Quarter-Final 3: Jasmine Bakery VS Maya Delices
oOoOoh yeah.
Make sure to check out our Introduction to Cupcake War page for the rules and other rounds!
The Judges:
Noor Nooruddin: Stopped dieting ages ago. It shows.
Ali Haji: Pretends not to care but gets really passionate at the cupcake panel.
Reem Al Aseeri: My unproductivity sucks away at her soul.
Moh'd Sami: I don't know how we got him sucked into this, but we needed a guest judge. And you know what? He was perfect for the panel. Too perfect, even...
The Cupcakes
Jasmine Bakery
Cupcakes being judged:
Red Velvet & Pistachio
Maya Delices
Cupcakes being judged:
Blue Velvet & Chocolate
YES IT'S THE SAME THING BUT IT'S BLUE.
Jasmine Bakery:
Red Velvet
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 3
Ali: 4
Reem: 2
Sami: 4
Average: 3.25/10
No disrespect to Past Noor and Jasmine Bakery, but I don't know how Jasmine Bakery got into the list of cupcake places, because they only have three cupcake flavors and it's a huge bakery, cupcake isn't their main thing. We all make mistakes. Anyway, that's no excuse to have a bad cupcake, I suppose. The Red Velvet cake was dense and dry, and we're pretty sure the frosting is just a random whipped cream, which is weird because the last time we tried Jasmine's cupcakes, they had actual frosting.
Pistachio
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 2
Ali: 5
Reem: 2
Sami: 2
Average: 2.75/10
It's clear here that someone disagreed with most of us and didn't completely dislike it. The cake on the Pistachio cupcake was the same cake as the Red Velvet. Exactly it. Maybe it was baked a bit better because it wasn't as dry as the Red Velvet. Certainly not a pistachio cake on its own.
Maya Delices
Blue Velvet
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 4
Ali: 1
Reem: 5
Sami: 6
Average:4/10
The blueness is cool, but otherwise it wasn't a spectacular cupcake. The cake was dry and the frosting was a bit too cheesy (which some people on the panel like). WHO WANTS TO TASTE CHEESE ON THEIR CAKES? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, REEM? But it's okay. It's okay. To each their own. The cake itself tasted good, but the dryness of the texture was overwhelming so it wouldn't be easy to go in for a second bite. And then there's the cheese aftertaste. As you can see with the scores, it agrees with some more than others.
Chocolate
Flavor Ratings (out of 10):
Noor: 7
Ali: 8
Reem: 6.5
Sami: 7
Average: 7.125/10
REDEMPTION. Sort of. But yay, one cupcake this round went above meh and into "good" territory, which is rare and joyous. Individually, the ingredients were okay, like the cake on its own. Reem wasn't a fan of the type of chocolate used inside the cupcake, but we agreed unanimously that the cupcake works great with all the elements combined; the cake, frosting, and chocolate surprise inside. YAY.
Extra Point Winners:
Presentation (+3): Unanimous winner - Maya Delices. While I personally wasn't a fan of the Maya presentation on its own, but it beats the Jasmine presentation where you can clearly see that the frosting is just whipped cream.
Accessibility (+3):Unanimous winner - Maya Delices. Their location in Riffa (and available delivery - for a minimum order of BD20) made Maya the clear winner over the Jid Ali-located Jasmine Bakery. Maya Delices also has a website which, for me personally, is essential.
Menu (+2):Unanimous winner - Maya Delices. Jasmine Bakery only has three cupcake flavors on offer, vanilla/oreo, red velvet, and pistachio, whereas Maya has a wider range of flavors including the basics and some funky ones like Tiramisu (which we tried during the Qualification Round).
Value for Money (+2):Unanimous winner - Maya Delices. While Jasmine Bakery is significantly cheaper than Maya's 1.2BD per cupcake, the fact that they use weird-tasting whipped cream for frosting and the same cake mix for every cupcake makes Maya a better choice if you're headed to a party and need to pick up a batch of cupcakes.
Totals
Congratulations: MAYA DELICES
TL;DR While the Blue Velvet didn't do significantly better than either of Jasmine Bakery's cupcakes, its Chocolate cupcake surpassed the competitor by far. Jasmine's lack of actual frosting or varying cake mixes also brought it down in the flavor and value categories.
Photography by: Ali Haji (Check out his Instagram @AliHajiPhotography)
Jasmine Bakery: @JasmineBakery1
Maya Delices: @MayaDelices
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