Sweet Smackdown

Cupcakes--they aren't just for your kids' elementary school bake sales anymore. Maybe Austin is a bit later to adopt the latest foodie fad than, say, New York City, but what city isn't? Late to the game or not, Austinites have fully embraced the cupcake. Over the last few years, cupcakes places have popped up throughout the city, selling small sweets out of stores and trailers. Search for "cupcake" on a site like Yelp and you'll be surprised at the number of hits you get, some that specialize in cupcakes, others that offer a broader array of goods that include cupcakes. Of the former, you have Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, Polkadots, Delish Cupcakes, Cupprimo Cupcakery and Hey Cupcake!, to name a few.


So say you want a cupcake. Who makes the best? Everyone has their own opinion. To help filter out some of the noise, someone decided to organize Cupcake Smackdown 1.0. A celebration of the cupcake, Cupcake Smackdown featured contests among both professional and amateur cupcake bakers, eating contests for both people and dogs -- yeah, the smackdown is canine-friendly -- cupcakes and samples for sale, and live music on the roofdeck of One 2 One Bar. With little to do this weekend, Rachel and I thought we'd check it out.


Up on the roof at One 2 One

Turns out that we weren't alone. Apparently about 1,000 people showed up. I don't think the organizers were expecting a turnout quite so large. Space was cramped inside and on the roofdeck. We didn't stay for all that long, but did have a chance to check out the beautiful baked bites, sample a tasty chocolate-peanut butter cupcake from Wicked Cakes and see a few silly dogs gearing up for some treats. With competitions in several catogories, the judges had their work cut out for them, but looked to be up to the task.


Judges at "work"


Lots of people and places went home with ribbons. On the pro side, Sugar Mama's took home three. On the amateur side, make sure you invite the Blodgett family to your next party!

Results:

Best Storefront Chocolate - Walton's
Best Storefront Vanilla - Sugar Mama's
Best Storefront Baker's Choice - Sugar Mama's
Best Catered Chocolate - Cowgirl Cupcakes
Best Catered Vanilla - L's
Best Catered Baker's Choice - The Cupcake Bar
Best Amateur Chocolate - Amy Blodgett
Best Amateur Vanilla - Laura Blodgett
Best Amateur Freestyle - Erica Bommarito
Best Storefront - Sugar Mama's
Best Catered - Cowgirl Cupcakes
Best Amateur - Erica Bommarito
Best Overall Chocolate - Amy Blodgett (amateur class)
Best Overall Vanilla - Blake Howard (amateur class)
Best Overall Baker's Choice - The Cupcake Bar (catered class)
Cutest Contest (voted by the public for $1 per vote) - One Last Bite Catering with 151 votes
Most Popular - Walton's
Eating Contest Canine division - Logan owned by Cara - 3 cupackes in 11.4 seconds
Eating Contest Human Division - Chris Floyd 13 cupcakes in 2 minutes




An array of pretty cupcakes


Keeping cool


Mmm, chocolate and peanut butter