A behind the scenes look at the Chicago Grandbaby Cakes launch party celebrating my new cookbook. Â Photos by Chuckstr Photography.
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Last week was the official launch party of my cookbook (or my baby as I like to call it) Grandbaby Cakes at Room and Board (thank you Zapwater Communications) in Chicago.  I could not have held my party at a better location than Room and Board.  It was beyond my wildest dreams amazing! YumSquared even won a special raffle of a $500 Gift Card from Room and Board.  Can we say beyond cool?
After spending months writing a book, it was so incredible to finally be able to celebrate the accomplishment and have a bit of fun. Â And fun I did have. Â The students from Le Cordon Bleu made the most delicious treats from the cookbook (thanks to Jewel-Osco and Safest Choice Eggs for providing all of the groceries needed to feed the insanely large crowd!!), and everyone raved about them. Â Also a big thanks to Nielsen-Massey Vanillas for providing the beautiful gift bag items for the party as well!
These students are seriously talented. Â Also see those gorgeous cake stands? Â Those were provided by Nimble Well.
Aside from eating cake, though we seriously did a ton of that….
I took lots of photos!  It was so fun watching the selfies happen …….
and then more selfies……
seeing my dear blogger friends like my girl Kit of The Kittchen ….
Or my girl Afrobella who happens to be a big time national blogger…..
And Rachel of Rachel O Beauty and her lovely daughter who wants to be a pastry chef…
And my Chicago food blogger pals Laura of Blogging Over Thyme, Nora of A Clean Bake and Kristin of Baker Bettie.
Then I spoke to everyone. Â It was such a joy to explain how much writing Grandbaby Cakes meant to me and what a labor of love it was.
Sharing that joy with everyone was something I will never forget! Â P.S. Do you see that crowd??? Â And double P.S. Â Do you see that awesome Tracy Reese dress I’m wearing? Â Thanks so much Rent The Runway for making me look so terrific!
Then we had an old fashioned Cake Walk where 6 winners from the evening walked away with cakes baked from the Le Cordon Bleu students.
As you can tell, this was seriously the most fun part of the entire evening!!
Though signing books was a super close second!
A big thank you to all of my loved ones that showed up and gave so much support including my big brother who I love so much!
And of course the hubby! Â I am so blessed to have him.
Want to see more photos from the event?
Check out the hashtag #GrandbabyCakesBook on Instagram and check out the full album of photos HERE. Â There are tons more!
All Photos courtesy of Chuckstr Photography
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I am happy, proud and excited for you. Your party looks like so much fun, I’m sure eating the cakes would have been the best part for me. Looking forward to having a copy of your book. Again I’m so happy for you.
Thank you so much!
Congratulations!! You truly deserve it!
I stumbled upon your site through Yummly. How fantastic and I’m sure your book will do well. I’ll be giving your recipes a try and can’t wait to post about them. Cheers!
Thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy!
So amazing! Child, you did good is what my grandmother would hsve said…
Your Granny is smiling down on you!
Buying the book. ASAP…..
Awww thank you so much. I’m so grateful that both of my grandparents are still here to experience this!
So proud of, and happy for you! You deserve every bit of it. Love and hugs to you, my boo!
Thank you so much honeybun!
Congratulations! What an amazing book launch party! I have been seeing some amazing write-ups and recipes from your book – looks great. I will have to check it out! Much continued success to you!
Thank you so so much Monica!
Jocelyn, big hugs from acorss the country! My heart is so happy for you. What a party! And what a great post.
Thanks so much hon!
I love this post, Jocelyn — what a special evening for you! Your cakes all look so delicious, of course, too! Congrats again to you for your success with your cookbook!
Thank you so much Marcie!!!
WHAT a perfect party!!!! Omigosh I could not be happier for your! (and you look stunning btw)
Awww you are beyond sweet. Thanks so much!
J, I am beyond proud and happy for you. . this event looked amazing and wow, are you stopping to take a breath, give thanks and just take all of this in?!!! Amazing! and you deserve every minute of this, girl. I am so proud of you! Damn, now this is how you kick off a book! you are stunning and that DRESS! totally going to check out Rent The Runway!!!
Girl you need to get down with the get down at Rent the Runway. I adore them! And thank you so so much my friend!!!! I love you boo!