A Cupcake Cook-Off at the Office

Like Lady Gaga, I'm a trendsetter.

I know I take credit for lots of trends that can't necessarily be traced back to me (anyone else remember me rockin' white nail polish in winter '07??), but one thing's for sure: I have paved the way for cupcakes obsessions at my office.

When I got back from lunch today, my pal Erica called to notify me that a group of ladies on the 19th floor were holding their own Cupcake Cook-off, which was loosely, if not entirely, inspired by "The Daily Cupcake" e-mails I send...daily. Needless to say I:

1.) wasn't surprised by my ability to spark such enthusiasm in people and;

2.) got myself up there immediately!

Apparently this was a relatively last-minute cook-off in honor of a visiting coworker from our San Francisco office. (Hi, Alberto!!!) He was also selected as judge. Why I didn't get the memo remains unclear.

Nevertheless, there was a fine turnout of cupcakes, including Chocolate with mint icing and chocolate sprinkles:

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing:

Chocolate with white icing and sprinkles:

What I dubbed "Do-it-yourself-Funfetti":


Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate icing topped with a raspberry:

And the ultimate winner, Red Velvet!

The winning cupcakes were made by Huong, so I made her pose with her cupcake:

Of course, I had try just a dainty, tiny bite of the winning selection:

This is Katie and Peter. We used to work together. We still enjoy cupcakes together:

I was really pleased with the event in general and mostly that it happened all, but I was thinking about the way I might have judged this cook-off. And since you're on my blog, I figured I'd give out my awards. That, and I've been watching a lot of Toddlers & Tiaras lately, so I'm in a judging mood, what can I say?

To be fair, I only tried the red velvet and mint chocolate chip, but I've been around a few cupcakes in my day, so I got this.

Best Presentation of a Cupcake: Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting, topped with a raspberry
Best Short-on-Time-So-I'll-Come-Up-With-A-Cute-Gimmick-to-Throw-People-Off Cupcake: Do-it-yourself Funfetti
Best Appearance by a Vegetable in a Cupcake Cupcake: Carrot Cake Cupcake
Best Store Bought Cupcake: Chocolate Cupcake with white icing and sprinkles
Tastiest Cupcake: (it's a tie) Mint Chocolate and Red Velvet...but you saw that coming, didn't you?

The Daily Cupcake-Cherry Coke Cupcake

Cherry coke chocolate cupcake baked with a cherry inside,
topped with cherry buttercream, a dollop of vanilla
buttercream, and a maraschino cherry

Hello. Funny meeting you here.

Actually, I'm glad you stopped by. See, because we do/don't work together, you may/may not know how much i love/eat cupcakes. In fact, dear friend/relative/coworker/acquaintance/perfect stranger, I love cupcakes so much, I'm currently the editor of my own cupcake listserv.

I send out a picture of a cupcake with its description every day to a very lucky listserv of friends/relatives/coworkers/acquaintances/perfect strangers. 

Now, while I do love sending out my Daily Cupcake e-mail each day, it's become a bit of chore typing in every e-mail in the "to" box, not to mention there are so many more people in the world who may never have the opportunity to salivate over my literary genius! It's GENIUS I tell you!!

So anyway...here's the blog for all of you and your friends/relatives/coworkers/acquaintances/perfect strangers to visit and feel included. So, I re-ree ho--enjakljvcoiafnkwl.

Sorry, I was eating. Anyway, welcome and enjoy!