America’s Baking and Sweets Show

Being an amateur baker and dessert foodie, I was beyond excited to hear there was a show dedicated to just baking and desserts. I found on their website that if you volunteered, you received a free pair of tickets. So I decided to volunteer in hopes that I’d be able to help assist any bakers, students, chefs, or even help setting up equipment because on the volunteer application, it asks a couple of questions about your knowledge and experience with baking and what not. Boy was I very wrong.
I ended up scanning tickets for demonstration classes all day Friday and nothing else. At first, I was disappointed about it, but trying to make good of the situation, I was able to sit in on the demo classes and learned a thing or two about cakes and chocolates, so it wasn’t a complete bummer. I felt bad for my co-​volunteers next to me because they scanned tickets for the hands-​on classes and they couldn’t sit in and watch. Anyway, the instructors were very nice and I was able to ask them a couple of questions.
The hands-​on and demo classes were held on the second floor of the hotel, which were beautiful rooms by the way, but the event was on the first floor and when I checked in, I didn’t have time before the classes to scoop out the floor before the Friday rush came in. The organizers were nice, but difficult to get a hold of when issues arose and customers had to wait at least 15 minutes before we could reach someone to help them. They did give us lunch vouchers for an Italian restaurant that was there selling sandwiches, pizzas, and snacks.
When I did get a chance to check out the vendors and stage, I was surprised there weren’t more vendors, let alone baking vendors. Aside from Wilton and maybe a handful at most, majority of vendors weren’t really there for a baking business. I remember there was a water bottle stand, a balloon making stand, which I thought was cool because I’m guessing they helped decorate the them this year which was Willy Wonka, Rumchata which I’m not complaining because they were passing out Rumchata shots and Rumchata cheesecake balls, and a few other irrelevant vendors.
What really upset me the most was the lack of enthusiasm and excitement from the vendors, goers, and staff. I understand this show was smaller than expected, but it’s an event to celebrate baking, desserts, bakers all around, and anything baking related and the atmosphere felt otherwise. I got a feeling from the crowd, vendors, and volunteers of the lack of excitement and enthusiasm which I believe really killed the whole vibe.
The only good thing about it was free lunch and free pair of tickets and a t-​shirt.
I wouldn’t necessarily not recommend not going, just don’t get your hopes up like I did and expect this to only take up about an hour or two of your time.

My first AND last time at this «show»! Arrived at 11am… paid $ 15.00 to get in the door… we were completely through the whole «show» by 11:25 am. Several of the vendors had nothing to do with baking. Many had sign ups for prize draws… I missed a call from Wilton at 4pm saying that since I was not present or answered my phone, I no longer qualified for the prize. I care for my 85 year old Father and was lucky enough to have an hour or two to get a break and I chose to go to this show. What a waste… what a rip off!!!

So disappointing! Unless things change, I don’t know if we’ll be returning next year! I should have read the Unilocal reviews! Not what my friend and I were expecting! We brought our young daughters with. The best part was the kids activity by Sweet Kakes in Schaumburg! They did an adorable cupcake decorating and an AMAZING goodie bag for the kiddos! Other then that, like other Unilocalers said, it’s just vendors promoting their products. No samples, not much to buy and I really feel like the vendors were rude and not very personable. why would I buy your products if you can’t even speak to me?
They need to step up their game a little bit! Vendors, have some samples and giveaways!!!

