Cupcake-Off, A Sugary Competition
If you don't know by now, the digital teams for Cooking Channel, Food Network, and Food.com love a good inter-office cooking (or baking!) competition. In honor of Food Network's new Cupcakes! app, we decided to show off our skills in a cupcake showdown. Thanks to the amazing spread (pictured above) we soon lulled into afternoon sugar comas, but not before we snapped a few photos and jotted down the easy recipes to share with you.
Deb (with help from her precocious 8-year-old neighbor) whipped up Ellie Krieger's Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. Full of applesauce, carrots and whole-wheat pastry flour, these healthy cupcakes (which are featured in the Cupcake! app) tasted anything but.
Ashley ambitiously tackled two cupcakes. The first were these Chocolate Stout Cupcakes peppered with distinct notes of chocolate and coffee.
Michelle's Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting came in second place. The whipped peanut butter frosting tasted just like the real thing, and we gladly could have eaten it all by itself.
Perfect for a summer cookout, Alison made Orange Cream Dream Cupcakes that came with a surprise marshmallow fluff filling.
Alexis' winning coconut cupcakes stole the show with a coconut base, coconut buttercream and toasted coconut topping.
These s'mores cupcakes, made by Rhonda, tasted as if they'd really been toasted over an open fire. With a graham cracker crust, chocolate filling and sweet marshmallow topper, it was hard to eat just one.
Ashley's second cupcake entry were Chuck Hughes' Red Velvet Cupcakes with a simple cream cheese frosting.
It was difficult to pick just one cupcake to win, but in the end, Alexis' coconut creation took the cake. But the real winners of the day? The judges who got to sample a little of each.
Go Cupcake Crazy:
Tell us: If you could dream up the perfect cupcake combination, what would it be?
