I had a wonderful spring break at my grandparent's house last week. One of my cousins had the idea that we should do our own cupcake war together. After a little planning, the event took place, and everyone had a blast. All the cousins separated into 4 teams, 3 members on each. Grandma was the directer, Grandpa and my Dad the taste-testers, and all the aunts were the judges in the other areas: creativity, presentation, etc.
Ahead of time, Grandma and I baked a set of white cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. We scoured the kitchen for any ingredient that might be good in a cupcake and spread them out on the counter. My big brother labeled all the ingredients for us. Next, four work stations were set up and necessary tools spread out on each table. Each team was given six cupcakes to decorate and fill: 3 white, 3 chocolate. Then we chose team names: Blue Ninjas, Black Knights, Pink Panthers, and Rainbow Stars.
Grandma started the war off by explaining the rules. Each team got a turn looking at the ingredients. Then a certain amount of time was given for a couple members on the teams to gather the ingredients they wanted to use. When all of the ingredients were gathered, the war began. Around 40 minutes were allotted for decorating.
 |
| Blue Ninjas at work |
 |
| Rainbow Stars |
 |
| The Black Knights |
 |
| My not-so-pink Pink Panthers |
When the decorating time was up, each team got a turn to present their cupcakes to the judges, explain their themes, and try to convince the judges whose cupcakes were best. Then the taste-testing began. Dad and Grandpa tore the cupcakes apart, analyzing flavor combinations and textures. Next the aunts got their turn at judging presentation, creativity, and use of theme. Before the final winners were announced, each team got one more chance to speak to the judges. *Drum roll, please* And the overall winners were...
 |
The Blue Ninjas! Yum! Chocolate Delight and Banana Split! They also won in the taste category.
|
The winners for the creativity category were...
 |
| The Pink Panthers! The Cool Cats and Chocolate. |
Next, the winners for presentation (which includes how the cupcakes were presented to the judges)...
 |
| The Black Knights! Theme: "Inspired by God's creation!" or as later dubbed, "The Surf and Turf." |
And last but not least, for cooperation...
 |
| The Persuasive Rainbow Stars! The theme? Rainbow Stars, of course! |
So tell me, which cupcakes would you like to try?
