes.) Dye some fondant. Grab some decorating bags of colorful frosting. Chose your edible doo-​dads, glitter, candies, etc. And then cut, mold, squish, and stick to your heart’s content. And believe me, my little cake decorating heart was more than content!
And just when I thought my little heart could not be happier, I got to meet Duff! He was sooooooo nice! He was walking around saying hi to people, chatting, and helping them decorate their cakes. He complemented my cupcakes and that pretty much made my day… week…year…OK, maybe life!
It was awesome as always to hang with my fellow creative Unilocal friends and meet some new faces! Many thanks to the always amazing Katie B. (and The Bun,) the lovely staff at Cakemix, and my foodie fangirl crush Duff. This event was truly EPIC!!!
I will be stalking… ummmm, visiting Cakemix often to get my fondant on!

Amagawd. Star struck anyone? Cupcakes, coffee, and Duff. Fantastic.
You really never realize how creative you aren’t until you are given endless colors, frostings, and decorations. Lucky for me, Katie B. and I «used» the gummy worms and gummy bears for tummy-​filling purposes which gave me a but of a sugar high and led to some baseball and beer cupcakes that made me proud.
When I do go here again, I will have a full blown plan in place with drawings and schematics in order to achieve maximum decoration.
Thank you so much Katie B. Couldn’t have been better!

Got to love the Duff man!
It was great seeing everyone go creative and decorating these cakes made me realize… don’t quit my day job! XD. My feeble attempts at making a captain america and batman cupcakes was saved by Duff’s airbrushing the cupcakes.
Overall, love you Duff!

Cool new cake spot! Think «Color me Mine» meets «Bakery» meets «Coffee shop» lol. Loved how intimate and low key the event turned out to be. We all pretty much had one-​on-​one time with Duff (Ace of Cakes) as he worked the room and chit chatted with everybody. Very fun and easy going guy. I had fun meet
It was lots of fun making our own cupcakes but staring at a blank surface doesn’t help lol. I don’t know how these guys do it all the time but it took me over an hour to get my 2 done hahaha. I did like learning how to work with fondant, shapes and painting it all :). It also helped that I was surrounded by creative people who shared ideas!
Thanks Katie B for a fun event as usual! Never a dull moment at these things! I’m definitely excited to come back here and decorate a cake myself! I’m pretty sure this will be a great place to bring my nephews as well :)

Team Duff!!!
This was probably one of the smallest Unilocal events I’ve even had the pleasure of attending and this was the perfect way to spend a mid-​week morning/​mid day.
First of all… Chef Duff!!! Ace of Cakes!!! Hello!?! I love that guy!!! He’s also super cool and easy to talk to. He helped me figure out how to make a hula girl cupcake :)
Cakemix is an awesome place to get creative. The staff is friendly, helpful, and encouraging. They provide the cakes, the tools, and the decorations and you’re free to go to town or as I like to say, get your fondant on!
My fondant-​y cupcakes came out very girly:
Katie B., you’re the best for setting this up! Also, major thanks to Chef Duff and the staff at Duff’s Cakemix. This was a fun mixer!
…ahem! get it? mixer? ;D