On Saturday, I announced to the kids that we would be having cupcake wars on Monday. They needed to let me know what they needed (other than basics I would provide - cake mix, frosting, eggs, oil, etc.) and I would pick up the ingredients Monday morning. There were squeals of delight at the proposed activity and it came up several times Saturday and Sunday.
They could use anything they wanted for their cupcakes. You can see on the counter there was a lot of items to choose from. Becca made a lime flavored cupcake. She is squeezing in the juice from a lime in this picture.
Everyone was given 30 minutes to mix their batter and get it into the oven. Jessica didn't alter the flavor of her cupcakes at all. She ended up making two flavors (yellow & chocolate).
We staggered everyone by 30 minutes so they could be working on their cupcakes while the previous person's baked. Stephanie put Sprite and caramel in her batter. She also added some sprinkles.
Once everyone was done, we gave them time to cool before decorating. Tyler and Ben started off following the directions and then drained the liquid, keeping the eggs and added root beer and sprinkles.
Jessica cut out the center of hers and put frosting down in and then put the center back on top.
Everyone worked at the same time on their decorating. They had one hour to get their cupcakes decorated.
Jessica frosting her chocolate filled cupcakes.
Ben frosting his cupcake.
Becca working on a meringue frosting for hers. Becca's challenge was the humidity.
Stephanie put cotton candy on some of her cupcakes. Her challenge was the moisture from the frosting was "melting" the cotton candy.
Ben's ready to go.
Stephanie's
Jessica's
Becca's
Then it was time for presentations.
Ben changed for it. He was a hoot telling us what he did and hoped to achieve by doing so.
Becca told us of the challenges she faced.
Stephanie gave a quick description of hers.
The plate of all. Everyone was told to take a bite or two and then cast their vote. I ended up being the tie-breaker. Becca was the overall winner for flavor. Ben won for best presentation. Stephanie and Jessica tied for third. Jessica for the effort of making 2 different types of cupcakes. Stephanie for creating on her own and experimenting.
I thought it would be fun to have our own vote and then got to a friend or two's house and let the kids pick one but have the parents vote. The kids agreed they didn't want to have someone else tasting their cupcakes and to keep it in the family.
Fun way to spend a rainy day.
