Cupcake Wars Comes to Campbell

There's just something about cupcakes ...
"The reach with cupcakes amazes me," says Frost Cupcake Factory owner Andrea Parks. "Every age, every type of person love cupcakes. They make everybody happy." 
She opened her shop in downtown Campbell nearly two years ago and the sweet confections have kept a steady stream of customers, regulars and otherwise, coming into her shop and all asking one question: When is Frost going to be on Cupcake Wars?
On Sunday, May 19 customers can watch as their favorite downtown Campbell cupcake purveyor makes its national television debut on the Food Network's reality show, Cupcake Wars as a contestant.
"I'm excited. I'm humbled and sick to my stomach," Parks says. "I feel extremely lucky to have gone to this. It’s such a big deal for me and my little cupcake factory in Campbell.”
Parks and her head designer Ashley Ingoglia squared off against three other cupcake shops in the country--The Cakabakery from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lynnette's Cakes and Catering from Annandale, Virginia and Pattie's Tiny Cakes from Grand Junction, Colorado--and made delectable desserts such as "Butternut Squash Cupcakes, with cranberry compote filling and sage-cream cheese frosting and Apple Cheddar Cupcakes, with jalapeno-apple filling, topped with vanilla butter frosting for a chance to win $10,000.
"I am so lucky to have had Ashley there with me," Parks says. "She is the hands that create what’s in my brain. She’s amazing and was the perfect right hand person to take to something like this."
Ingoglia has worked for Parks since the shop opened its doors in July 2011. She says that the experience and excitement of being on the television reality show is something she will always remember but that the challenges that go along with competition left her anxious and stressed out.
Neither of which were evident as she spoke to Patch with a smile on her face.
Customers seeing the Cupcake Wars banner go up in the store window have also been sharing their elation. 
(Check out what they had to say on the Campbell Patch Facebook page here.)
Sarah Felker and her daughter Abbey and son Matthew watch the TV show to see all the interesting creations and can't wait to see their local cupcake shop this Sunday, May 19.
"We watch it all the time and it will be nice to see Frost," Felker says. "It's someplace you can come and support."
The cupcake reality television series is something Parks has watched in the past as well. Before opening her shop downtown, Parks watched as four pastry chefs from around the country competed against one another in three elimination rounds.
"It was inspirational, fun and interesting to watch," she says.
After becoming a business owner and getting to work on the cupcakes, her perspective on the show changed.
"It would make me sick," she says with a laugh. "The feeling of stress when I thought to myself, 'How do they do that?' 'How are they going to do that?'"
But even so, the possible exposure of being on the show was too much to ignore and, with the support from her loyal customer base and family, Parks applied and got on the show.
Although she cannot comment on any details or specifics of the show until after it airs on May 19, Parks does say that the expectations versus experience were different.
"I expected that they would think I was so awesome and funny that they’d give me my own show," she says with a hint of playful sarcasm. “I was nervous and scared but thought it would be fun.”
Instead, the pressure and stress of the competition, along with her own drive to succeed made the experience intense.
“The fear of failure was real," Parks says. "I’m pretty sure it was the most stressful day of my life but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”


The viewing party takes place on Sunday, May 19 from 4-6:00 p.m. at the Sonoma Chicken Coop upstairs dining room in downtown Campbell. The Cupcake Wars episode featuring Frost Cupcake Factory airs at 5:00 p.m. Friends, family and customers are all invited to come watch their local cupcake shop compete on the Food Network. Mayor Evan Low will also be in attendance.    

Viewers are invited to head over to the cupcake shop afterwards for a post-airing open house with cupcake samples and cupcakes for sale at Frost.