By MEGHAN RUMMEL –  In an average cooking classroom, there are many things happening. Mixers are whirling, icing is piping, and students are bonding. IHS has once again performed their very own cupcake wars with each cooking class forming into small groups, where they discovered a recipe, flavor, and design for the cupcake they thought would win over the judges. 

A lot of effort, patience, and teamwork went into the process of creating each of these special sweet treats. Freshman Kara Somerville explained hers, “First we all discussed the flavor and the type of icing we were going to use, which was buttercream. We couldn’t decide if we should do chocolate or vanilla, so we did both with a marble design. Then we mixed all of the ingredients together to make the cupcakes. After that, we made icing and decorated the cupcakes with chocolate shavings and a chocolate bar.”

Freshman Aujanae Taylor also shared the process of creating her cupcake, “The process of creating my cupcake was an easy recipe. First, we measured the ingredients we needed to make the cupcakes themselves, and then we had to do the same with the icing. After we baked them, we iced and decorated them to be the final finished product. The flavor of our cupcake was plain vanilla. We didn’t wanna go for anything massive. So it didn’t take a lot of time; we went with the basic route.”

Of course, a lot of teamwork had to go into this challenge. Everyone gathered in small groups, each with their own opinion, and had to decide together on one specific flavor. They also had to finish planning, baking, and decorating, all in a short amount of time. Taylor adds, “My team actually worked quite well together. We didn’t have any fights or disagreements.” Freshman Eddie Lloyd added, “My team worked very well together because we spent two quarters together.” Somerville stated, “We would kind of partner up. Another classmate and I would do the dishes and dry them, while the guys cleaned up and finished anything that needed to be finished.”

Even though the cupcakes were all a success, there were still things people wish they would have done better. Somerville expressed, “If I could change anything, I would do something a little more outgoing than just black and white.” Lloyd noted, “If I could change one thing it would be the decorations; my team rushed to finish decorating.” 

The cupcakes were then presented to judges who made the final decision on the winning cupcake. The cupcake wars winner was Taylor’s group with the vanilla cupcake. Taylor voiced, “Honestly, what it felt like to win was very surprising. I thought to a point that someone messed with the votes because it was literally too good to be true.” Somerville’s group was the set of winners in her class and she said, “We didn’t win overall, but we won best in the class and it felt pretty good.”

Overall, the cupcake wars were a great way to bring students together and take a break from normal academic classes. The students enjoyed baking and competing with each other, and all were proud of their sweet tasty treats. 

[Photo courtesy of  Mrs. Dalecki]

Photo Caption: “The winning cupcake called “The delightful day at the beach.”