Cupcake Wars

Cupcake Wars
Genre	Reality television Cooking show
Presented by	Justin Willman (2009-2013) Jonathan Bennett (2016-present)
Judges	Candace Nelson (2009-2013) Florian Bellanger (2009-present) Waylyn Lucas (2016-present)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	10
No. of episodes	125 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Adam Cohen Cara Tapper Joanna Vernetti
Running time	1 hour
Release
Original network	Food Network
Original release	December 27, 2009 (2009-12-27) – present (present)
External links
Website

Cupcake Wars is an American reality competition series which premiered on December 27, 2009 on cable television network Food Network.^[1] The show is hosted by Justin Willman and based on creating unique and professional-style cupcakes.^[2]

The show is similar to successful Chopped cooking show aired on the same network, in that it starts with four contestants who are eliminated one-by-one in three rounds, with the winning team receiving $10,000 and the opportunity to be featured in an upcoming event. Each team consists of a chef and a sous-chef.

Rounds

Each round takes about a third of the completed episode.

The first round lasts 45 minutes in competition and is focused around taste.^[3] Contestants must create a cupcake with unusual ingredients related to a theme – for example, a date-night theme might require contestants to incorporate various aphrodisiacs, such as oysters, basil, dark chocolate, or champagne.

The second round lasts 75 minutes in competition and is based on both taste and presentation. Contestants must make three different types of cupcakes of their own choice with a unique presentation that relates to the theme.

The third and final round is the most challenging, with the remaining two teams having two hours to make 1,000 cupcakes. This round lasts 2 hours in competition. Each team must feature improved versions of all four cupcakes they made in the first two rounds, and then showcase them on an elaborately constructed display connected to that episode's theme. Both the cupcakes and the display must relate to the theme and the cupcakes might be new or improved. Each team receives the assistance of four baking assistants and one carpenter in completing the round. This is the only round that the judges did not taste the cupcakes at the judges table, instead the judges tastes the cupcakes at the display.^[3]

Themes

The show invites cupcake bakers from all over the United States to compete. Each episode is centered on a theme or event; past themes include 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, a golf tournament, and a film festival.

Judges

There are three judges in the series, with two of them serving as permanent judges:

• Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes,^[4] the world's first cupcake bakery^[5] (in episode 7 of season 7, Bobbie Lloyd, Chief Baking Officer of Magnolia Bakery filled in for Nelson)
• Florian Bellanger, executive French pastry chef^[6]
• The third, rotating judge, is a special guest and is associated with the event in which that episode's winning cupcakes are to be served.

Nelson and Bellanger usually give the bakers technical critiques on the methods, amounts, and ingredients they use, while the guest judge's critiques are usually much more subjective, based on whether or not they liked the cupcakes.

Episodes

See also

• Cake Wars

References

External links

• Official website
• Cupcake Wars at the Internet Movie Database
• Cupcake Wars on TV.com
• Cupcake Wars Kids spinoff