ORANGE — Cupcake Wars, an annual baking contest, is only in its fourth year, but has already gained enough prestige that judges’ votes have to be kept secret.
The contest, which was held Sunday at the American Legion, had 17 entries across three divisions: professional, amateur, youth.
Each division’s entries were evaluated by a panel of three judges, for a total of nine judges across the three divisions. A handful of local celebrities were on the panel this year, including Orange Selectboard Chair Ryan Mailloux and Town Administrator Gabe Voelker. To prevent political repercussions, judges’ votes can’t be publicized, contest organizers explained.
Each division has prizes for first, second and third places. This year’s top prize was $25. But mostly it’s about bragging rights, contestants and organizers said.
To reduce bias as completely as possible, the judges sample each entry in a closed-door meeting, not knowing who baked what. They score each cupcake with a rubric, which has sub-scores for frosting, cake, bite-ability and presentation.
There’s also a people’s choice award, which proceeded less orderly, and seemed to be determined by different and sometimes unpredictable criteria.
“The cute little kids always get high votes,” said Abby Holmes, who co-organizes the contest with Helene Holmes, her mother. “The cute factor is definitely part of it.”
The results can also be randomly swayed by personal preferences in flavors. The criteria of the judges’ rubrics are about the quality of the cupcakes as baked goods, leaving little room for personal preference. The crowd, on the other hand, may just prefer chocolate over fruit flavors. Recipes that combine peanut butter and chocolate often do well in the people’s poll, Abby Holmes said.
Megan Ward, a 15-year-old baker from Orange who has competed in Cupcake Wars all of its four years, entered two cupcakes this year: a peanut butter-chocolate recipe and a spice cake. The peanut-butter chocolate seemed more popular, she said.
Attendees can sample every entry, then buy tickets to vote for their favorites. Using a ticket gets you a full-size cupcake to eat on the spot or take home for later, and you can buy as many tickets as you want.
Maybe unusually, a lemon-flavored cupcake seemed to be the popular one this year. Ryan Swan, who lives in New Salem and worked at 2nd Street Bakery in Turners Falls until two years ago, entered a raspberry-lemonade cupcake and a just-lemonade cupcake, both of which were extremely popular. Swan said he baked seven dozen cupcakes, and within two hours he had fewer than half a dozen left — meaning that he had gotten at least 70 tickets. A popular opinion among the other contestants was that Swan was winning.
Cupcake Wars is a fundraiser for the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School’s after-prom party, an all-night affair intended to keep students safe after the prom, said Helene Holmes, who has been on the organizing committee since it started. This will be its 21st year.
The party costs about $12,000 to $16,000 to put on, and is free for students to attend. The organizing committee holds a fundraiser every month until April to pay for it, Helene Holmes said. Cupcake Wars typically brings in about $600 to $800.
Cupcake Wars is only in its fourth year, and organizers are still figuring out how best to coordinate it, Abby and Helene Holmes said. It seems to be more popular before winter than in the spring. People may be somewhat reluctant to each so many cupcakes before “swimsuit season,” Helene Holmes guessed. “It’s a lot of sugar,” she said.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ext. 261.