Bakers at Vista’s Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen have been swamped for the past two weeks, and with good reason —- owner Don Hein and baker Amanda Suvia won the April 1 episode of Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars,” and customers are stopping by for a taste of the winning cakes.
“It was crazy. It was chaotic. But it was definitely worth it,” Hein said of his TV competition experience.
After three rounds of judging, Hein and Suvia emerged victorious during an episode that had them baking for a Funny or Die party for the popular website of the same name.
Little Cakes’ winning flavors were Rhu-Fluffernutter-Nanner-Barb (banana-rhubarb cake with marshmallow fluff topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting); The Pearl (sweet almond cake filled with Bavarian cream, topped with champagne Italian buttercream and edible “pearls”); Mayan Macaroon (chocolate cinnamon cake topped with vanilla Italian buttercream, rolled in toasted coconut and drizzled with chocolate ganache); and Drunken Pumpkin (rum pumpkin cake with chocolate chips, topped with cinnamon Italian buttercream and edible chocolate balls).
Back in Vista, all four flavors are available and will be in heavy rotation throughout April. One new development: Little Cakes started making its own marshmallow fluff for the Rhu-Fluffernutter-Nanner-Barb this week.
Food Network had originally contacted Little Cakes to appear on the show last season, but the bakery hadn’t been open for very long. After plenty of reflection, Hein said he turned down his first chance at the show.
But when the network came calling again for this season, Hein knew it was a prime time to enter the baking competition.
“It was just too good of an opportunity to turn down,” he said.
His team did time trials and prepared as much as possible for three weeks before the taping in October.
The taping itself took two days —- one day for the baking and critiquing, and another to film the sit-down interviews that are mixed in with the competition footage.
With four competitors and their cupcakes made with “funny” ingredients, Hein said the first round of judging and critiquing took an hour to film. Hein and Suvia made it through the first and second rounds, then competed in the finale, where teams must bake 1,000 cupcakes and come up with the idea for a cupcake display for the Funny or Die party. In the end, the Little Cakes team took home the top prize —- the Funny or Die gig (and exposure) and $10,000.
“The winning money (will) … be going to support our small business,” Hein said. “It will be greatly appreciated and will help us in this rough economy.”
One criticism the judges had for Hein was the lack of decorations on his team’s cakes. But Hein said it’s all part of the shop’s philosophy —- that the top priority is for the cake to taste good.
“I didn’t want to go on TV and represent the shop any other way,” he said. “We really did go there thinking we didn’t want to do any fondant or decorations.”
After keeping the results a secret from everyone for months, Hein and the Little Cakes team watched as supporters learned their fate at a screening at Lamppost Pizza in Vista. About 50 people came to the screening, including representatives from city organizations.
“The city has been incredibly supportive,” Hein said. “They’ve been great since the beginning.”
As for what’s next, Hein said he’s not sure whether he’d appear on TV again, calling the experience “exhausting but definitely worth it.”
Any plans to expand after the shop’s television fame? Hein said it’s not in the works right now.
“I like having a local shop in the town I live in,” he said. “We don’t want to spread ourselves too thin.”
Originally Published: April 12, 2012 at 10:00 AM PDT