FORT MILL, S.C.,None — They almost burned down the kitchen and at one point served the judges raw cake batter, but Fort Mill businesswoman Heather McDonnell and her sister-in-law Debbie McDonnell survived to win "Cupcake Wars" Sunday on the Food Network.
Earlier this year, Heather McDonnell, who owns Cupcrazed Cakery in Fort Mill's Baxter Village, flew to Los Angeles to compete in the popular cooking reality show for a $10,000 prize. Debbie McDonnell served as her assistant.
The duo competed in a Southern-themed episode against three other groups. One team was eliminated after each challenge.
The goal was to impress celebrity judge Jeanette McCurdy, a country music singer who also stars on the Nickelodeon TV show "iCarly." The "Cupcake Wars" winner would prepare cupcakes for McCurdy's record release party.
"Cupcake Wars" fans know that the cupcake challenge isn't a straight forward competition showcasing each baker's best recipes. Instead, round one of the competition requires the bakers to incorporate one of several unusual ingredients into their cupcakes. Previous episodes have included ingredient choices such as salmon, pretzels and oysters.
McDonnell's first challenge was to create a cupcake based on old favorite Southern dishes: Pulled pork barbecue, fried chicken or gumbo. She picked gumbo, because she thought it would provide the best challenge.
"I have a couple of solid recipes I can manipulate, and that's what you have to do," McDonnell said before the show. "I thought, ‘Pick the most difficult thing they have.' ... It's all about the challenge."
It proved to be just that, and when Debbie McDonnell turned her back on the stove top the okra caught on fire causing one of the worst scares in the show's history.
"We had a very huge explosion in our little kitchen," Heather McDonnell said on the show. "This is a disaster."
Fortunately, the judges loved her spices and said she captured the essence of gumbo in the cupcake. She made it to the second round, where this time bakers were asked to make three traditional cupcakes that are judged on taste and presentation.
McConnell made a hummingbird cupcake with pineapple cream cheese frosting topped with a cowgirl boot, sweet tea cupcake with buttercream icing topped with a little red guitar and cookies and cream cupcake with vanilla buttercream icing and a cookie in the shape of a record on top.
But the sweet tea cupcakes turned out to be a disaster. She threw the first batch away with 20 minutes left, and then whipped up another batch. She took the second group of cakes out of the oven with just over a minute left and just barely got them on the judges plate with the other cupcakes.
"I know that they're not going to be cooked all the way, but I'm just going to go with this," McConnell said on the show, adding that the alternative was being disqualified. "I have two cupcakes that look great and then a hot mess. ... I may have the nastiest cupcake in the universe."
Fortunately for McConnell, the other contestants had trouble, too, and her decorations stood out and probably spared her the ax.
The last round pitted the final two baking teams against one another, and gives them, along with a team of helpers, two hours to make 1,000 cupcakes and a display.
This time, McConnell pulled everything together. She improved her cake recipe and McCurdy loved her picnic-theme display, which had a guitar, cowboy hat and other music-themed accessories.
When McConnell's name was called out as winner, Debbie McDonnell ran out smiling and knocked her sister-in-law to the floor with a giant hug.
"I can not believe we came back from almost burning the kitchen down," McConnell said on the show. "It's really surreal. It was so much work. It's just so exciting.
"I'm so proud of this moment," she said as the credits rolled. "We were thrilled."
McDonnell first applied to "Cupcake Wars" before her Baxter Village shop opened last November. She wasn't selected for the show at the time, but just three months after opening Cupcrazed she received a call from producers asking her to resubmit her video application. Not long after that, McDonnell got the call saying she and an assistant would be flown to L.A. to compete in "Cupcake Wars."
"They saved us for the season finale for a reason," McDonnell said. "People can watch us and see why. They saved the best for last."
WSOC