First and last time! The WORST experience I have had in any show I’ve attended. Very very disorganized. One of the teacher for a hands on course (Zoe Clark) did not make it out. As a result refunds or a switch of class were offered to those enrolled. When arriving to the hands on courses materials had to be shared because the rooms were overcrowded with the limit permitted. While arriving to the next class I was denied admission because the class was over booked! I purchased my tickets a month before the show! When talking to the event’s organizers which are beyond rude, we were not offered our money back nor were we given a solution to our problem. I was very disappointed because this was a class I anticipated and could not attend because it was given off to somebody else! The people who ran the show tried to pass it off as if they only allow 15 people in the class but we talked to the teacher of the class and she said that the class was way above 15 and sadly those in class had to share.
For spending over $ 500 in this show it was definitely not worth it nor the quality that it should be. The service was horrid. The classes were overbooked and what were offered for the $ 150 we pay for the classes was not given due to sharing! Being denied entry as a person who purchased the ticket a month ahead was a mere example how unorganized and unprofessional this event is as the spot should be reserved because that is why we purchase the tickets ahead of time! There were not that many vendors this year. Of all vendors only a few of them had things that we can purchase that we actually needed as Cake and Dessert artists. For the ridiculous amount of fees one must pay between classes and admission, you’d expect a better quality but unfortunately this was not the case. If you can go elsewhere, go! Invest the money in shows that actually deserve it not people who only want to take everyone’s money and force you to stay in classes that are no use to you.

My original review was for the event in 2013. I just returned from the 2015 event and for this year, my rating stays at 3 stars. My review is based on the vendors as I did not stay for any of the demos or special presentations. Fortunately, I was gifted with a ticket so I did not have to pay the admission fee. I did not stay for any of the demos or special presentations. If you are thinking of attending, this year or in future years, be sure to look at the schedule because demos and hands-​on classes are in addition to the admission fee. Parking is free.
I liked the variety of vendors. There were some new and unusual products there. I got samples from vendor of the mini cannoli, toffee, thin mint, mini quiche and mini rumchata booths.
I wonder if they raise the ticket prices $ 1.00 each year since it was $ 13.00 in 2013 and now it is $ 15.00 in 2015. I hope they stop at $ 15.00 because, IMO, admission price is not worth even the $ 15.00.

The show sucked. It was very small and boring. They should have paid me $ 13 to go instead of me paying them. Don’t waste your time

Had I paid for these tickets, I would not have been a happy camper. Thankfully I got my tickets gratis through Unilocal — thank you!
My main excitement of the show was seeing Kathy Wakile from the Real Housewives of New Jersey. She was scheduled to be at teh show at 2pm so I planned accordingly to see her. Well apparently she came in the morning and there was no one at 2pm for her talk/demonstration/whatever.it.was.she.was.gonna.do. Did anyone actually see her? Maybe she just didn’t show up at all.
Highlights for me were looking over the Alice in Wonderland cakes… some were amazing. But I agree with another Unilocaler that it would be good to know what bakery designed the cakes.
Downfalls were that there were no samples to be had hardly anywhere, the show was supposed to run until 6pm but by 4pm all booths were closing up if not already packed up & gone. Honestly it was just a bunch of businesses selling their treats & products. That’s completely fine but then there should be no cost of admission for the event and it should be advertised appropriately.
Overall, the show was a bust and needs a lot of work for next year to make it a success. At this point, I have no plans of returning next year… even if there was no cost for admission. Really the only good thing I can say about the show, other than they had constructed a cool entrance, was that Do-​Rite Donuts were there. No samples were to be had but we bought some of their donuts and they were amazing.

Unilocal ROCKS!
Was able to attend thanks to them!!! Woot Woot!
Hmmm after being to a variety of trade shows from the beauty and automotive industry I think I went in with very high expectations. The show it self was very small. Went with a girlfriend and the kiddies — we definitely were loaded up on a variety of sweets and confections — but it was a strange mix. There were vendors for both the retail customer and the hardcore baker (commercial and at home). Would not have paid full price to attend — luckily I received comp tix, but they also had tix on groupon as well. I didn’t try any classes because of my poor planning and the cruddy weather made me almost unmotivated to leave the house. But alas, the prospect of sweets won.
Interesting show that needs a little better set-​up.

If I go again I learned to go early because when we got there we took a class which was fun but it totally went over and so when we got to see the vendors most of them here closing shop even though there was still over 30 minutes before closing.

