Bake for the Quake

With over 650 attendees, it’s safe to say that Bake for the Quake was the biggest bake sale in Vancouver’s history.

Joy (Gourmeted.com) and I (GourmetFury.com) spent 3 sleepless weeks organizing the event. What we initially thought would be a little bake sale erupted into a community frenzy.

We were astounded by the media’s support (thank you thank you) but what really fueled us were our bakers‘ enthusiasm, our sponsors‘ generosity, and our volunteers‘ eagerness.

As a result, an endless line of hungry attendees, armed with reusable shopping bags and containers, came through the bake sale and bought up a storm. We want to sincerely thank everyone that waited patiently in line and remained in bright spirits. Had we anticipated the wild turnout, Joy and I would have definitely planned for a bigger venue.

I know, you want to know how much we raised for Doctors without Borders, but first…

Dear Vancouverites,

I know we step on each other’s toes sometimes.

We’re often grumpy when we forget our umbrellas because the sun was shining when we left the house.

We get cranky at the traffic jams and curse at the empty bike lanes.

We sneer at each other’s fashion faux pas or choice of ramen house.

But Bake for the Quake has helped me see my city in a new light.

This is what we can accomplish within 2.5 hours when we work together and pour our hearts into a good cause.

Bake for the Quake raised: $7,136!

We exceeded our goal of $5000 by over $2000! Woohoo! How awesome is that?

Next time, it’ll be bigger and better. No, no more earthquakes, but we will still team up for another fantastic fundraiser for a different worthy cause.

I have little more to say than thank you thank you thank you to all of our supporters. Y’all kicked some seriously ass and should all beam with pride.

See all the action, captured by our official photographer Tomasz Wagner of Mananetwork.

Check out other blog recaps:

VANCOUVER DAZE: Bake for the Quake Japan Earthquake Fundraiser at Yaletown Roundhouse

SOLD OUT at Bake for the Quake by Karra Barron

Bake for the Quake – Japan Fundraiser by our photographer, Mananetwork

Bake for the Quake Recap – Foodology.ca

Bake for the Quake – What’s for lunch BC

C&C does Yaletown – C&C Cakery

Fundraiser: Bake for the Quake – Want Magazine

Hello lovely people! Last night was an incredible success! With 650+ attendees, it’s safe to say that it was the largest bake sale in Vancouver’s history. We are still tallying the exact amount we raised and will announce it within a few days after the silent auction items are finalized.

Thank you for waiting in line so patiently and going home with (reusable) bagfuls of baked goods!

Special thanks to the talented bakers, tireless volunteers, and the generous sponsors.

Here are a few select photos from Maurice Li Photography , with many more in this album.

Raffle Prize Winners

We hope you kept your raffle tickets! Here are the winning numbers.

If a prize is not claimed by April 25th (Monday), we will re-draw another number so don’t throw your raffle tickets away quite yet

Hog Shack: $25 gift certificate (X3)

• 5720448
• 5720037
• 570042

Yoga Body Zen Spa Basket (coconut massage oil, lavender body lotion, lavender essential oil 5ml, sweet orange EO 5ml, meditation blend EO 5ml, lavender sea salt (bath salt), bliss meditation body spray, energizing body spray, yoga mat spray)

• 5720639

Right Invites: Pair of Love&Soul concert party tickets (X2)

• 5720079
• 5720157

Rice Magazine: 1 year subscription. (X2)

• 5720078
• 5720242

Go Popcorn: $25 Movie Gift card

• 5720291

The Beautiful Project: Designer Card Sets (X2) Value: $24

• 5720480
• 5720700

Krasicki & Ward: 72 hour Emergency Survival Kit (X2) Value: $60

• 5720562
• 5720677

Miss Kitty Creations: Hand-made scented cupcake jewelry and soap sets (X2) Value: $52

• 5720460
• 5720699

Yuimko’s “Nippon Makeruna!” (Japan, don’t give up!) prints. Signed, limited edition. (X4)

• 5702634
• 5720436

Kimberley’s Kitchen: Marshmallow gift basket Value: $50

• 5720676

2 signed copies of Hello, Cupcake! and What’s New, Cupcake? (x2)

• 5720347
• 5720606

If you won an item, please email Joy (gourmeted at gmail.com) to arrange pick-up / mailing. Some smaller items can be mailed but larger items will require picking up.

