The Cupcake-Off - A Photo Essay

Yess!!! As expected, last night's Cupcake-Off was a monumental SUCCESS! Not like there was ever any question, really. I mean, if you have a party centered around cupcakes, you can't really go wrong.

The ever-glam hostesses, Neha and Deepti, however, went above and beyond my expectations for this Cupcake-Off (and believe you me, when it comes to cupcakes, my expectations are SKY. HIGH).

As guests started arriving, there was a nice little spread of delightfully tasty apps. Yum-O.

Everything was so tasty and delicious (ESPECIALLY that bruschetta!), that I had to exercise some serious restraint to save my appetite for...

The SPREAD! Check it OUT! Holy mother of all that is good and pure in the world- I was literally swooning. Partaking in the Cupcake-Off? Sprinkles, Sweet Mandy B's, Molly's, Crumbs, Alliance, and some bakery from the suburbs (haha. I really just forget the name of it! I'm not DISCOUNTING the suburbs by any means!).

And GOD! The TYPES of cupcakes! I have never been a greater fan of diversity until I experienced the diversity of these cupcakes. From lemon to red velvet to peanut butter nutella... we really had the entire spectrum of cupcaking covered. (Hahaha. I should totally submit that last line to Urban Dictionary... get it?!) I'm sorry, but let's have another look at this spread, from a diversity perspective if you will...

And sooo... Neha announced the start of the Cupcake-Off! We had basically put the names of the cupcakes and their respective bakeries on Post-Its and stuck those Post-Its on the bottoms of the bowls (so no one could see which bakery each was from), with little additional Post-Its next to each so individuals can vote on their top three.

Not going to lie... as soon as the Cupcake-Off started, everyone jumped on BOARD. Well... maybe the girls were a tad more excited than the guys.

But whatever. The guys couldn't hold out for VERY much longer.

And please... don't TELL me they weren't enjoying their cupcakes as much as the girls...

So, finally... at the end of some SERIOUS taste-testing, the cupcake with the most tallies was a carrot cake cupcake from Sweet Mandy B's....

Oh wait! That was MINE!! laksjdflksajflkj! I won! I won!!! I wasn't even self-advertising or anything (hard to believe, I know)!! I LOVED how Neha had even thought of a present for the winner and everything!

Sigh. My night was SET! Until... well, enter The Latecomer. One of Neha's friends decided to take his own sweet time showing up, so his cupcakes (from Phoebe's Cupcakes) were taste-tested about fifteen minutes after the Cupcake-Off had been completed (and I'd been declared the winner. Just to reiterate... in a friendly fashion, of course!).

And to be honest, his Salted Caramel cupcake was pretty divine. So... upon further review (and by further review, I mean his self-tallying of the room)... a new winner was declared.

I know, right? But you know what? I'm a happy person and the individual least likely to hold a grudge... so without any resentment whatsoever, I handed over my Cupcake-Off trophy...

(As an aside, I think he looks particularly confused in this picture because right before we took it, I totally spouted off "I hope you're okay with Internet security because this picture's going to be in my BLOG!" *CLICK PICTURE*... hahahah well, WHAT? He hadn't heard all the blog talk earlier that night because remember? He was The Latecomer... anyway. Again, I'm not bitter in the least.)

Sigh. Such a fleeting victory. But such a MEMORABLE NIGHT, overall!

This was one of the best party themes EVER! I'm actually beaming in PRIDE as I reflect on Neha's creative genius with this one. Well DONE!