'Cupcake Wars' at CB Tech

MOSES LAKE — It turns out competition cupcakes sometimes require a little muscle.

The team of Jason Stortz, Carlos Plascencia, Daniel Littlejohn and Daniel Castaneda came up with an eye-catching idea for their entry in the “Cupcake Wars” at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center (CB Tech). But the piping bag of tri-colored buttercream frosting turned out to be more than one cook could handle. It took the combined efforts of Jason, Daniel and Carlos to force the buttercream through the bag.

Competition cupcakes also require some experimentation, a little tweaking. The team of Megan Jones, Grace Anderson and Josue Velasquez devised an unusual topping for their entry, buttercream frosting flavored with a mango puree. The first attempt was not so good. “It didn’t work. It fell and melted right off the cupcake,” Megan said. They went back to the drawing board, asking adults for ideas, looking online and testing until they came up with a frosting that worked.

The culinary class cupcake wars were inspired by the television show of the same name, said instructor Susie Moberg. “It just looked like a really fun experiment to do with the students.”

It was a lot of fun to watch the culinary students experiment with ideas and themes and flavors, Moberg said. By the end of the competition some of the teams had experimented their way to original recipes.

Jason explained the process whereby the four-man team devised its mango-coconut-banana cupcake. They couldn’t find a recipe that really worked, he said, so they ended up adapting a cake recipe and coming up with their own technique to enhance the coconut flavor.

The culinary students were required to do more than just make cupcakes. The competition also required a display stand; each team designed its own. They worked with CB Tech’s metal shop and wood shop classes to build the completed stand.

Grace was an exception; she helped her dad build her team’s display, a treasure chest that reflected the tropical theme. The mango frosting enhanced the theme, in Grace’s opinion. “It kind of looks like hermit crab shells,” she said.

The tri-colored frosting was designed to mimic the colors of the tropical sun setting behind an active volcano, Carlos said, and their cake display stand was a volcano. Susan Burns-Gilmore went in a different direction, using angel food cupcakes as her base for an “angel warrior” theme. She chose strawberry-honey filling, and fresh strawberry whipped cream icing.

All the teams were so pleased with their displays they stopped to get a few pictures. “Instagram-worthy,” Megan said.

Instructor Steve Armstrong encouraged the students to take some pictures before the judges tore the displays apart.

“I don’t know if they’re that good,” Megan said, and Armstrong – oh, snap – said she might be right. But the mango cupcakes took first place among the afternoon class, finishing with a perfect score.

Before the judges delivered their verdict Carlos came back for one more look, phone in hand. “Just one more,” he said, as he snapped one last picture.