Despite the heavy rain, a crowd of eager foodies waited in line outside Noe Valley's neighborhood cookware shop, Cooks Boulevard, to get a taste of ornately dressed and precisely baked cupcakes, as well as to support a local organization.

On Feb. 21, Cooks Boulevard held a cupcake tasting charity event, "Cupcakes to Celebrate," to support San Francisco Food Bank's mission to alleviate hunger in the city. Taking donations from over 100 cupcake enthusiasts, the shop was able to raise $800 within an hour, the equivalent of $7,200 worth of food, according to Sara Eddison, manager of Cooks Boulevard.

"It's genuinely amazing to see the number of people who care and want to help out," Eddision said. "People like to participate in something they can identify with."

For the past 14 months, Cooks Boulevard has been working with the food bank through its food barrel program by collecting food donations from its customers. Every time a barrel gets filled with nonperishable food items including pastas, boxed juice and canned meat, Cooks Boulevard donates it to the food bank for distribution to families in need. The local shop has filled and donated ten barrels full of food and is currently working on their eleventh barrel.
 
"It's important to us to be able to give back to the community and this is a good way to do it," Eddison said. "The Food Bank is a great organization that does amazing work, and being a cookware shop, it makes sense that we would partner up with them."
 
According to The San Francisco Food Bank's official website, one in four children and one in four seniors do not have access to enough food to meet their nutritional needs on a regular basis.

Taking inspiration from the success of their previous cupcake tasting event and a fundraiser collaboration with local bookstore Cover to Cover, Cooks Boulevard decided to combine the two concepts and hold a charity cupcake tasting event and donate all the proceeds to a cause "that matters locally," Eddison said.

Contributing to the cause, Mission Minis, a growing local gem, Moonbabycakes, an organic and vegan bakery, Teeny Cake, a Farmer's Market regular, and Kingdom Cake, a daring new bakery, provided samples to eager guests, including lemon tart, raspberry chocolate and red velvet cupcakes.
 
A big supporter of local businesses as well, Cooks Boulevard fashioned the event to provide underground bakers with an opportunity to showcase their baking talents and cupcakes to prospective clients.

The opportunity to participate in a charity event to help those in need and simultaneously promoting their bakery is "a perfect match," Chelsea Mead, owner of Kingdom Cake, said. "Networking and charity is a proven success every time, so everybody wins."
 
"(The event) was a great way to interact with the attendees as well as the other vendors, as we all share a love of cupcakes," Michelle Lane, baker and owner of Teeny Cake, said.

"It's better to shop local, to talk to someone super knowledgeable instead of going to a big department store," Eddison said.

All the cupcake bakers brought something different to the table. According to Eddison, Mission Minis had a huge fan base and was the crowd favorite, while Kingdom Cake attracted people with their incredible display. Teeny Cake wowed the crowd with their specialty red velvet cupcakes, and Moonbabycakes took the cake with their perfectly designed cupcakes.

The next charity event Cooks Boulevard is planning is a field trip to the food bank to help sort and distribute food donations to those in need.