I'm standing in the middle of the street with 25 lbs of sugar in my right arm, it's 90 degrees out, and the phone rings. It's FOOD NETWORK. I'm like, "Oh, hi" (like they call me every day)...

He said he found me online and saw that I do great cakes and also that I do cupcakes, wants to know if I want to audition for the show. I've never seen the show, and I'm not a cupcake shop, and I'm not even a cupcake lover, so I said I'd fill out the app and try to get a video done (haven't yet, had 7! cakes last weekend).

I watched some youtube auditions, and I'm thinking, wtf? I'm not a volume cupcake shop...why on earth would this be something I would be crazy enough to try?

Anyone else heard from them, or have any tips on this show? I've seen some clips online, and it looks like every other challenge I've seen, except it's not my...particular area of expertise.

thoughts?

Congratulations! That's quite an honor!

wow that is amazing! good luck!(:

Oh, my! Congratulations! I think I would have dropped the 25 lbs of sugar right there and started screaming in the middle of the street! What an amazing honor for you!! Be crazy, be bold!! All you can do is try it! Who knows, you may be the next big thing on FN!!!

OMG so happy for you but also so nervous! 1000 cupcakes! Just make sure you have lots of fun decorations, the judges seem to like those and lots of new flavor combos!

Let us know so we can watch and send out good cupcake vibes!

Dizzy

I've watched most of them. It's an elimination challenge - 4 bakers, then 3, then 2 compete for the final prize. Money and your cupcake display goes to a very big, usually prestigous event. The event drives the theme of the cupcakes and the display. I've seen them for charities, openings, etc. all with celebs. You bring one helper.

Judges are Candace Nelson, the Sprinkles Cupcake owner, a very french guy, and someone connected with the event.

First round cupcakes (I think 3) are baked with "taste" being the judging factor. I think you have 30 minutes. 1 baker is eliminated here.

Second round 3 cupcakes are baked and "presentation" according to the theme is the judging criteria. 1 baker is eliminated here.

Final round you have 2 hours to bake ***1,000*** cupcakes and create a display. You get 4 additional helpers for the baking and decorating, and you get a cute plaid shirt crafty guy to make your display.

Everyone rushes around baking and frosting and putting the cupcakes on the display. Then a winner is chosen for relatability to the event.

It looks really hard...I don't know how they get 1000 cupcakes baked in time.

**BUT** It's wonderful you've been chosen to audition. Lots of exposure for you and your work.

I have not seen the CC Wars but others have posted on here that it is not a very good show. I am sure you will make the right decision and congrats on THEM calling YOU!!!

Basically, in the 1st round that get you to do a cupcake flavour test using 'x' amount of weird and wonderful flavours in the cup cake. In the 2nd round you have to do 3 more flavours, they judge you 50/50 on flavour/presentation. In the last round you have to make 1000 cupcakes and a presentation stand using the 4 cupcakes, 250 of each. Each round one person is eliminated.

There is a different 'theme' each week, eg Seaworld week they had 'sea' flavours as the weird ones. So you'd choose from seaweed, sea salt, oysters etc... And then in the presentation round you'd represent Seaworld in the cuppie decorations.

Personally I like the programme Do it if you want a new experience and a chance to win $10,000. If not keep on cakin'

That's awesome! Congratulations and good luck!!!

I guess they think cupcakes are just smaller cakes. They don't realize that you have a much smaller "venue" to work with with. Not much room to show off your color combo skills, how flawless your fondant is smoothed, how realistic your gumpaste work can be. Even your piping. Cupcakes are not cake!
But a great opportunity to get your name out there! I say go for it and Good Luck!

woo hoo congratulations!! How exciting....The judges just tend to love cupcake combinations that are interesting and that work and that look pretty interesting...Keep us informed..

I've seen the show too and say GO FOR IT! Since they contacted YOU, they must like the looks of your work for sure.

I was extremely lucky enough to be able to compete on Ultimate Cake Off earlier this year and thought there is NO WAY I could do something like that. It was a TON of work, very hard, very frustrating at times ( doing the prep work ahead) but by far the most fun, most exciting and most challenging thing I've ever done relating to cake decorating. The sheer pride and joy of accomplishing the cake we did was worth it all!

You may not do that volume of cupcakes on a regular basis, but then again I don't think many of the decorators on any of the reality cake related shows do that kind of work in their every day lives. It's a LOT of fun! Give it a shot! All your CC friends will be here to cheer you on!

KimAZ

I think it's awesome that they contacted you!

IF you are thinking about it, I would recommend watching some of the episodes before you make a decision. I personally don't like the show. I've watched it twice and I don't plan on watching it again. Even for a reality show I find it to be so unrealistic (1000 cupcakes in 2 hours? Come on!) it's irritating.

But it could totally be worth it for the publicity alone.

Good luck!

Congrats! If they called, I would probably do it. It's hard to turn down national exposure. However, it looks very stressful, and I'm not sure I would have tough enough skin to handle the critiques. The judges can be pretty brutal.

