Survival of the Fittest

The winner of tonight's war would have their cupcakes at a gala in L.A.'s Museum of Natural History.

The taste challenge revolved around two of the largest mammals the museum has to offer - the elephant and the giraffe. As always there were tables of ingredients to choose from that fit this challenge. Among the ingredients for the elephant diet were pumpkin, bamboo, and peanuts. And for the giraffe's diet there was wheat grass, alfalfa, and orange blossoms.

Jeff Martin (Smallcakes) chose the elephant diet and chose to make a pumpkin cupcake with white chocolate cardamom butter cream. This sounded like a cupcake I would love to see at (my personal favourite holiday) Thanksgiving. Sadly, some of last weeks bad mojo must have carried over because poor Jeff was so focused on his cardamom butter cream (which was met with rave reviews) that he forgot the pumpkin in the cupcake!

Lisa Cowden (Lulu’s Cupcakes) also chose the elephant diet and came up with the mouth watering idea of a kumquat cupcake with hibiscus puree center topped with kumquat peel infused pastry cream that was lightly caramelized. Did I mention it was also beautifully decorated with a hibiscus flower and just a bit more pastry cream? I didn't? Well I should have. At first I was worried that it sounded like she was planning to top it with a bit too much. My worries and apparently my trust was misplaced. It was as eye catching as it was (or sounded) mouth watering.

MaryAnne Tongko (Cupcakes & Co) chose the road less traveled and picked the giraffe diet. At her mothers insistence she chose to make a lemongrass cupcake topped with an orange blossom whipped cream and gold sanding sugar. Mama was against the sanding sugar and it seems this time she may have been right because the judges didn't seem to feel bling conveyed that earthy natural feel they were looking for this rapidly approaching event.

Wendy Jones (Whodidily Cupcakes) stayed the elephant diet course and made a chocolate cupcake filled with a peanut butter cream cheese center, topped with a peanut butter butter-cream sprinkled with sunflower seeds dipped in ganache.

Next the remaining bakers were supposed to "capture the wonder of the museum" in the taste & presentation challenge.

In case anyone was worried an episode of Cupcake Wars would go by without a red velvet cupcake Wendy Jones insured hers got their day. Her choices to bake red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting as well as yellow cake cupcakes with chocolate butter-cream were uninspired and a bit boring. However, she brought a little interest back when she chose to give her vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter-cream a pumpkin cream cheese center.

Lisa won me over in the first round which is a rarity. That's right, I am still completely obsessing over Hollis Wilders salmon based cupcakes.



The two cupcake choices from "team Lisa" that won me over were the blackberry margarita cupcake and the apricot cake (complete with apricot seeds for crunch) with Swiss butter-cream topped with a white chocolate poppy. Sorry Lisa, when you're offering those two it's hard for me to notice their mousy friend with the sweet caramel center they've brought along.

MaryAnne chose to make a cream cheese filled black bottom cupcake with chocolate ganache, a blue velvet chocolate cupcake filled with marzipan that was topped with almond whipped cream, and strawberry cupcakes.

That bad mojo was back again and this time for MaryAnne, with only 40 minutes left her blue velvet cupcakes had yet to see the inside of an oven. They didn't come out until there was only 2 minutes left in the challenge to be decorated and plated alongside the others. Her choice to use a layer of marzipan as a buffer for the still rising heat was creative but sadly not enough - all toppers melted down by the wayside. It was no surprise that MaryAnne was next to bite the dusting sugar.

Presentation, the final and deciding challenge is next and I am feeling completely confident with "team Lisa."

When fellow baker and competitor, Wendy, planned to recreate the actual museum it felt very reminiscent of Hollis Wilders choice in the first episode to replicate a golf course. But when I saw her huge, glittery, eye-catchingly whimsical "Museum of Cupcakes" I was once nervous for my top pick.

Lisa chose to have a giant, "gnarly", "prehistoric" tree which once it arrived on scene Wendy likened to "the tree of life." My mind instead connected the choice a bit to the movie Avatar and its "home tree."


Congratulations to tonight's extremely deserving winner, Lisa Cowden.

Last Time On Cupcake Wars . . .

This weeks episode revolved around the 100th episode of Ace of Cakes.

The taste challenge was to make a cupcake that not only would Ace of Cakes, cupcake-hating Duff Goldman like but one that would contain some of his favourite food stuffs: pulled pork, gummy bears, goat cheese, jalapeno jelly, bacon crunchy, and crunchy peanut butter.

It seemed as if for this particular challenge a lot of the contestants had the same idea in mind which reminded me of a previous episode that left me sick of seeing lemon cupcakes and fondant decorations.

Alyssa Magliato's (The Perfect Circle Cupcakery) assistant, Jeff , suggested a pulled pork and jalapeno jelly cupcake that I wouldn't have minded see become a reality but somewhat understandably Alyssa worried this was too far out of the box and wanted to play it safer. Her ultimate choice to make a dark chocolate cake peanut butter chocolate inside was "a little caramel surprise" yielded a very nice looking confection.

