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!

cupcakes... in more detail than you ever imagined possible...

so one of my absolute favorite people in LIFE came to visit me in my new hometown (is it too early to start calling chicago home? oh well.) this weekend! drumroll please... id like to introduce you to the one and only archie p! while arch and i have traveled quite a few places together... travel is a slightly relative term... somehow, i think very few individuals would travel the way we do, complete with self-guided "the notebook" tours in charleston sc (i mean HELLO! southern CHARM at its FINEST!), pathetically weak attempts to bike ride around charleston in sweltering heat (i just cringed), ridiculous cooking/baking adventures in archie's DC kitchen (trust me... if you ever want to make vegan cupcakes, you can just give archie p a ringeroo), blueberry picking by the mountains in seattle (rather than watching some big OSU vs. UW football game... please- priorities here, people), gorging on magnolias cupcakes in new york...

oh magnolias. where the cupcake sprung to life- from a mere birthday dessert to an absolute ART FORM, in my eyes. i could eat magnolias for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and trust me, i have before, so dont put it past me- vanilla vanilla, you canNOT go wrong). sad to say, any other cupcake place i sampled in new york and SF just paled in comparison to magnolias.

but then i came to chicago. and... oh what the heck. i was going to just type out the ins and outs of the cupcake scene here but it would basically be a copy/paste of my email to arch in preparation for her visit to chicago (please keep in mind that the poor girl was not even in the US at the time this email was written... she was in cambodia saving the world... and im emailing her about cupcakes. fab.)

"arch you have to come home soon. and by come home, i mean, sure fly into dc but then immediately come down and visit me in chicago :) i just discovered yet ANOTHER amazing cupcake shop today! i stumbled upon it while i was walking to barnes and noble. it's on the cutest little street and the name of it is: sweet mandy b's. how cute is THAT?? i dont know which i like better... mollys or mandys! mollys is amazing and i go there at least once a weekend (this weekend i went three times- it was kind of disgusting but whatever) but it's kind of pricey... however, the cupcakes are SO DIVINE. mandys is definitely cheaper and much simpler (ie: the frostings are all kinds, the cakes portion are as well, but they arent filled with like cookie dough or peanut butter like mollys does). anyway. it was pathetic- i stumbled upon mandys and you KNOW i helped myself (i cant stop myself from trying a cupcake shop!!)- i had a lemon cupcake with vanilla buttercream divinity frosting. it was great. but then i felt guilty because i felt like i was cheating on mollys so i just stopped by mollys just now and helped myself to a mixed berry cupcake which was just mediocre. however, i must admit that mollys has been solid on most of the others ive tried... i had a chocolate one with peanut butter filling yesterday (it reminded me of our buckeye cupcakes!!) and then there's this choc chip cookie dough one, that is a choc chip cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting and cookie dough filling in the cake part and topped with the cutest little choc chip cookie... OMG AND ARCHIE on friday i got a mini pumpkin caramel cheesecake. i mean, seriously, it's getting outta control. im cutting myself off starting tomorrow i have told myself. well. until you come and then we embark on a self guided cupcake tour around chicago. i mean, honestly, im quite surprised with the high quality cupcakes ive come across here. because in new york, the only ones i truly enjoyed were magnolias- all else paled in comparison. sigh. anyway. i todl you this was going to be all about cupcakes. its rather sickening but also maddeningly delightful."

for your reference: 'mollys' refers to "Molly's Cupcakes" while 'mandys' refers to "Sweet Mandy B's"... amazing deliciousness captured in every bite... in case that wasnt remarkably clear from the above...

ive also heard of quite a few other cupcake places in chicago but i havent yet tried them... you KNOW that youll be hearing about those places (in unnecessary levels of detail... kind of like here) as i visit them as i continue on my neverending quest for the cupcake that could even DARE try to beat out my magnolias... ha. right.

good luck, chicago cupcake shops/bakeries... maliyacks is on the way... yikesers!