THANK YOU Unilocal FOR THE FREE TICKETS!
It was a fun experience going with a group, however, just like everyone else is saying I think my expectations were too high. It wasn’t very large, maybe 4 or 5 rows of vendors, a few demonstrations here and there, I fully expected to want to spend a fortune on candy and desserts… But I bought a few. A couple of vendors looked interesting, i bought some cupcakes from one place and they were so dry I couldn’t finish them. Overall it’s a great concept and I understand that it’s a work in progress. So there is definitely room for improvement.

I was so thankful to get free tickets through Unilocal as I love to bake and eat sweets! I told everyone about it because it’s kind of what I’m known for. But I was disappointed. I felt like it didn’t fit me at all– I was surprised. My husband and I went (and stayed for about 40 minutes) but it seemed like it was for fancier cake and cookie decorators and not your average baker. Some stuff they had wasn’t even for sale– just for show, and you’d have to go buy it somewhere else (which I actually did– I headed to Cost Plus World Market to get a jar of the Dulce de Leche caramel sauce I got to sample at the show!) I appreciated the free samples. They had a lot of baked goods for sale. I don’t think I was expecting that either. I appreciated how many gluten free things they had (but no supplies which is what I would have wanted-​only advertisements for bakeries) as I’ve been trying to find out how to do gluten free baking because one of my best friends has a gluten intolerance so I have to change how I cook for her. I thought the live demonstration by Gale Gand was interesting and people seemed very excited about the celebrity guests all weekend. I guess it felt like I had kind of an identity crisis– kind of a let down. But others there seemed to love it!

I was expecting so much more from the show… well I was expecting more shows, but I just left a little disappointing.
I feel like it was more for vendors to promote and sell their products rather than a baking and sweets show. I am okay with that, as long as those products are exciting and those vendors are not just sitting on their butts waiting for the time to pass and actually intrigue me with their presentation, but that didn’t happen.
Some vendors did give out samples, and those were yummy.
There was a balloon station that gave out awesome balloons to kids, that even impressed me.
I saw a speaker, that was not too entertaining either, he just spoke about himself, whereas I was hoping for some presentation/​lessons.
The cakes from the competitions were indeed awesome! The Alice in Wonderland theme rocks, and the upside down wedding cake impressed me.
If the show comes back next year, sadly, I will not be coming back.

