Quarter-Final 1: Clever Cupcakes VS Sweet Little Things
QUARTER FINALS!!
Make sure to check out our Introduction to Cupcake War page for the rules and other rounds!
LET'S DO THIS!
The Judges:
Noor Nooruddin: Productivity LEVEL UP.
Ali Haji: Grumpiness LEVEL UP.
Reem Al Aseeri: Friendships are being tested here, but she's sticking through. She's believing in us.
Bader Shirawi: Just doodled all over the score sheet out of frustration.
The Cupcakes
Clever Cupcakes
Cupcakes being judged:
KitKat & Red Velvet
Sweet Little Things
Cupcakes being judged:
Chocolate & Pistachio with Rose Cream
IT'S TASTIN' TIME. Get it? It's morphin' time?
Clever Cupcakes:
KitKat
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 6.5
Ali: 8
Bader: 8
Reem: 6
Average: 7.125/10
Not a bad start for Clever Cupcakes this round. I think we were all taken by the chocolate frosting on top, it was indulgent and generously frosted onto the cupcake. The cake itself was sadly dry, but the frosting was a redeeming quality that lessened the dryness of the cake.
Red Velvet
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 7.5
Ali: 9
Bader: 7
Reem: 5
Average: 7.125/10
Another solid performance, overall. The cake on this cupcake wasn't dry, so it got some points back for it. The frosting wasn't overly cheesy because that would be ew, and it was definitely one of the better red velvets we've had during this cupcake war. A solid cupcake, so it's no surprise it didn't score less than a 5.
Sweet Little Things
Chocolate
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 7.5
Ali: 4
Bader: 4
Reem: 7.5
Average:5.75/10
A bit of a polarizing round, this one. Two of us (guess who) didn't particularly enjoy the cupcake because the cake itself wasn't chocolate and they didn't feel the indulgence that they felt from the competitor. The other two really enjoyed the chocolate experience from this cupcake because of the chocolate-bottom and the frosting. It was a simple ride, but the chocolatey happiness at the end was certainly there for some of us.
Pistachio with Rose Cream
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 3
Ali: 7
Bader: 2
Reem: 2
Average: 3.5/10
We tend to take risks with our cupcake choices, and unfortunately they don't always work out for all of us. The cake on this one was dry and left a strange aftertaste that wasn't reminiscent of pistachio, and the rose cream had an almost liquid texture that was off-putting as cupcake frosting. That being said, it's pretty clear that one of us actually really enjoyed the cupcake in its pistachio and rose creamy glory, and got really mad at us for not agreeing with him.
Extra Point Winners:
Presentation (+3): Unanimously went to Clever Cupcakes, simply because we weren't into the presentation of Sweet Little Things' pistachio rose cupcake, and Clever added some pizzaz with the KitKat on the chocolate.
Accessibility (+3): Unanimously went to Clever Cupcakes, a common issue for home businesses because they simply don't have the resources that bigger cupcake establishments do such as having multiple branches and delivery, although Sweet Little Things does offer delivery services, which is a huge thumbs up in the home business world.
Menu (+2): Unanimously went to Clever Cupcakes for their extremely long menu of cupcake flavors (even though technically most of those cupcake flavors are never really available at the branches anymore). While Sweet Little Things does offer a huge variety of cool baked goods like Nutella cookie cups (sign me up for THAT war, amirite?), their cupcake offering mostly sticks to the basics (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, and pistachio).
Value for Money (+2): Unanimously went to Sweet Little Things, as they offer the cupcakes for 6BD per dozen, so an average of 500 fils per cupcake, a great value in comparison to Clever's average of 900 fils per cupcake. Keep in mind that with Clever you can go and buy one or two cupcakes, whereas with a home business like Sweet Little Things, you have to go for the minimum of a dozen.
Totals
Congratulations: CLEVER CUPCAKES
TL;DR Sweet Little Things offered an interesting and good Chocolate cupcake, but the risk with having an usual flavor like Pistachio and Rose Cream didn't quite hit the mark, whereas Clever Cupcakes managed to serve up two at-least solid cupcakes with their KitKat and Red Velvet, and swooped up all the extra points for presentation, accessibility, and menu.
QUARTER-FINALS FOR LIFE!
Photography by: Ali Haji (Check out his Instagram @AliHajiPhotography)
Clever Cupcakes: @CleverCups
Sweet Little Things: @SLThings
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Thanks for reading!
