So, it’s just days before the LA Cupcake Challenge and I must say our stomachs are in knots (nothing a few cupcakes can’t fix). The Two Parts Sugar kitchen has perfected our recipes and are thrilled with the results! So, what are the flavors you ask.

Well, we couldn’t enter the competition and leave behind our signature raspberry red velvet, so that’s one.  For those of you not lucky enough to have tried one yet here’s the breakdown. It originally began as a traditional red velvet cupcake, topped with cream cheese frosting. After dabbling with a few different recipes, we came up with a delicious raspberry cream cheese frosting. The red velvet cake was such a beautiful color red and the raspberry cream cheese frosting was to die for, so we thought, hey, why not mix things up a bit.  This concauction was amazing…but why stop there?  We tweaked both recipes until they were just right, adding and taking away many different elements of both recipes…and viola! Our signature raspberry red velvet cupcake was born. Again, this is not your traditional red velvet, which consists of a chocolate flavor. While we still use the traditional ingredients of a red velvet, ours has a very distinctive raspberry flavor.

The other flavor we are taking is one we came up with just for the competition and are now wondering why didn’t we do this sooner! We often get our inspiration for flavors from famous past times, common desserts, ice creams, or cookies. Yes, cookies! We had actually been thinking about this one for some time, just needed that extra push to get the ball rolling. Then the LA Cupcake Challenge came along and we figured why not. So, white chocolate macadamia nut it was! This is a favorite cookie among many of our family members and friends, and is popular world wide. So, why not turn in into a cupcake. We wanted something unique, so we first checked out all the competion to be sure it was not anything used on their menus. So far so good. We then googled it…surprisingly, there were only three hits! I was sold on this flavor as our second entry. We’ve come up with a vanilla/macadamia nut cupcake, topped with a scrumptious white chocolate buttercream and sprinkled with candied macadamia nuts. Seriously, I could chow down on at least a dozen of these!

So, those are the flavors we are taking and we hope they will do well against the pretigious competition. We’ve just been informed that among the judges or media attending/covering the event are CBS (morning news) , Fox, LA Times, Metromix, TheScene.com, Singular City, The Onion, Playboy Radio, KCRW radio “Good Food”, OC Weekly, Star Magazine, Bon Appetit Magazine, to name a few. We can’t believe how big this event has grown since last year and can’t wait to be a part of it this Sunday! In a previous blog I explained the way the judging would be conducted and have just learned it will take a day or two to tabulate the votes, so the winners will be determined by Tuesday and emailed to the media and the bakeries at that point. We’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Wish us luck in our quest to be hailed as LA’s Best cupcake!

The countdown continues!

Only a few days left until the big day…the LA Cupcake Challenge 2009! The word is getting out and blogs are popping up everywhere. On Sunday, March 22, one of our favorite blogs (you all should know them by now) Zen Cupcake stated: 

We are proud to announce that a favorite cupcakery, Two Parts Sugar, is also in the running for the title of Best Cupcake. Go Team Monica!

Today, Zen Cupcake posted another two write ups about the event referring back to the Los Angeles Times “The Guide”, and mentioned us again! Then, there was the previous blog that read:

 A favorite O.C. Cupcake Baker, Two Parts Sugar of Mission Viejo is also entered in competition. Best of luck Team Monica!

WOW! No really, WOW! We are so excited to be a part of this event! We know the competition will be steep and bakeries from all over Southern California will be bringing their best recipes to enter. Again, we are thrilled to even be a part of this challenge and can’t wait to taste everyone’s creations!

A big thanks to LA Times “The Guide” and Zen Cupcake for the posts and support!

With the cupcake challenge just around the corner, blogs and articles are popping up everywhere! The most recent of these posts is the Los Angeles Times “The Guide”. While there was no official write up in detail about the Two Parts Sugar kitchen, we were mentioned on a list of custom cupcake bakeries. We are thrilled to see our name being published more and more and will continue to work on bringing our sweet treats to as many as we can reach!

Let the countdown begin!

As you may already know, the LA Cupcake Challenge is in one week! It will be held on March 29, 2009 from 1:00 pm- 4:00 pm.  There will be a total of 18-20 bakeries competing for BEST CUPCAKE in Southern California!

There are three categories that the cupcakes will fall under: Best original, best unique, and best overall. So, who (in my opinion) are going to be the luckiest people EVER on March 29th? The judges of course! Judging about 40 different cupcakes (2 from each bakery) that day will be editors from Bon Appétit Magazine, editors from LAist, OC Weekly, Singular City Magazine, Thescene.com, food bloggers and possibly editors from wedding publications and more local media.  Along with the judges, some 400+ cupcake lovers will be attending the event and helping to determine the big winners.