Thank you sincerely to all the volunteers that worked tirelessly at last night’s event. They were the dedicated team that did EVERYTHING from directing traffic, selling baked goods, urging people to bid at the silent auction, managing ticket sales, moving tables, setting and cleaning up, and much much more!

We want to give our special thanks to the following people. We know that more people stepped up to the plate so sorry we missed you. Simply tweet Melody and we will give you your proper recognition.

Special thanks to our official event photographer, Tomasz Wagner. Wait til you see his photos!

Sean Neild
Christophe Bonzon
Chrystal Pearl
Beth Harris-Bohl
Carole Dedhar
William Fu
Stella Lee
Misha Enriquez
Heather Stoutenberg
Kate Wright
Kelsey Kwong
Pio + Kim
Jun Jose
Jens Haeusser
Ying Ying Lee
Cynthia
Amy Lai
Kanako Hagiwara
Daisy
Winnie
John Lim Hing
Linda Nguyen
Christina Luo

Photo by Maurice Li

It’s yours truly, Joy of Gourmeted. It’s a weird thing to feature oneself, but here’s my little blurb:

I, along with Melody, listened, read, and watched what was happening in Japan with live updates in the wee hours of the morning of March 11th. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It hit close to home (i.e. my homeland of Manila). I had friends in Japan. What do you do? How does one even begin to help? Sheer horror surrounded me and when Mel tweeted about doing something, I suggested what I knew what to do: Bake!

Here we are a few weeks later and the two of us are organizing this amazing and unique collaboration of food-minded and big-hearted people in and around Vancouver, the scale of which is still beyond me. We are just utterly grateful for the great support our community has to each other and for helping others. You can’t beat that. Although both Mel and I are have been insanely busy with organizing Bake For The Quake, I still go back to my roots for this event, to bake.

I’ll be bringing a Filipino favorite: Food For The Gods, which are date and walnut bars that will melt your crazy day away. I’m having some right now. I’ll also bring some well-loved Chocolate Crinkles and the good ol’ standby, Almond Biscotti. These are all homemade with lots of love. Smudge Bakery is my new foray into food. I’d love to have my own cafe and feed people (love it!) every day at some point, but for now, this is yours truly humbly baking from my favorite room in the house after midnight.

Hope everyone will enjoy the evening at Bake For The Quake and we thank you for your outpouring of support. This is just the kind of thing that helps other people. We can make things happen.

Please welcome Emily Seeton of Em’s Gem’s — make a stop later at her table to try her tasty treats!

My name is Emily. I love all things made with sugar and butter; add some chocolate and it’s heaven! I couldn’t let the opportunity to participate in Bake for the Quake pass by. I am excited to be part this event that brings together our local community in order to support our global community. Wednesday evening I will bring a selection of loaves, cookies, mini bundt cakes and coffee cakes. These goodies are some of my favourites for morning coffee break, with a cup of tea in the afternoon, or as a snack after dinner. Check out my products at www.emsgems.ca. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for some Easter treats at the bake sale, look no further. Jacqueline Long of iBakery will surely have something for you.

The iBakery is a home bakery specializing in creating treats for all occasions.  Jacqueline Long is a mother of two (soon to be three) and has always had a passion for baking.  The iBakery is thrilled to be a part of Bake for the Quake and has committed to donate 50% of her profits to the Cause.  Jacqueline is hoping that Bake for the Quake is one more way she can put a smile on people’s faces through her baking.  The iBakery is excited to meet new friendly faces and share some delicious Easter themed sugar cookies with everyone!

