And The Winner of the Cupcake Wars is...

Obama may be taking up the Front Page of all the papers, but Cupcakes took over the front page of the Washington Post's Food Section as they declared a winner for the Cupcake Wars! 8 weeks and 141 cupcakes later, Georgetown Cupcake has been declared the winner.


Georgetown Cupcake's Winning Chocolate Ganache Cupcake
Photo Credit: By James M. Thresher For The Washington Post Photo

In order to determine an ultimate cupcake champion, the Post's team of tasters narrowed it down to 6 bakery finalists and their winning flavors. They were:

1. Georgetown Cupcake: Chocolate Squared, Lava Fudge, Chocolate Ganache, Red Velvet, Chocolate Vanilla, Caramel Apple, Chocolate Cubed, and Lemon Blossom.

2. Baked & Wired: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Vanilla (Karen's Birthday Cake) and Texas Sheet Cake.

3. Best Buns Bread Co.: Chocolate Cream Cheese and Chocolate Cream Cheese with Coconut

4. Hello Cupcake: Lemon (You Tart!) and Banana with Vanilla Cream Cheese (Vanilla Gorilla)

5. Chatman's D'Vine Bakery & Cafe: Red Velvet.

6. Couture Cupcake: Savannah (Red Velvet).


Cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake
Photo Credit: By James M. Thresher For The Washington Post Photo

According to Joe Yonan, the Washington Post Food Editor who has been heading the Cupcake Wars these last eight weeks, there was no contest that Georgetown Cupcake was the clear winner. After a final round of tasting, "Georgetown, was the only one in the finals whose average score was higher than in the early rounds. Hello's and Best Buns' scoring was virtually stable, while Baked and Wired, Couture and Chatman's saw their scores drop." "Perhaps not surprisingly, Georgetown, which had the most cupcakes (and the highest scorers) going in, also dominated this last round of scoring. And when the judges compared notes after filling out their evaluation sheets, the question was not whether a Georgetown cupcake would take top honors but which one it would be."

So congratulations to Georgetown Cupcake and their winning flavors! Washington Post Staff Writer Jane Black gave us some details on what the ladies of Georgetown Cupcake go through to keep up with the demand for their treats:

"Co-owners and sisters Sohpie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, winners of our Cupcake Wars, bake from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. most days. And though they allow employees to scoop batter into tins and check the ovens, they pipe the frosting on every single cupcake themselves. On average, the store sells between 2,000 and 3,000 cupcakes Tuesdays through Fridays (up from 800 when it opened in February), 4,000 on Saturdays and 2,000 on Sundays." Just think, at that rate they're selling over 835,000 cupcakes a year!

Here's a look at some of the statistics from the contest, via the Washington Post:

AVERAGE CUPCAKE RESULTS
(In Order from Highest to Lowest)

Georgetown Cupcake 7.33
Best Buns Bread Co. 6.70
Baked & Wired 6.44
Hello Cupcake 5.02
Couture Cupcakes 4.94
Buzz 3.36
Just Cakes 2.89
Cakelove 2.83
Chatman’s D’Vine Bakery & Café 2.41
Lavender Moon Cupcakery 2.32
Sticky Fingers 2.12
Pastries by Randolph 2.11
BakeshopDC 1.96
Furin’s of Georgetown 1.73
Baltimore Cupcake Co. 1.04
Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe 0.52

HIGHEST-RATED CUPCAKES (in finals)
(In Order from Highest to Lowest)

Georgetown Cupcake – Chocolate Ganache – 9.58
Georgetown Cupcake – Chocolate Vanilla – 9.55
Georgetown Cupcake – Chocolate Squared 9.17
Georgetown Cupcake – Lemon Blossom – 8.58
Georgetown Cupcake – Red Velvet – 8.50
Georgetown Cupcake – Lava Fudge – 8.30
Georgetown Cupcake – Chocolate Cubed – 8.17
Hello Cupcake – Vanilla Gorilla – 7.92
Hello Cupcake – You Tart! – 7.83
Best Buns – Chocolate/Cream Cheese – 7.75
Best Buns – Chocolate/Cream/Coconut – 7.73
Baked & Wired – Chocolate/Peanut Butter – 7.42
Baked & Wired – Texas Sheet Cake – 6.67
Baked & Wired – Chocolate/Vanilla – 6.67
Georgetown Cupcake – Caramel Apple – 6.50
Chatman’s – Red Velvet – 6.33
Couture Cupcake – Savannah – 6.25