Cookies, cupcakes, candy! Throw in a NJ Housewife– & maybe a careening table or chair, I’m there!
I wasn’t sure who the vendors would be, but they had a few celebrities/​chefs speaking, competitions, classes & demos. Seems like something for everyone to stay entertained. I was happy to attend this baking «show», & grateful to Unilocal for free tickets. However, I wouldn’t have been as happy if I’d actually paid for them, at least not more than $ 5 pp.
Like other reviewers, it was ok for me. I planned for Sun to see Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes) & stay for Kathy Wakile, as she seems like the only sane one on the Real Housewives. Yes, I watch the show, not really sure how that happened to me. :/​I figured that allowed time to walk the event (early reviews indicated it was small), see a couple celebs, sneak in a food truck, & later, NJ drama (fingers crossed).
Under a tornado warning, weather was rough. Kudos to security for offering a ride into the hotel from our distant parking spot. So kind! Once in, will-​call tickets were quick & easy, no line at the entrance.
We walked to the main stage to get seats for Duff; nope, it was full & ppl were standing around to watch also, making it an easy decision to walk the booths. There was a good mix of vendors, baked goods & products, liquor, etc. A few were friendly & upbeat, others shy & timid, & some were indifferent & rude. Seriously, why are you here if not to engage with potential customers &, oh, I don’t know… talk about your product! I was surprised the two liquor vendors (Hypnotiq and Dorda) weren’t friendly at all, not even acknowledgment of my existence when neither were busy & I was clearly interested in the product & samples (duh, I’m a lush). They were uninterested in anything other than their smart phones. I get it, Candy Cush is addicting but c’mon!
I enjoyed the Alice & Wonderland themed cakes displayed, St Roger Abbey bakery & nuns, Do-​rite Donuts, the Nothing Bundt Cake vendors– that’s how you engage people, & omg, get in mah belly, outstanding cake! Sold! Nothing too pricey, fairly reasonable.
We wandered back to the stage to hear Duff & stayed about 10 min (started at 2 p.m.), then checked out more booths, samples, got some Toasty Cheese (where I met & chatted with Laura N, yay!) & Chicago Pizza Boss & brought it to the tables by Cupcakes for Courage & JavaMania (inside!).
We only stayed 10 min for Duff because… Bored out of my mind. I love Duff from what I know, cool dude, cool cakes. I love that he was graffiti-​ing a canvas into a cupcake while talking. Had he been able to do both effectively at the same time, I might’ve been entertained. He did not, he spoke so slowly I wanted to pull my hair out, & not about anything particularly clever. I guess if I was a super fan, I might’ve been entertained, but I’m not. I’d wondered if he’d be making anything; he didn’t, it didn’t surprise me given the venue. Very cool that he stayed 45 min after to meet & greet fans. He signed the back of a woman’s chef jacket, & took lots of pics and autographs, very nice, extremely laid back guy.
Lots of ppl waited in line for him, giving me a chance to find a seat for Kathy Wakile at 4. Oops! I re-​read the program, it was at 4:30. Great, I could chill, get a front row seat, then we’d go. Right before 4:30, they announced a raffle drawing for a Kenmore Elite kitchen prize. WHAT? No one mentioned this to us! I was so annoyed; you’d understand why if you saw my kitchen. Epic fail on the part of the organizers. Someone should’ve mentioned this at the entrance, or included literature in our little bag or in the program guide. I heard & saw nothing. Very annoying cuz the odds were pretty good looking at the number of tickets in the raffle drum, probably because like me, no one knew. Grrr!
By this time I was in the front row, there was a crowd of people around my seating area & I wondered when Kathy would come out, no one was saying anything. The lady next to me who had been chatting with me & was also waiting for Kathy’s appearance, said she thought some guy just said Kathy wasn’t going to be here. I said, «no, really?» After a minute, I went up to the stage and asked the guy with the mic.
He said no, there had been a change & she was here this morning, at which point I suggested he let the rest of the waiting audience know. How could they not alert people? A sign, at the door, something. Another epic fail. It wasn’t a huge deal for me, but once I decided to stay & wait, I started getting excited, plus the wasted time just waiting. I decided in my mind there must’ve been some good RH drama earlier, ooh! Haha
There are areas for the organizers & vendors to work on, but overall, a fun yummy day. I would go again if free or cheap, or if I was a super baker or super fan of someone making an appearance.