I'd watch the show first before you make any decisions. Food Network called me to see if I wanted to do a cake challenge and I said no. I work by myself, I had jobs booked that weekend, I'm not competitive that way, and I don't need the stress of someone having a camera in my face all day. Not to mention that Mike McCarey would have kicked my butt and they'd have been watching me the whole time to see any mistakes that happened I'm not impressed by the cupcake wars show, it's not great. I'd just watch and see if it looks like something you'd want to do before you say yes.

I've watched all but maybe one of the Cupcake Wars shows. Personally, I like the show. I'd never want to be a contestant, though! The amount of stress involved would probably kill me. If you're interested, I'd certainly pursue the opportunity. Not too often you're given a 1 in 4 chance of making $10,000!

Not a fan of the show, but congratulations on being recognized for your work. Many blessings to you.

not a fan of the show, not a fan of cupcakes either.. I would have dropped the phone and ran screaming from it!

But you do what make you feel comfortable and let us know what you decide so we know if we need to set the tivo!!

just remember these golden rules.. keep your hair up and dont paint your nails or where high heels!!

oops I hit the wrong button. It was the laptops fault. LOL I agree that you should before you make a decision. It would be a LOT of stress, but great if you win.

Wow congratulations! I've looked at your work & its beautiful I'm sure you could meet this challenge head on! Best of luck

From what I hear they only pay a stipend (sp?) like $300 or something ridiculous and you have to cover all the other costs...shipping materials, ingredients, travel to and from. However, they may have changed things by now.

If you can afford it. I'd say GO FOR IT! Hey it's not every day you get to be immortalized on TV. Think, your grandchildren will watch it someday. Just have fun, don't take it too seriously. If the cupcakes fall flat, just shrug your shoulders, put a big smile on your face, and say. "Ahh, heck...they look like I sat on them (giggle out loud), oh well.....I'm just having fun!!"

Start humming to yourself in the kitchen, do your best Paula Deen impersonation. lol. It's all about the personality, not the cupcake, you could be dying inside, but smile on the outside...like the world is your oyster!!

Congrats on the call.

I would be nervous as heck, but I would NEVER pass up this possibility.

Its MAJOR exposure even if you don't win, people will be looking up your bakery... I say go for it!

And we will all be rooting for you!

It may be a bit of a hassle if you have to cover all of the costs but it IS amazing that you were chosen to audition! CONGRATS!!!

it's sooooo easy to see why they would call you . your work is beautiful!

if you decide to do the show, don't let them make you into the contestant who always "forgets" the baking soda or some other key indgredient. EVERY show, they have someone who i suspect is scripted to "forget" .

be prepared to have to make cupcakes with some ingredient you would never willingly choose to put in a cake or cupcake...

Thanks for all the insights and answers! They did say they pay expenses, but we didn't go into it much.

I'm not a cupcake fan, either, and I told the guy this. "You realize I'm not a cupcake shop right?" I really don't care for doing them, so why would I do a challenge about them?

I did view some videos on youtube, and I wonder why they called me, since the others all seem to BE cupcake shops. hmm

Thanks also for all the nice compliments! I've done a ton of new cakes I wish you could all see, but haven't had time to even mow the lawn at home let alone resize them and post them here! You can check them out at the Latest Cakes page on my website though.. www.cakesbystefanie.com if you want. Especially two cool new 3-D grooms cakes and my first standing up gp bride (my niece's cake).

I will try to keep everyone posted as to what I decide. Haven't done a video audition yet and am very busy with cakes again this week, so we'll see. I'm also in the middle of running for the BEST CAKES in Spokane again, so this is all keeping me very scattered.

Gotta go--I should be at the bakery and I'm still in my robe! toodles

I agree with what someone else said- people will be looking your bakery up.

I don't like the show, but I do watch it long enough to google everyone's shop and look at their websites!

ok, first off, i LOVE this show!! here's the breakdown: it starts with 4 bakers (each with their own assistant), the first round is based soley on taste, BUT they normally throw in some sort of challenge, like this past week's the event they were creating for was a big film festival so in the first round they showed the contestants a table with sweet things you'd find in a concession stand (ie- chocolate, licorice, etc) and one table with savory things (ie- popcorn, peanuts, etc) the contestants had to choose at least one item from each table and incorporate them into a cupcake (just one cupcake). (30 min) then they taste, tell you what they think, and one person gets elimiated. the second round is based on BOTH taste and presentation (which it really has to look good and themed to whatever event they are baking for), in this round they have to make 3 different cupcakes and decorate each one (45 minutes), then they get judged and one gets eliminated. in the 3rd and final round the two remaining bakers each get 4 additional staff members and one carpenter to help them and they must create 1000 cupcakes (all the flavors and decorations they have done in the previous round) and then make a display that matches the event (like for the film fest she made a 4 sided movie "action" thing with red ropes) and they have to make sure all the cupcakes are on the display (i believe they have 2 hours for this) and whoever wins, wins 10K and their cupcake display at the event. good luck if you decide to do it!!!

oops, wrong on the times, i think the first round is 45 min, the second is 75 min and the third is 2 hours.