Chocolate Adventure Contest

Remember that cupcake contest I told you about? The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Ingredient Contest? ^[1]

The one with $10,000 up for grabs? It was a while ago. You’ve probably forgotten by now. That’s ok, but that’s why I went to San Francisco this February to begin with. They flew me out there to taste the top cupcakes and help judge to pick the winner. Ridiculous, I know. But, I went across the country from Georgia to California to eat chocolate cupcakes. Adventurous one might even say.

Anyway, here are a few behind the scenes of the judging and the winning recipe in case you’ve been wondering.

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Lisa (on the right) from tuttiefoodie ^[3] helps put together the contest. And while there were a ton of ingredients needed on hand to cover all the cupcakes being made from flour to bee pollen……

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…all of the recipes had to include some type of Scharffen Berger Chocolate. Yes, I know. This was a tough assignment.

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Paulding & Company ^[6] kitchen. Where it all went down.

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Look, there’s Matt from Matt Bites ^[8].

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Matt was also one of the judges. He takes pics just like me. Only he’s a bazillion times better at it.

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Elizabeth Falkner was another judge. She owns Citizen Cake ^[11] in San Francisco. You know how some people exude cool… well, she’s one of them even without a blowtorch. She’s been a competitor and judge on Top Chef, so you may recognize her and her spiky golden locks.

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That’s Alice Medrich. She’s an expert on chocolate desserts and the author of several books ^[13]. She’s got one I’ve been eyeing for a bit. Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies. Dang, I should have bought one and had her sign it. Kicks self.

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That’s me and this is what a dork wave looks like while holding a cupcake.

See that guy on the left that looks all serious? That’s John Scharffenberger. He was the fifth judge.

Here are just a few of the cupcakes we ate… I mean tasted. : )

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These were one of the finalists.

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German Chocolate Cupcakes with coconut milk and sumatra coffee beans… another one of the finalists.

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The candied serrano chiles on this one earned it a second place title and $7,000.

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Beer-malt frosting and spicy pretzel crumbles topped these cuties and won them third place and $3,000.

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Man we look serious.

Choosing one winner was tough, but we all agreed that these stout cupcakes tasted best.

You Make me Want to Stout Cupcakes ^[20] by Elaine Barbee

YAY ELAINE!

I didn’t get a great photo of them, but feel free to check out all three winning recipes and images here ^[21].

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Here’s the whole team… It was a really fun day judging chocolate cupcakes in San Francisco and meeting new people.

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But, I’ll tell you, I was so happy to finally meet Matt. I’ve had a little blog crush on him for a while. Great design. Beautiful photos. Interesting stories about food and travel. P.S. Matt just published his first cookbook titled, On a Stick ^[24]. Something tells me we’d get along.