Baker Profile: Yandira Contramaestre

In the days leading up to CupcakeCampTO, we thought we’d introduce you to our bakers by posting baker profiles…
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Yandira Contramaestre

Yandira Contramaestre is a civil engineer who has a passion for baking and has been baking since she was little girl. Her grandmother was her greatest mentor. Her inspiration comes from a variety of ideas from her home country Venezuela. Vibrant colours and rich flavors are her signature.

Yandira exchanges her safety boots & hard hat for bowls & stand mixer during her spare time. She is well known amongst her friends, family and piers for her cupcakes, they even put requests for flavours and toppings. FIESTA CUPCAKES was born after a year of baking almost every weekend and experimenting with new recipes.

Fiesta means Party in Spanish and it’s just an excuse to have a decadent cupcake and mingle with friends and family.

Yandira can be reached at fiestacupcakes@rogers.com

Baker Profile: Jean Hon

In the days leading up to CupcakeCampTO, we thought we’d introduce you to our bakers by posting baker profiles…
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Jean Hon

My name is Jean Hon from Toronto. I love to make things! Anything, sewing, knitting and obviously baking! I am NOT classically trained but I can get around in the kitchen. I first heard about bacon and chocolate a few years ago, when this crazy (yet awesome) guy would slice up bacon nice and thick, cook them, then cover them in chocolate! Since I love bacon and chocolate, I thought hey why can’t I have them together, so I finally tried it and loved it. I do admit you do have to mentally be in the “zone” in order to be able to appreciate it, so please open your minds, mouths and tummies and enjoy my chocolate bacon cupcakes!

Baker Profile: Krista Arndt (The Grand Bakery)

In the days leading up to CupcakeCampTO, we thought we’d introduce you to our bakers by posting baker profiles…
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Krista Arndt, The Grand Bakery

The Grand Bakery specializes in cupcakes and special occasion desserts. We have a custom menu of over 100 cupcake flavours, as well as the option to customize your own flavours. We use fresh, natural ingredients in all of our products, including: local farm fresh eggs, in season fruits, real vanilla, Belgian chocolate and sweet creamy butter. Everything is made from scratch and there are no trans fats or preservatives in anything we make. We look forward to satisfying your cupcake craving!

Baker Profile: Gillian Symington

In the days leading up to CupcakeCampTO, we thought it’d be fun to introduce you to our bakers by posting baker profiles…
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Gillian Symington

I am a video editor for MuchMusic who discovered the kitchen when I moved into my own home. Ever since I’ve become somewhat obsessed with the art of cake decorating. I’m self-taught and though I don’t have any culinary credentials I love to bake, create and decorate, and then of course eat! My favourite part about cake/cupcake decorating is that you get to use so many different artistic mediums all at once. I also believe that having your cake/cupcake look nice is only half the battle it better damn well taste good too! I’m very green to this cupcake adventure and am going to stick with sharing my favourite, but simple, cupcake recipes with you guys. Maybe next year i’ll bust out something crazy. I call myself the Cake B*tch and look forward to meeting all of you wonderful cupcake connoisseurs. You can also find me if you search Cake B*tch on Facebook.

Baker Profile: Lydia Bee

In the days leading up to CupcakeCampTO, we thought we’d introduce you to our bakers by posting baker profiles...
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Lydia Bee

Lydia Bee is a vegan baker with a focus on nutrition. She has studied both Baking & Pastry Arts as well as Culinary Management – Nutrition. As strange as it may seem, she has never worked for a bakery…

For Cupcake Camp Lydia will be making the “Fantastic Flax & Fibre Brownie Bite” cupcakes which are vegan, wheat & gluten free, nut free, AND a source of fibre . These cupcakes also feature a chocolate soynut butter icing and are topped with chocolate shavings, a candied soynut, and a sprinkle of sugar and flax. Each of these magnificent little morsels contain 2g of fibre , 2g of protein, and 2g of fat and are a healthier alternative to other baked goods.

The Fantastic Flax & Fibre Brownie Bite Cupcake has a superb nutritional profile compared to two leading brownies available for retail sale.

One serving consisting of TWO Fantastic Flax & Fibre Brownie Bite Cupcakes without icing has:

4g fat – compared to two Homestyle two-bite brownies which have 11g fat
4g fibre – compared to two Homestyle two-bite brownies which have 0g of fibre
4g protein – compared to two Homestyle two-bite brownies which have 2g protein

One serving consisting of TWO Fantastic Flax & Fibre Brownie Bite Cupcakes with icing has:

6g fat –compared to half of a Mrs. Fields double fudge brownie which has 10g fat
3g fibre – compared to half of a Mrs. Fields double fudge brownie which has 1g fibre (not a source of fibre)
4g protein – compared to half of a Mrs. Fields double fudge brownie which has 2g protein

The BEST part about these cupcakes is that they look and taste like regular cupcakes!