6th Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest

I’m having a sugar crash right now writing this post because I just got back from the 6^th Annual Great St. Pete Cupcake Contest.  I just ate enough sweets to last me a month…

My mom joined me along with my friends Thao, Crystal, Kate & Brent.  Here’s our amazing spread of cupcakes:

I attended for the 5^th Annual Contest last year, which was held at the Morean Arts Center in downtown St. Pete.  I think that year they underestimated how much people like cupcakes because it was WAY too crowded and almost impossible to navigate.  This year, they moved to a larger venue just down the road – the Morean Center for Clay.  Lance and I had actually attended a Meet the Chefs event there last December. 

The contest is a mix of professional bakers and amateur cupcake enthusiasts.  This year I was especially impressed with the creativity in flavors and presentation.  There were Cookie Monsters, mini churros, a Ferris Wheel display, and dried pineapple "flowers" (I saw this technique at the "Cupcakes and Cocktails" event at the Epicurean Theatre last year...) 

You can try as many cupcakes as you’d like for free, but then it is $1 per ticket to vote for your favorites (the proceeds benefit the Morean Center).  Luckily most people bake mini cupcakes – although even with the small ones, it was impossible to try them all.  It’s best if you have someone that you can split them with so you can taste a wider variety. 

There were so many talented bakers, but a couple definitely stood out.  There was an apple cupcake that was so incredibly moist – that was one of the first I tried.  One cinnamon cupcake actually had a little liquor injector that let you squeeze Horchata into the center.   

There was a cupcake that had Earl Gray tea in the frosting embellished with an adorable fondant teacup! 

Probably my favorite of all though was the black forest cupcakes with chocolate dipped cherries and incredibly rich chocolate cupcakes. 

Judges select the best novice and professional bakers, then the tickets determine the People’s Choice awards.  Here are this year's winners:

Novice Category:

1st Place: Monica McLaughlin - Root Beer Float

2nd Place: Lauren Haught - Lime w/ Strawberry and Basil Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Professional Category:

1st Place: Diane Ratto - Peanut Butter Cream Banana Dream

2nd Place: Joyce King - Angry Orchard Apple Crumb

Specialty Category (Gluten or Vegan entries):

1st Place: Deborah Molise - Pumpkin Cheescake

2nd Place: Brittney Sherley - Vegan Double Mocha

People's Choice:

1st Place: Jen Jacobs - Chai Latte w/ Brown Butter Marscapone Buttercream

2nd Place: Michelle Saxton - Dark Chocolate Coffee w/ Cream Cheese Buttercream

Additional Awards:

Best Overall Frosting: Jen Jacobs - Chai Latte w/ Brown Butter Marscapone Buttercream

Best Chocolate of the Day: Michelle Garner - Junk Cupcake

Flavor Pop: Amy Turner - Bubble Gum Cupcake
Artistic Award: Melissa Howes - Honey w/ Strawberry & Earl Grey

Now time for a nap…

The Artistic Whisk – St. Petersburg, FL

 

Lance has left most of the wedding planning up to me since I’ve got more of an opinion about most of it – but one thing he was really excited to be part of was the cake tasting!

I went to a bridal show back in June and honestly, I wasn’t impressed by most of the cakes I tried.  I know fondant can make some really pretty designs, but I just don’t think it tastes good.  And surprisingly most of the cakes we sampled from the bridal show venders were pretty bland or dry. 

But luckily we stumbled upon Jovana’s booth for The Artistic Whisk while we were there.  The name sounded familiar because another engaged friend, Padma, had just done a tasting there a few weeks prior.  She had samples of her chocolate peanut butter cake and it was amazing!  (it’s actually not the cupcake pictured above…that was a competitor’s chocolate peanut butter that looked prettier than it tasted…) 

Jovana was just about to get married herself, so we arranged a cake tasting once she got back from her honeymoon to try her other flavors. 

Her bakery is in a warehouse strip in St. Pete – so luckily not too far from our venue.  She uses all natural flavors and has a pretty impressive background – graduating from Le Cordon Bleu and baking for Tampa’s Marriot Waterside, Clearwater’s Sandpearl Resort, the Ritz Carlton in Naples, and Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor. 

My mom and dad joined Lance and me for the tasting.  She brought us all champagne while we walked through 21 different flavors and rated our favorites.  Luckily we can pick different flavors for each cake tier since it was really hard to narrow down which ones we liked best – they were ALL amazing.  And each had homemade fillings and different types of buttercreams to compliment the cake.   

My favorites were the orange creamsicle, almond raspberry, coconut with rum roasted pineapple, bananas foster, carrot cake, Bailey’s macadamia, Boston cream, chocolate chip cannoli, German chocolate, mint chocolate chip, mocha, and the chocolate peanut butter (I know, that’s a long list!) 

