5th Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Contest Finalists

Last month, Stef of Cupcake Project and Bethany of Scoopalicious invited me to co-judge their 5th Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Contest.  I was lucky enough to judge beside Stephanie Nuticelli of 52 Kitchen Adventures, who is a previous Ice Cream Cupcake Contest winner and Sacramento Battle Of The Cupcakes winner (another contest I co-judged last month), and Lindsay Ann of Dollhouse Bakeshop, who was the winner of the first official Cupcake Wars!

I had to go through 72 submissions and judge each cupcake based on perceived deliciousness, creativity, and presentation – in that order of importance.  I have to admit to all of you that I had the hardest time narrowing down the submissions to three finalist as there were so many fantastic entries.

Here are my top three final selections listed in no particular order.

First up we have Extreme Funfetti Ice Cream Cupcakes by Julia of Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body.  Julia’s Funfetti Cupcakes were made with vanilla buttercream frosting and Funfetti sugar cookie dough ice cream and were beautifully topped with sprinkles.   Pinch me!

Next up we have 12-year-old Miss Elisabeth Mccabe.  Elisabeth made Cherry Float Cupcakes.  Her Cherry Float Cupcakes were comprised of chocolate Coca Cola cupcake batter, Coca Cola glaze, whipped cream,  cherry ice cream, and they were topped with a bright red maraschino cherry .  P.S.  After I selected her as a finalist, I realized that she did not have a blog and was only 12 years old.  How amazing is that?!  I can only predict a bright future ahead of her.

Last but not least we have Banana Ice Cream Cashew Chocolate Cupcakes by Amrita of The Sweet Art. These Banana Ice Cream Cashew Chocolate Cupcakes include a deep, rich brownie-like flourless chocolate cake combined with a creamy banana ice cream swirled with white chocolate caramel. They’re topped with salted hot fudge and garnished with caramelized banana slices.  Perfection to the max in my opinion!