Over at the Houston Press, Katharine Shilcutt has a report on their big cupcake smackdown held last weekend:
It wasn't easy, though. With six different metrics to judge (cake taste, cake texture, frosting taste, frosting texture, cake-to-frosting ratio and overall apperance), our panel had quite a task in front of them. Judge Jody Stevens, owner of Jodycakes and pastry chef at Gravitas, explained her somewhat messy process to us: "First I stick my finger in the frosting to feel its consistency, then I taste it. Then I take a piece of cake to feel it, then I taste it. Then I take an overall bite to see how they taste together." Blindfolded, this process led to the judging table covered in crumbs, spilled drinks, glops of frosting and generally looking as though a set of toddlers had had a field day with a box full of the desserts.
And the winners...
In the end, though, there could be only one winner. In the vanilla with chocolate category, the overall winner was Ooh La La with 117 total points out of a possible 150 (each metric was worth 25 points). Second place went to CRAVE Cupcakes with 94 points and Sugarbaby's came in a strong third with 93. In the red velvet category, the overall winner was once again Ooh La La with 121 points out of 150. CRAVE also took second place again with 100 points, followed very closely by Bella Cibo with 99. Interestingly, the scores across the board were much higher in the red velvet round, confirming our suspicion that everyone loves red velvet cake.
Other interesting statistics that jumped out at us as we were scoring the ballots:
• Best cake texture and taste went to Ooh La La, with Cupcake Cafe coming up second in both the red velvet and vanilla with chocolate categories.
• Best frosting texture and taste went to Sugarbaby's, with Ooh La La second in the vanilla with chocolate frosting round.
• Best frosting texture and taste went to Ooh La La, with Frosted Betty coming in second in the red velvet with cream cheese frosting round.
• Best overall appearance was a tie between Celebrity Cupcakes and Ooh La La in the vanilla round.
• Best overall appearance went to Ooh La La, with the Sweet Spot coming in second in the red velvet round.
See their cupcake slideshow and Houston Press for photos, cupcake bakery addresses and more information.
It wasn't easy, though. With six different metrics to judge (cake taste, cake texture, frosting taste, frosting texture, cake-to-frosting ratio and overall apperance), our panel had quite a task in front of them. Judge Jody Stevens, owner of Jodycakes and pastry chef at Gravitas, explained her somewhat messy process to us: "First I stick my finger in the frosting to feel its consistency, then I taste it. Then I take a piece of cake to feel it, then I taste it. Then I take an overall bite to see how they taste together." Blindfolded, this process led to the judging table covered in crumbs, spilled drinks, glops of frosting and generally looking as though a set of toddlers had had a field day with a box full of the desserts.
And the winners...
In the end, though, there could be only one winner. In the vanilla with chocolate category, the overall winner was Ooh La La with 117 total points out of a possible 150 (each metric was worth 25 points). Second place went to CRAVE Cupcakes with 94 points and Sugarbaby's came in a strong third with 93. In the red velvet category, the overall winner was once again Ooh La La with 121 points out of 150. CRAVE also took second place again with 100 points, followed very closely by Bella Cibo with 99. Interestingly, the scores across the board were much higher in the red velvet round, confirming our suspicion that everyone loves red velvet cake.
Other interesting statistics that jumped out at us as we were scoring the ballots:
• Best cake texture and taste went to Ooh La La, with Cupcake Cafe coming up second in both the red velvet and vanilla with chocolate categories.
• Best frosting texture and taste went to Sugarbaby's, with Ooh La La second in the vanilla with chocolate frosting round.
• Best frosting texture and taste went to Ooh La La, with Frosted Betty coming in second in the red velvet with cream cheese frosting round.
• Best overall appearance was a tie between Celebrity Cupcakes and Ooh La La in the vanilla round.
• Best overall appearance went to Ooh La La, with the Sweet Spot coming in second in the red velvet round.
See their cupcake slideshow and Houston Press for photos, cupcake bakery addresses and more information.
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