How the scoring will work: Every attendee gets a ballot and they can vote for first, second, and third place in each category (best original, best traditional, best overall).   First place votes get 3 points, second place votes get two points, and third place votes get one point.  The judges votes are equivalent to five individual votes, but while there are 400 attendees, there are only 10-15 judges.

The prize: Among being hailed as having the BEST cupcake in So Cal and the bragging rights to go with that title, the winner of the best overall cupcake gets to be the exclusive vendor at the LA BBQ Festival to sell their cupcakes.  Last year’s winner sold out 2000 cupcakes over two days. 

What else will be at the event? Besides cupcakes, there will be a dj, photo booth, free milk and coffee, a cash bar for mixed drinks, and and possibly some free five minute spa services.  The event is sure to be fun for everyone. 

Two Parts Sugar is thrilled to be a part of this event. We are so excited just to be in the same vicinity as these prestigious bakeries. We can’t wait for the judges and attendees to taste what we’ve come up with! We are keeping our flavors under lock and key until the day of the event, but will let you know before we leave for the challenge. We want to thank everyone who has been a part of our cupcakes lives up until this point. Whether it was family enduring our long hours away, our customers who kept coming back for more, our favorite blogs posting about us, or our dedicated taste testers (again, best job in the world) you are all a part of the Two Parts Sugar family and we appreciate each and every one of you!

The Two Parts Sugar kitchen whipped up a last minute, I mean last minute order of cupcakes for a ladies bunco gathering….and they were featured on Cupcakes Take The Cake!

For those of you out there unfamiliar with Bunco here’s the rundown: Bunco (also Bunko and Bonko) is a parlour game played in teams with three dice. A winning throw in Bunco is to throw three of a kind of a specified number. Bunco is a social dice game involving 100% luck and no skill (there are no decisions to be made), scoring and a simple set of rules. Women who are part of a Bunco club take turns as the Bunco hostess, providing snacks (CUPCAKES), refreshments and the tables to set up the games. The hostess may also provide a door prize. Small amounts of money can be involved as well. The object of the game is to accumulate points and to roll certain combinations. The winners get prizes (provided by the hostess or pooled from the club resources) for accomplishments such as the highest score, the lowest score, or the most buncos. Prizes frequently center on themes associated with the game such as fancy dice, dice embedded in soap, t-shirts featuring illustrations of dice, etc.

So Chris, we wish you the best of luck in your Bunco game and hope you like the cupcakes! Thanks for including us in your gathering! A big thanks to Cupcakes Take The Cake for the post!

If you are interested in placing an order, have comments or questions, you can reach us here!

St. Patrick’s day is upon us, and what better way to celebrate than with cupcakes of course! The Two Parts Sugar kitchen made a few sample cupcakes for this approaching occasion, one of which was featured on one of our favorite blogs Zen Cupcake. If there are any of you out there that still don’t know about this amazing blog, you’ve got to check it out! It’s all cupcakes all the time and we love it! Here’s what they said about our creation…

…”Another unique and stylistic holiday cupcake.”

 Thanks Zen Cupcake for the kind words and continued support! We love your blog and will continue to follow it religiously!

If you are interested in placing an order, have questions or comments you can reach us here.

That’s right!  The baking-mits are coming off! We have just been accepted to participate the 2nd annual LA Cupcake Challenge! On Sunday, March 29, the Two Parts Sugar crew will be heading to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, to compete with a total of 18 bakeries for the prestigious title of best cupcake in LA! Last year’s competition was fierce as judges like LA Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold, Eating L.A.’s Pat Saperstein and Caroline On Crack chowed down on dozens of cupcakes to determine the winners in three categories: traditional, original and overall. 

Wish us luck on our quest to become LA’s best cupcake! If you’d like to place an order, have any questions, comments, or would like to send us well wishes, you can do so here!

Two Parts Sugar has been working diligently to master new recipes and offer lots of new sweets and treats. One of the goodies we recently perfected was our BABYCAKES!  They are a rich raspberry red velvet cake combined with our raspberry cream cheese frosting, then filled with more frosting, covered with a rich vanilla coating, and kissed with a dash of sprinkles.

Just today we were featured on Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery’s blog! They are a blog about what else… …cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes! They said:

We just love how moist this looks. The raspberry cream is such a good combination for red velvet.

We have not come across Sweet Cuppin Cakes until now, and we just love everything about them! Thanks sweet Cuppin Cakes for the kind words! We appreciate the support and look forward to reading your blogs!

If you have any questions or comments, or would like to place an order, you can reach us here.