Welcome to the first round of the Bahrain Cupcake War
Let me tell you, this stuff is tense. The judges on reality shows who get into fights are not joking.
Cupcakes are serious. We're serious.
Before reading, get a better idea of how the score system works at the Cupcake War Introduction.
Now. LET'S GET IT ON.
The judges for Cupcake Round 1 are:
Noor Nooruddin: Claims her organs are actually made of cake. A cannibal's dream dessert.
Ali Haji: Some say beneath his Meera exterior, he's actually a loving and friendly teddy bear. Hates cakes.
Nawaf Nooruddin: His vanilla cupcake-scented candles make him more qualified than the rest of us. In other news, his room smells delicious.
Imran Al Aradi: He's fat. And he's supposed to be funny. He's not that fat. Also, dislocated shoulder. Feel bad.
Zainab Abdulrahman: She's awesome (requested introduction, the writers of this post do not necessarily condone or condemn this statement.) She might be crazy.
The Contestants and Their Cakes:
- Clever Cupcakes: Hardly need an introduction, probably the most well-known cupcake store in Bahrain, due to their extensive marketing and strong branding throughout the kingdom. Needless to say, their popularity makes them a key controversial topic in discussing the yummy-ness of Bahraini cupcakes.
Cupcakes being judged: FeFo (Flake) and Rainbow
- Swirl Bakery: Recently established in Bahrain, Swirl opened shop in Isa Town to offer the usual cupcake treats in addition to some egg-free desserts. The story of how the bakery started is nice (check it out here ) It's a cute little shop with a quaint atmosphere.
Cupcakes being judged: Red Velvet and Nutella Indulgence
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Let us begin.
Clever Cupcakes: FeFo (Flake)
We chose the FeFo as an equal opponent to Swirl Bakery's Nutella Indulgence, due to the heavy Nutella influence as the frosting of this cupcake.
After the tasting, we rated the flavoras follows:
Noor: 5/10
Ali: 4/10
Nawaf: 7/10
Imran: 7/10
Zainab: 4/10
Average: 5.4
All in all, none of us thought it was a bad cupcake. It was a basic chocolate with Nutella as frosting and a piece of flake on top. It's pretty much exactly as we described, no special kick to it. Still, not bad.
Clever Cupcakes: Rainbow Cupcake
This is one of the other popular flavors, and honestly the colorful presentation is what drew us to it. Ok drew me to it. I demanded it.
Flavorratings:
Noor: 7/10
Ali: 8/10
Nawaf: 8/10
Imran: 8/10
Zainab: 6/10
Average: 7.4
Shockingly, this actually did a lot better than the FeFo overall. While we disagreed on the presentation of the cupcake (Imran and Ali loved the colorful presentation with the peanut butter M&M on top when some of us thought it was a bit juvenile), it generally did well. Maybe a little too sweet, but that wasn't an issue for our panel of judges.
ON TO THE COMPETITION.
Swirl Bakery: Nutella Indulgence
Flavorratings:
Noor: 6/10
Ali: 7/10
Nawaf: 4/10
Imran: 5/10
Zainab: 5/10
Average: 5.4
This cupcake had a lighter chocolate than its competitor, which is always a plus when you want your customers to have as many as possible. The main issue with this cupcake is that the word "indulgence" is a huge overstatement. There is no sense of indulgence in this cupcake whatsoever; in fact, not much sense of Nutella either. There is a little ball of Nutella in the middle of the cupcake, but that's not even close to satisfying. The frosting isn't Nutella either, it tasted like an airy store-bought frosting, not tasty at all. So as a basic chocolate cupcake, this isn't bad, but "Nutella Indulgence" is far from the truth.
Swirl Bakery: Red Velvet
Flavor:
Noor: 4/10
Ali: 3/10
Nawaf: 6/10
Imran: 4/10
Zainab: 4/10
Average: 4.2
This cupcake, the bakery's self-proclaimed "most popular cupcake" was probably the biggest disappointment of the day. The cream cheese frosting, a red velvet's winning factor, was a huge letdown. Some of the judges noted that the frosting tasted too "cheesy" and "salty." No one wants salty cheese on their red velvet cupcake.
Extra Point Winners:
- Appearance and Presentation (3 points):
Noor, Nawaf, and Zainab: Swirl Bakery - Classic and clean decoration of both cupcakes trumps the somewhat unorganized presentation of the competitor's treats.
Ali and Imran: Clever Cupcakes - Creative and fun presentation of both cupcakes gave them an aesthetic edge over predictable cupcake decorations.
- Accessibility (3 points):
Unanimous Winner:Clever Cupcakes - A detailed and regularly updated website where you can order every cupcake from, and they have stands in LuLu Hypermarket Riffa, A'ali Mall, and Alawi Complex.
- Value for Money (2 points):
Ali:Swirl Bakery - At BD3.900 for half a dozen (3 of each flavor), their cheaper price makes them more deserving of these two points.
Noor, Nawaf, Zainab, and Imran:Clever Cupcakes - Although BD4.800 for half a dozen (3 of each flavor) makes them almost BD1 more than their competitor, they were bigger cupcakes and felt more indulgent.
- Menu and Variety (2 points):
Nawaf and Zainab:Swirl Bakery - Their egg-free options makes them the category's winner, easily.
Noor, Ali, and Imran:Clever Cupcakes - They have like a gajillion flavors, in so many sizes! Definitely a bigger variety than its competitor.
Grand Totals:
WINNER: Clever Cupcakes
While the flavor scores were close, the two things that brought Swirl Bakery down were its Red Velvet cupcake and the fact that they missed out on the extra points. Clever Cupcakes easily takes the cake (heh) in terms of accessibility, and won most of us over with value for money (bigger cupcakes = happier customers).
So there you have it. The winner of Cupcake War Round 1.
Stay tuned for our next round!
Tournament Bracket:
To get in contact with the cupcake businesses in this round:
Clever Cupcakes: http://www.clevercups.com
Swirl Bakery: http://www.swirlbh.com
Next: Cake Me Up VS Sweet Little Things
Thanks for reading!
