A few weeks ago I received a phone call from a production company in L.A. They work with the Food Network and were calling us about a new reality show Cupcake Wars. The gal on the other end of the phone explained that the pilot for Cupcake Wars aired in December and repeated in January. She asked if I had heard about it and I sheepishly replied "no". You see, way back in 2006 when we first opened our little shop I was amazed at how many people asked me about various cooking and baking shows on TV. I had no idea who Bobby Flay was, and had never seen Ace of Cakes or any food challenges. Our family was so busy we never bothered to pay extra for cable TV so we were quite out of the loop with the yummy food scene. I have since seen at least one episode of each of these popular and quite impressive shows, but do not follow any of them on a regular basis. I digress...Back to the phone call... This sweet young lady went on to tell me that Cupcake Wars was in the process of filming it's first season and that they had heard about The Cupcake Cottage and "hoped we would consider being a part of the show". My immediate internal reaction was: "HECK YEAH! How cool would that be!!! I'm up to a good challenge and new experience...bring it on baby!!" My actual reply to her was: "I'm very flattered, now tell me what all is involved."
She went on to explain what went on in the pilot challenge. Basically, 4 teams were given a challenge to use sweet and spicy ingredients in their cupcakes. Eventually, a winner was chosen and would bake 1,000 of their winning cupcake for a Hollywood event. When I asked her "what would I have to do at this point", she explained that I needed to send (ASAP) a photo of myself, my assisitant, my store, and my cupcakes. This was on a Thursday and we were facing a very busy Friday and Saturday of baking. Making sure we do the very best we can with our baking is our top priority and this was all that popped into my head at that point. I thanked her for calling and told her I would email her with my decision before the end of the day.
It didn't take long for me to face another reality. Did I really want to subject myself to the stress of such an experience? What if I completely bombed on the challenge? What about those cameras?! You know that saying "the camera really likes you"...yeah, I've NEVER been told that! =) Most importantly, I have absolutely no desire to be recognized on a national level. We have a very successful business and prefer to grow it carefully. If recognition comes, it comes, but to actually seek such attention would most likely keep me from sleeping at night. For me, peaceful slumber, and managed stress is far more important than 15 minutes of fame and the enormous demand that could possibly come from it.
So, I emailed my regret and told the Food Network recruiter to feel free to contact me should there be another season. She kindly wrote back that she completely understood and would keep The Cupcake Cottage in mind for future projects. That was cool. =)
I must admit that I did a little searching about Cupcake Wars since and was amazed at how many audition recordings are on YouTube. Clearly, there is a process for being considered and I'm guessing that had I made it thru 'round 1' I would have been asked to send in such a tape. Here's a clip of the actual Cupcake War Pilot and Here are a few auditions...some I really liked and some I found to be 'interesting'. Check them out!
Click: Highlights from Cupcake Wars Pilot episode
and here are some Cupcake War audition tapes: Dippidee ~ Crystal Roberts ~ Girl Veteran ~ TootSweet ~ New York Cupcakes
Want to see even more auditions just search Cupcake Wars on YouTube.