The four of us narrowed it down, and we decided on the coconut with rum roasted pineapple, chocolate peanut butter, and Bailey’s macadamia.  Plus she adds in a complimentary cake topper for us to enjoy on our 1 year anniversary, which will be the chocolate peanut butter.  We discussed designs and sketched up a plan based on the Pinterest ideas I’d sent her. 

I’m so excited that we found Jovana and I’d highly recommend her to any of you that need a cake for a special occasion.  Looking forward to the big day next April!

You can reach Jovana at theartisticwhisk@gmail.com or call her at (727) 560-5662 – her bakery is by appointment only.

Chocolate Coco-Nutty Angel Food Cake

 

We made a dessert for the New Year’s Eve party we went to the other night, so I finally got the chance to use my new Kitchenaid mixer!  I made an angel food cake (the mix was from a box…) topped with chocolate, coconut, and pecans.  I used the whisk attachment which made the cake extra fluffy.  It was super simple and tasted a bit like a Samoa Girl Scout cookie.  Yummmm.

Chocolate Coco-Nutty Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz box angel food cake mix
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup coconut flakes
• ½ cup pecans, chopped
• 1 ¼ cups water

Directions:

1.  Move oven rack to lowest position and preheat the oven to 350°F for a shiny angel food cake pan (325°F for a dark or nonstick pan).  Do not grease the pan.

2. Add water to mix and beat on low for 30 seconds, then on medium for 1 minute.  Fold in ½ cup chocolate chips and pour into a 10” x 4” size angel food cake pan. 

 

 

3. Bake 37 – 47 minutes or until top is a dark golden brown.  When you remove from the oven, immediately turn pan upside down on glass bottle to cool (I was in a rush and forgot this step, so I ended up with a somewhat flat cake!)

 

4. While it cools, toast the pecans and coconut in the oven (keep an eye on them so they don’t burn). 

5. Run a serrated knife around the edges to remove from the pan.  Melt the other ½ cup of chocolate chips and spread across the top of the cake.  Top with the toasted nuts and coconut.

Pink Velvet Cupcakes

 

My friend Tony requested red velvet cake for his birthday, so his fiancée Katie and I made cupcakes for his party last night!  I’m not always a fan of red velvet cake, but our family friend Jett has the absolute best family recipe for them!

My parents throw a huge “recipe party” every few years – they invite nearly everyone they know, and their friends all submit recipes.  Each guest has to make the dish for the party, and then my mom prints cookbooks with all the recipes and gives awards for best appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert.  The last party had hundreds of guests, but they haven’t thrown one since 2011.  Hopefully they’ll be able to host another despite moving from a house into a condo…

 

 

Jett’s red velvet cupcake recipe was in the 2011 party cookbook.  She said that her Grandmommy Ruth was a prize winning cook who was known for making everything from scratch.  The cream cheese frosting on these cupcakes is THE BEST!  However, I’m calling mine “pink velvet” cupcakes because I made a big miscalculation in the amount of food coloring we needed.  Ours didn’t have the deep red hue, but they still tasted incredible! 

Pink Velvet Cupcakes (adapted from Ruth Russell’s Red Velvet Cake recipe)

Ingredients:

·        1 T cocoa

·        ¼ oz. red food coloring (the original recipe calls for 3 oz, but I only had one of the tiny containers, so if you’d like the true Red Velvet recipe, make sure you buy the larger container)

·        1 T vinegar

·        1 t vanilla

·        2 cups vegetable oil

·        1¾ cups sugar

·        4 eggs

·        3 cup flour

·        1 t baking soda

·        1 t salt

·        1 cup buttermilk

 

Directions:

1. Mix the cocoa, red food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Cream sugar and oil together in a large bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

 

3. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt together THREE times and set aside. (It said this is the recipe, so I thought it must be important!)

 

4. Add the flour mixture into the sugar/oil alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Gently stir in the vinegar mixture. The batter will be slightly thinner than most cake batters.

 

5. For cake, pour into 3 - 9” round or square cake pans. Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 minutes.

For cupcakes, fill baking cups with 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-19 minutes. This will make about 30 regular cupcakes.  (Sully was watching me fill the cupcakes hoping some ended up on the floor...)

 

6. Do not overcook. Cool layers before frosting with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

·        1 stick butter

·        11oz. cream cheese

·        6 cups powdered sugar

·        1 t vanilla

·        1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Cream softened butter and cream cheese together until creamy.

2. Gradually beat in confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla and nuts (ours weren't chopped so here's Katie smashing them with a hammer...)

 

 

 

3. Frost cooled cupcakes or cake.  Keep in the refrigerator. 

We topped ours with red and yellow sugar sprinkles (since Tony is an FSU fan...) Here's the birthday boy photo bombing my cupcake picture...