Cupcake Wars

Cupcake Wars
The cast of Cupcake Wars
Genre	Cooking show, reality
Written by	Bryan Shukoff
Presented by	Justin Kredible[1]
Judges	Florian Bellanger, Candace Nelson
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21[2]
Production
Producer(s)	Adam Cohen, Cara Tapper & Joanna Vernetti
Running time	1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel	Food Network
Original run	June 13, 2010 – present
External links
Website

Cupcake Wars is a Food Network reality-based competition show hosted by Justin Kredible based on creating unique and professional-style cupcakes that began airing in June 2010. The show is similar to its successful Chopped show in that it starts with 4 contestants who are eliminated one by one in 3 rounds. The show regularly airs on Tuesdays at 8 pm, EST.^[1] The show also challenges its contestants to create cupcakes with unusual ingredients with the winning team receiving $10,000. Each team consists of a chef and a sous-chef. Cupcake Wars has completed airing its third season.

Rounds

In the first round, the contestants must create a cupcake based on taste alone with a theme associated including a twist ingredient(s) in 45 minutes. For example, a date-night themed cupcake must include various aphrodisiacs, such as oysters, basil, dark chocolate or champagne.

The second round is based on both taste and presentation. In 75 minutes, the contestants must make 3 different cupcakes, each showcasing a different taste with an outstanding presentation.

The third round is hardest, with the remaining 2 teams making 1,000 cupcakes in only 2 hours (originally 4 hours in the first episode). Each team is assisted with the help of a 5-person team consisting of one carpenter and four baking interns to create the showcase for the cupcakes and help make the cupcakes for their corresponding contestants.

Themes

The show invites cupcake bakers from all over the United States to compete in the 3 rounds. Each episode has a theme. Some themes used so far have been a golf tournament, a Seaworld birthday party for an orca, a "match-making" aphrodisiac party, an Ace of Cakes 100th episode celebration, "Survival of the Fittest" theme, an autistic charity event and at a film festival.^[2]

The show features chefs from all backgrounds, including vegan pastry chefs, small business owners and internet companies alike. As a result, the show has had unexpected winners, such as Chloe Coscarelli, a 22 year-old vegan pastry chef who won an episode without using any eggs, butter or milk in any of her cupcakes.^[3][4][5]

Judges

There are 3 judges in the series with 2 of them being permanent judges:

• Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world's first cupcake bakery^[6]
• Florian Bellanger, executive French pastry chef^[7]

The third "rotating" judge is a special guest and is associated with the theme of that episode.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.foodnetwork.com/cupcake-wars/index.html
2. ^ ^{a b} Episode list
3. ^ Veg news
4. ^ Ecorazzi
5. ^ Vegetarian Star
6. ^ Candace Nelson biography
7. ^ Florian Bellanger biography

External links

• Food Network show index