Being a Unilocal Elite member, I was given an opportunity to win 2 tickets to attend this show and was beyond excited when I got word that I had, in fact, won a few tickets. I asked my cousin to join me for the afternoon and she graciously accepted. We were under a tornado watch in Schaumburg, so I wasn’t rushing there but eventually we made it to the show in the afternoon. I think we arrived about 2:30 or so.
I have never been to this show before, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited to see what they had to offer. I heard Duff Goldman was going to be at the show on Sunday and that was the day we planned to go so that was kinda cool. I’m not a huge fan or anything but it’s always cool to see a celebrity in person. I walked up close, snapped a pic and walked away. His sitting on stage just talking was not impressive. If people came to the show and paid to get in to see him, I feel bad for them because he really didn’t do anything exciting but sit there and be present.
I have several thoughts on how to improve the show…
1. There were several vendors that were not offering samples but selling food/​edible products. How do you expect me to want to buy your chocolates if I don’t know if I like it?
2. I was surprised they charged so much to walk into a show where you were to basically shop and spend more money?
3. Encourage people on the main webpage to BRING CASH! No one carries cash anymore and I would have gladly stopped at the bank on the way if I had known that this was basically a group of vendors selling their products. I felt bad having a vendor run my debit card for $ 4 because I ran out of cash and that costs them a transaction fee. I’m sorry vendors for doing that to you but thank you for accepting cards… that definitely increased your sales with this unsuspecting show attendee.
4. I know there was a cake competition and I loved that the displayed the cakes for all to see because they were very cool, but why didn’t you display the business names along with the person’s name that submitted? I know one local business who submitted a cake and I was surprised not to find her business name along with her cake. This is advertising for these people, right?
5. I asked one vendor flat out if their pricing was the same in the store and he came out and told me that they were a little more expensive at the show to cover their costs… show specials people! I do tradeshows with my company often and we ALWAYS offer a show special even if it’s one item.
6. Lastly, to the reps working the booths… you’re at a food show: perk up and sell your sh! t! This was not the case, most people working the booths were not enthusiastic about their products what so ever. The most enthusiastic person we ran into was the girl running Mr. Corey’s cookies… she was perky and informative. We asked the Hpnotiq girls what each of their two samples were and they did answer us, but did not offer to let us try their samples. They were in the middle of chatting with some gentleman filling up the container and were more interested in talking to him about something than trying to sell us their product. Not interested.
Overall, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so. It was not a large event but they had some fun vendors that I look forward to visiting in their stores. Would I go back? Not if I was paying for admission.
I was glad to find Toasty Cheese in the parking lot outside. We grabbed a bite on the way to the car and we were thrilled! Bacon and Cheese fries in the car? Why not!?!
Lastly, I’m sorry we forgot to come back around to buy the balsamic and oil and remembering once we got home just upset me. Damn it!

I was very excited to have won tickets to this show from Unilocal (thank you very much!). I’m a baker & cake decorator, myself. Based on the hype of the show & their website I was expecting more. Another Unilocaler described it as a «glorified bake sale» and I’d have to agree.
Pros:
–there were various baking & cake decorating tools/​items for sale
–a LOT of candy, cookies, pastries, donuts, cakes & even booze for sale
–many vendors offered free samples which resulted in us buying some of their delectable treats
–absolutely gorgeous cakes to oooh and ahhh over, both from the vendors & the display of the Alice in Wonderland theme & wedding cake competitions
–a fair amount of gluten-​free options along with some sugar-​free fare & organic selections
–some vendors were incredibly kind, interesting and fun to talk to
Cons:
–it was small. We set aside all afternoon and were completely done in an hour. Had I paid for this event I would have been disappointed.
–I’m very glad we didn’t wait in line to see Duff Goldman’s presentation (The Ace of Cakes). We could see and hear his presentation from where we were standing and he just told his story of how we came from being a graffiti punk to metalwork artist to cake decorating all while spray painting a picture of a giant cupcake. It was not interesting at all.
–some vendors just acted as if they would rather be anywhere else and certainly didn’t want to talk to potential customers. I realize we came on the last day, but come on… those vendors who weren’t nice certainly guaranteed we would never be their customers. One vendor was kind of rude to Busia (Grandma) when she said she is diabetic & only looking for sugar-​free treats (the vendor had none and just «hurrumphed» & then ignored us. WTH?).
–many vendors were cash only