Poor Erica Tucker (Sweet E’s Bake Shop) was up next and this woman underwent a real struggle in the kitchen. After overcoming a heating issue while cooking her cupcakes she came to the challenges end and realize she'd forgotten to fill her cupcakes!

Michael Centimore (Cupcake Charlies) made a cinnamon velvet cupcake that contained a goat cheese and jalapeno jelly mousse center which he then iced with a maple butter-cream frosting that he topped with bacon. I must admit when I heard him working up his cupcake idea in the kitchen I wasn't sure how behind it I was but I think his ultimate choice was daring, creative, and inspired.

Taste and presentation brought back more of those familiar red velvet cupcakes and fondant toppers a Cupcake Wars viewer may be getting very used to seeing. However, because Ace of Cakes desserts are always draped in fondant this may be the week to go ahead and make that move.

Everything that Alyssa quite literally brought to the table was beautiful and sounded fantastic but she had me with her banana bomb; which was "a banana, cream cheese, pecan, caramel topped cupcake." Even hard to please Florian Bellanger (formerly) of Fauchon (a favourite of mine) was able to enjoy it. All of this made it a shock to me to see her go.

Mike's choice to utilize his cell phone camera in conjunction with an available edible printer to make Duff toppers was once again, a unique move. I. Loved it. The finished product was a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate peanut butter ganache, iced with a peanut butter butter-cream with full peanut butter cup adorned with "Duff's mug."

When it came down to the final presentation challenge I was feeling totally on board with team Mike. He'd proven himself to be a creative baker who consistently brought something tasty to the table. But what really seemed unique was how incredibly thoughtful he was in all of his preparations. With every challenge he kept who he was baking for in mind and it always showed through. Apparently his final presentation just did not quite bridge the gap between thoughtful and event appropriate.

In all honesty this is where the show ended for me. Tuesday's winner, Jessica Cuff (The Coffee Shop), was the contestant I had pegged to win from the moment I saw her in the introductions. What bothers me most is that of the four episodes that have aired I have been able to pick the winner this way for the last three. In some cases, the winner was someone who totally deserved it. I just did not feel this was the reason this week. I felt a face that popular opinion considers pretty won with the added help of shameless, open flirting.

Cupcake Wars Episode Three - Matchmaking Party

Tuesdays show opened up with it's usual introductions but at the same time that I was learning a little about Cupcakes Nouveau from Shayrin Badillo, I was being introduced to the concept of guava cupcakes which seemed all too inviting. Jeff Bonilla, of Cups looked as if he were torching some creme brulee cupcakes but sadly no mention was made of them so this girl will have to only dare to continue her dream.


This weeks taste challenge was to incorporate ingredients known to have, or associated with, aphrodisiac properties (oysters, strawberries, aniseed, ginger, honey, vanilla beans, dates, nutmeg, champagne.) So many choices and only 45 minutes. This time the contestants seemed to feel the time crunch even more than in previous episodes.

I must admit the idea of a vegan cupcake no longer excites me (it did in my vegan days and those are behind me) but Chloe Coscarelli peaked my interest once I heard the words "date caramel drizzle" and her presentation was just beautiful. I must say if I were fellow competitor, Shannon, I could understand her total shock when she heard the judges gush about this "indulgent" confection.

Jeff (Cups) started to make me feel he was playing it a little safe with the chocolate champagne cupcake (which I wouldn't turn down any day but this is war we're talkin' here) but quickly won me back his choice to top it with a raspberry, basil, cream cheese icing topped with organic raspberry. Sadly no matter how safe it seemed he was with his attempt to insure a delicious cupcake that didn't step too far out there and fall flat the time seemed to be his ultimate demise. Watching him struggle with cooking the cupcakes through with the rest of the time was hard enough but then to watch as his BEAUTIFUL topping melted and slid off was a bit heart-breaking.

I've got to say I was barely able to pay total attention Shannon Noormand (Crushcakes) after I heard her mention Grand Marnier, but I did my best and all other ingredients fell short in my mind.

For round two's taste & presentation challenge I found myself surprisingly on team before the time was even set! This round brought those almond guava cupcakes from that I was so hoping to hear more about, but Chloe managed to dominate my almost Pavlovian cupcakey response even more than before with her Tiramisu cupcakes with espresso and amaretto frosting.

Round three's presentation challenge Chloe ran away with it when she came up with a fresh, exciting, and dare I say hip idea to create a "hot" cupcake bar with silk flames blowing in the center. When it came to Shannons bedroom display what I really enjoyed was the stands at the foot of the bed - really, really beautiful cupcake-covered, tiered dessert stands.

Congratulations to Chloe Coscarelli