A total of 9 teens ranging in grades from 6–12 competed in the contest. Rebecca Hounshell, 12th grade at Swanton High School, took the 1st place award with her Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes. Julia Smith, 7th grade at Swanton Middle School, was awarded 2nd place for her Hamburger cupcakes, and Nicole Krempec, 12th grade at Evergreen High School, took 3rd place with her Margarita cupcakes with Key Lime Cream CheeseFrosting. The People’s Choice award was given to Julia Smith for her Hamburger cupcakes. Congratulations! Below are the three winning recipes. See other pictures from the contest.
Thank you to our judges Marla Wietrzykowski of Cupcake Corners, Shelby Tipping of Shelby’s Kitchen, Nicole Kokensparger of CoCo’s Truffles, and Courtney Green of Swanton Public Library.
Click on the picture to see see a larger version.
CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH CUPCAKES
1st Place – Judges’ Award – Rebecca Hounshell
Cake:
1 box French Vanilla cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
¾ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup sour cream
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Brown sugar to top cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, gently combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix in sour cream. Add cake mix and cinnamon and mix until smooth. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and sprinkle tops with a little brown sugar. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before icing.
Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal crumbs (run through a food processor until fine crumbs)
Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add cereal crumbs, vanilla and powdered sugar. Adjust consistency using milk, if too thick. Spread onto cooled cupcakes and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch square.
HAMBURGER CUPCAKES
2nd Place – Judges’ Award & People’s Choice Award – Julia Smith
Ingredients:
- 1 box Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe Classic Cake Mix
- 1 box Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food Cake Mix
- 2 cans Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-style Classic Vanilla Frosting
- Liquid food coloring
- Sesame seeds
- Shredded coconut
- Cocktail toothpicks
- 6 large eggs
- Water
- Vegetable oil
Baking Instructions:
1. Bake vanilla cupcakes according to directions on box. DO NOT use cupcake liners, but grease and flour the pan so they easily pop out.
2. Bake chocolate cupcakes according to directions on box (either use 2 cupcake trays or thoroughly clean between vanilla & chocolate batches). Again, DO NOT use cupcake liners.
3. When vanilla cupcakes are cool, cut them in half horizontal-wise with a serrated knife to create the “bun”.
4. When chocolate cupcakes are cool, cut them in half horizontal-wise and save the cupcake top as the “meat”. You can discard (or eat!) the bottoms.
5. Use ample amounts of food coloring to mix a batch of red icing (“ketchup”) and another batch of yellow icing (“mustard”).
6. Pour some of the coconut in a bowl and pour a few drops of green food coloring in it. Stir with a fork until the coconut is light green in color like “lettuce”.
7. Lightly dampen burger “lids” with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds so they stick a little.
8. To create the burger layers, put red icing on the bottom bun, then add the “meat”, then add the yellow icing, then sprinkle the lettuce on top, then add the lid.
9. Finish by using a cocktail toothpick to keep it all together!
10. Note: If you’re in a hurry, you can purchase the red and yellow pre-colored icing in a tube.
11. Note: Beware of heavily colored icing. It can stain!
MARGARITA CUPCAKES WITH KEY LIME CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
3rd Place Judges’ Award – Nicole Krempec
Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
3 egg whites
1 (10 fluid ounce) can frozen margarita mix (such as Barcardi®), thawed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lime juice
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cake mix, egg whites, frozen margarita mix, vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Pour the batter into cupcake pans with papers.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center shows moist crumbs, 15-20 minutes. Cool in the pans.
To make frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy, and stir in the lemon peel and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl thoroughly with a spatula after each addition. Spread the frosting over the cooled cupcakes. Some lemon peel can be sprinkled on top for decoration.