Website: http://ibakery.ca

We do have quite a great pool of talent at Bake For The Quake. Meet Wanda Chau, a Red seal certified chef with 12 years of professional cooking experience. She started her own home business in November 2008 and was at the Baker’s Market last Winter. On top of that, she volunteers with Soup Sisters and Community Kitchens. Here’s another baker with a big heart, just our kind of people.

I love to cook and bake, I cook and bake with love. They’re what I do for living and indeed I can’t think of anything else I can do better. Watching the news about Japan was devastating and I wondered how I can help beside donating cash. I follow GourmertFury in twitterverse. When she mentioned Bake for the Quake, without any question I replied right the away, “I’m in!”

I’m baking LAVENDER VANILLA SHORTBREAD and ROSEMARY PARMESAN SHORTBREAD, two of my big time favorite and biggest sellers.

Home baking brings people a sense of comfort and warmth. I hope to send Japan some love by selling my cookies at Bake for the Quake.
100% of total sales tomorrow goes to Doctors without Borders. I’m trying to bake as much as I can to raise more money and I hope to see you all. Please come down to show your support! – Wanda Chau

Website: http://www.bahbakedathome.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @bahbakedathome

Here’s something different, but equally delish, for Bake For The Quake. Meet Michele Graybeal, owner of home-based business, Hearth & Larder. Check out her marmalade and dandelion jelly tomorrow!

A California native, I was born in Berkeley and raised in Mountain View. My mother is German (Bayerisch, to be exact) and my father is American. With a Deutche mom and a jazz-listening-artist dad I developed a love for all things creative – food, art, music, dance – you name it, but with a strong willed optimism (or more accurately, blind faith). My parents fostered that creativity which helped me follow my passions throughout my whole life. Among those passions I’ve had a career in music as a professional drummer and still have a career in the animation industry as a development artist. Cooking and baking are just another avenue to express my creativity and hope someday they will evolve into a career as well. My blog is about my experiences starting a home-based business, (Hearth & Larder), making European-style baked goods to order and preserves and my exploration of recipes and developing my own. Like my life, It’s a work in progress. – Michele Graybeal

Website: www.hearthandlarder.com

SweeTease Cupcakes is a solely owned and operated local made-to-order online shop specializing in all things elegant and fun!  Cupcakes and gourmets treats with a creative flare combining great classics with new and unconventional flavours is what SweeTease Cupcakes is all about. SweeTease has been a Featured Vendor in the Vancouver Baker’s Market and has been selected for this year’s One-of-a-Kind Show.

When news spread of the tragic tsunami and earthquake in Japan, my heart poured out to the victims of the natural disaster and when the opportunity to participate in such a great and fun event – it was a no-brainer and I couldn’t wait to jump on board! From gourmet and creative cupcakes to edible flower pots, cupcake pops and creatively Japanese inspired items such as sushi cakes (you must come to see them for yourselves!) and matcha cupcakes will be available for sale! Be sure to visit me and take some “one-of-a-kind” goodies home to indulge in – the best part, it’s all for a great cause! – Cathy Wong, owner.

Website:  www.sweeteasecupcakes.com
Twitter:  @SwTeaseCupcakes

Cake pops anyone? Yes, Kristie Yuen, will be bringing you these fancy bite size pops (and pecan bites) for your sweet tooth!

Something Sweet For You is excited to be part of this event.  Once we heard about it, we knew we had to participate.  We have family and friends in Japan and donating our baked goods is the least we could do.  It’s great to see so many other people giving their time and effort towards a worthy cause and we are grateful for the chance to help and participate.

Something Sweet For You specialize in customized cupcakes and cake pops that are freshly baked from scratch and individually decorated with care.  Our cupcakes are dairy based and will not be a feature however, we will be bringing specially themed cake pops and delicious pecan bites.  We want to show our love for Japanese culture and we can’t wait to for you to see our cake pops!

Website: http://somethingsweetforyou.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @ss_fy