I have «cake» stamped on my wrist.
And a stomach full of sweets.
All thanks to America’s Baking and Sweets Show!
My friend and I braved the tornado-​like weather to venture out to the Schaumburg convention center for an afternoon of sugar baked goods galore. We spent an hour or so and had a nice time.
Pros:
+ Good variety of vendors: cupcakes, wedding cakes, gluten-​free, cake decorating, balloons, wines (the slushie wine is fantastic), cookies, chocolates, brownies, etc. And then some vendors that didn’t really fit in (roofing!?).
+ Lots of samples! I read some reviews before I came and kind of expected the place to be pretty low on samples, but I was pleasanty surprised and was always muching on something.
+ Food trucks! Cupcakes for Courage (inside), Toasty Cheese (outside), Chicago Pizza Boss (outside), and some coffee truck (inside). It was a nice surprise. I ended up getting an orange dreamsicle cupcake from Cupcakes for Courage. YUM.
+ Alice in Wonderland theme! Loved the «rabbit hole» balloons near the entrance and the themed cakes. They were amazing. Some people are really talented when it comes to cakes.
+ Designated family/​child areas and a balloon artist. Good way to keep the kids entertained!
Cons:
— It was very small. We went around once quickly and again to see if we missed anything. We hadn’t. We were ready to leave after an hour.
— The Duff Goldman presentation was the only one we caught and it wasn’t interesting at all. He talked and painted a cupcake. I kind of expected him to make some kind of bakery magic on stage.
— The price. Yes, I got the tickets for free (thank you, Unilocal!!!) but I wouldn’t have paid to get in this show. I’m not a baker or anything, so maybe I would have paid the admission fee if this benefitted me, but it didn’t.
— Many of the booths were cash-​only, so I didn’t even buy anything. Sad.
— While there were some friendly and enthusiastic people working the booths, many of them were kind of standoff-​ish. One of them (a baking chocolate booth) didn’t even acknowledge my friend when she said «hi» to them. Not cool.
It wasn’t a bad show, just not as big or amazing as we had expected it to be.
I was a bit bummed I didn’t get to see any of my Unilocal friends there, but then on my way out, I ran into Christina S. at Toasty Cheese! It was wonderful finally meeting her! :)

I was so excited to check this out. It was a bit of a let down though. I decided 3 stars is fair because they didn’t actually do a horrible job with the event itself. It was put together quite nicely (just small).
The vendors mostly sucked. A few of them were standoffish and very few actually had samples. They had lots of items for sale (which is great) except many were cash only.
Almost every single person brought all of their kids with them. I know it was a family friendly thing but kids were knocking adults out of the way to see things. It just became annoying.
My friend and I did a quick walk around (twice). We kept thinking there had to be more. In the end we gave up and went shopping at Target instead.
I think they should seek out some better vendors if they plan on doing this again next year.

Pretty cool show! Not the hugest place, but you can be plenty sweeted-​out by the time you leave.
Full of your typical but progressive tools, vendors, displays, and presentations as well as some very cool looking cakes from a previous contest (it may have been on-​site, I wasn’t clear about that).
This show is sure to satisfy your baked goods decorating, gluten free, frosting coated, jalapeño cheese filled baking & sweets tooth. Plenty of booths offering free samples — most with product to buy from local vendors. There were fantastic (and fantastically priced) baking ware and even a few sweet wines and chocolate liqours.
Great show vendors and hosts!

Very few samples. Lots of items for sale… cookware, cupcakes, donuts, etc. It is kind of a glorified bake sale. Wish there were more samples! Good liquor samples of hypnotiq, cupcake wine and a chocolate liqueur.
Cute balloon vendor for kids that puts smaller balloons into a larger balloon! Lots of vendors have a $ 2 price point for a cupcake, donut or slice of pie. Make sure to bring cash with you though.

Show Times: Friday November 15^th: 11am-​9pm
Saturday and Sunday 10am to 6pm
Admission:
Adult — $ 13
Senior and Student — $ 8
Parking — Free
I had fun at this show. As I entered, they stamped my wrist with «sweet» so I can reenter. There was a cool balloon archway at the door. It wasn’t overly crowded when I was there on Saturday afternoon. There were a good amount of things to sample at this show — chocolates, fudges, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and drinks. There was even a guy from Doumak giving away sampler bags of Campfire marshmallows. There were lots of bakeries there selling their baked goods and some advertising their cake business. The Cordon Bleu school was there selling these amazingly soft huge sugar cookies for $ 1 and 4 small cupcakes for $ 3! Also on display in the middle of the exhibition were tons of beautifully decorated cakes. There was also a kid zone section.
They had a schedule for the main stage, but they were on a break when I got done making my rounds. The «Home-​Baking Recipe Competition» just got done. The cookware booth by the front had great baking wares at discount prices. I got a pretty heavy weight baking pan for $ 8.